Angola stands at a defining moment. After decades of economic dependence on oil revenues, the nation is investing boldly in its most valuable resource: its young people, especially women.
The Science and Technology Development Project (STDP), a $100 million partnership between the Government of Angola and the African Development Bank Group, is reshaping the country's future through education, research, and innovation.
Its ambition is straightforward: diversify the economy by producing a generation of scientists, engineers, and innovators capable of driving sustainable growth long after the project concludes.
At the heart of this transformation is an underlying goal: when you invest in a woman's education, you invest in an entire generation.
Formosa's journey is one of 161 made possible by the STDP's postgraduate scholarship programme, which has placed Angolan scholars at the University of Lisbon, Portugal, and the University of São Paulo. Of those beneficiaries, 21% are women--a proportion the programme is committed to growing under a successor project planned for 2027.
Not every transformative investment begins at postgraduate level. In provinces such as Bié, the number of girls enrolled in STEM secondary education remains critically low. The STDP's Scholarship Programme for Vulnerable Girls in Secondary Education set out to change that. Between 2019 and 2024, the programme provided 1,204 girls across Angola with a monthly stipend of $200, nearly ten times its original target of 125 beneficiaries.
A 2024 evaluation found the impact extended well beyond the classroom: 82% of respondents reported improvements in food security, 97% gained better access to educational materials, and 33% cited a fundamental shift in their expectations for the future. Most strikingly, 40.2% went on to access higher education.
"The scholarship didn't just help us study," said one participant. "It helped us believe in ourselves."
The investment in people is matched by investment in infrastructure. STDP has equipped 54 science laboratories across 18 secondary schools, trained over 1,350 teachers, technicians and academic counsellors, and funded 73 research projects--31.5% awarded to women. Angola's investment in women in science is not simply the right thing to do--it is the most effective lever for long-term economic diversification. Formosa Madalena Dombel was once a girl for whom university felt out of reach. That distance-from impossible to achieved--is precisely what the STDP measures.
Read more in the 2026 Governors' Digest.
