President Mnangagwa launches space agency in Zimbabwe

The President of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa, has announced the launch of a new space agency.

The agency has been developed in a bid to increase research and innovation in the country.

The Zimbabwe National GeoSpatial and Space Agency (ZINGSA) opened on 10 July, as part of three key inter-linked programmes.

The two other programmes have been dubbed the Zimbabwe National Critical Skill Audit (ZNCSA) and the Zimbabwe National Qualifications Framework (ZNQF).

The programmes form part of Zimbabwe’s modernisation and industrialisation agenda following the government’s Vision 2030.

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The government aims to transition the country into becoming a middle-income economy within the next 12 years.

“This initiative is expected to enhance Zimbabwe's capabilities in global policy discourses on generation, access, use and regulation of the application of space technologies and innovations for sustainable development,” stated President Mnangagwa.

“This exercise will undoubtedly enhance precision in the human capital development planning and serve as a guiding tool in our industrialisation and modernisation agenda.”

“I therefore exhort the Ministry of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development to facilitate the training of critical skills to increase quantity, quality and relevance of our higher education curricula in line with the present needs.”

“In the same vein, I challenge institutions of higher learning to consider the results of this audit in their strategic planning processes so that faculties and departments appropriately respond to our national and industrial skills gap.”