African Development Forum '99: the challenge to Africa of Globalisation and the Information Age Wednesday, 27 October Interim Assessment from Participants Chair: Lalla Ben Barka, Deputy Executive Secretary, ECA Feedback and reflection from the focus and theme groups A unique dimension of the conference was the formation of "focus groups," addressing the needs of youth and gender, the private sector, the African diaspora and academic think tanks. These co-ordinators brought groups of people together to discuss issues specific to their focus areas and to report to the conference. The gender and youth focus groups reported to plenary on their specific needs and on the challenges and opportunities that they had identified in the previous sessions. The African diaspora focus group provided a first assessment of how best to strengthen links across regions. The groups representing the private sector and African think tanks reported their initial assessment of opportunities for stimulating African progress towards the Information Age. Coordinators of the groups were: Youth: Heba Ramzy, RITSEC, Egypt Gender: Anriette Esterhuysen, Association for Progressive Communication Women's Programme Private Sector: Derrick Cogburn, Global Information Infrastructure Commission and University of Michigan (USA) African diaspora: Raymond Akwule, George Mason University (USA) Think Tanks: Joseph Abbey, Executive Director, Centre for Policy Analysis, Ghana
Gender group The gender group expressed its pleasure at being able to participate in the Forum, due to the importance of its theme. Globalisation and the Information Age had the potential to be an important means for African women to improve their status or, at the same time, to further their exclusion from economy and society. Thus, involvement in these issues was vital. At the same time they noted the underrepresentation in the numbers of women present at the Forum as well as on panels and in plenary session presentations. The gender group presented in-depth reflections on each of the four Forum subthemes. They urged women's participation in information industries, especially e-commerce for small and medium scale enterprises. Overall they felt that mastery of ICTs could greatly help empower women. The need to educate girls and young women in the scientific and technical fields was underscored. Within governance, they felt that the gender aspect of citizenship required more examination. Telehealth initiatives, they thought, were productive areas that pursue that could improve women's health. Women's concerns should be a part of infrastructure development, they noted, in particular in the areas of human resource development, investment, content development and policy. The group suggested that ICT tools such as discussion lists should be used to continue the work of the focus groups in networks after the Forum. Youth Group Of particular interest was the youth group, consisting of young people from throughout Africa participating in the Forum. This group underlined the importance to attend to the needs and listen to the perspectives of the largest proportion of Africa’s population and tomorrow’s leaders. The youth focus group stressed their understanding of the impact that ICTs will have on every aspect of their lives. Feeling that people’s readiness to change and adapt to new technologies would determine the rate and nature of the impact, they said that youth’s dynamism and openness to change made them particularly apt to accept and profit from ICTs. They noted that few of the presentations made thus far at the Forum stressed the role that youth could and would play in moving Africa into the Information Age. They detailed the numerous projects underway in the region that focused on youth. They underlined the detrimental impact of the lack of information on African youth: e.g. ignorance of health issues, drugs and crime, and the importance of ICTs in overcoming this. They felt that new technologies could be used to unleash creativity and innovation among young people to prepare them for critical roles in global society. They urged more ICT training for young people and the development of Internet portals with strategic information that youth needed. They also stressed the need for collaboration among African youth to exchange ideas and experiences and to help them develop the analytical skills they would need for the knowledge societies of the twenty-first century. The group felt that ICTs and the Internet could promote collaborative projects through youth networking. For the future, they looked to the Internet for information, especially career information, that young people could use to participate actively in governance and business. Employment opportunities for young people in information services and industries should also be fostered. African Diaspora group The group explained that it defined and comprised two types of African diaspora:
The group noted that the challenge to the diaspora was to transform the brain drain facing Africa into a "brain gain", and this was possible because of the unique opportunity offered by ICT. As ICT offers unprecedented solutions to time and distance constraints, the diaspora could "come home" through cyberspace. The group suggested the following actions to be fulfilled by the diaspora in form of capital:
Private Sector group The private sector group comprised members from the international private sector, the African formal private sector, African micro, small and medium scale enterprises and informal sector enterprises from Africa. They focused on collaboration within the private sector, global infrastructure development in the region, electronic commerce and its potential for African businesses, and education, learning and training to develop a knowledgeable work force. They were particularly concerned about the need for the African private sector to engage in dialogue with the public sector national, regionally and globally. They would like to see an African private sector network. The private sector focus group supported the advent of a competitive telecommunications environment and telecommunications regulatory reform. They wanted to see sources of venture capital for African businesses, as well as for flexibility in African Development Bank and International Finance Corporation requirements for private sector financing. Think Tank group The representatives of the Think Tanks felt that they could play a significant role in stimulating African progress towards the Information Age. ICTs could help them do their work more cost effectively. They could use the Internet to identify international expertise, particularly from the African Diaspora, as well as distance learning to access material not available locally. Included on a priority research agenda were the development of qualitative and quantitative indicators to measure ICT impact on development and identification of the role and areas in which State participation could contribute to the development and use of ICTs. They felt that networking among Think Tanks would help to promote regional cooperation and collaboration between African countries. They also felt that they could contribute to improved governance in Africa by using ICTs to alert the public about key policy debates. The rapporteurs from the theme areas reported to the session on key opportunities and constraints identified in the initial presentations, debates and group discussions. Their reports have been reflected in the reports on theme presentations and breakout sessions by theme (above).
Exploring the Way Forward: National and Subregional Scenarios National information and communication policies, plans and infrastructure: shaping the African information society This panel assessed progress in planning national information and communication infrastructure (NICI) plans, policies and strategies to address national development needs. Chair: H.E. James Jonah, Minister of Finance, Development and Economic Planning, Sierra Leone Presenters:
Panel:
ECA stressed that its work on information and communication plans, policies and strategies (NICIs) emanated from the African Information Society Initiative of the ECA Conference of Ministers (This presentation was based on Forum document E/ECA/ADF/99/8, "The Process of Developing National Information and Communications Infrastructure (NICI) in Africa" and is supported by E/ECA/ADF99/1, "African Country Profiles: National Information and Communication Infrastructure." Both are available at http://www.bellanet.org/partners/aisi/adf99docs/docs.htm). ECA and IDRC had worked with 22 African countries to develop ICT plans. Information policy development is an iterative process that involved planning, implementation and evaluation and which had to be driven by national priorities and included the participation of all stakeholders. The state had a key role in developing and implementing NICIs. The key challenge was the ability of governments to mobilize resources both through integration of ICT plans into national development priorities and presenting innovative projects to development aid agencies. Although NICIs appear to focus on infrastructure, it was stressed that the societal dimension, - human resources development, equitable access and a focus on quality of life-, was equally if not more important. Burkina Faso explained that its plan, which it has been working on for three years, was based on national challenges including resource limitations, poverty and declining social services in health and education. The plan addresses these challenges by improving access to communications by rural people, establishing community communication centers, creating a national Internet backbone and improving ICT applications in administration for better governance. Human resource development was a key element of the plan. Namibia has organised two workshops on the NICI process. The main areas include a national ICT policy, a national ICT resource center, deployment of telecentres and improving human resource capacity. The Plan has been endorsed by Namibia's Parliament. Among its overall aims are an integrated policy by 2001 and telecentres in every region by 2004. Nigeria indicated that it had launched its National Communication Policy in October 1999. The implementation of the policy would increase telephone service from one to four million lines, end the public telecommunications monopoly, develop information content and extend services to rural areas. It focused on the creation of an enabling environment to stimulate private sector investment. Nigeria was also planning to develop an integrated national information system bringing together various existing databanks. Rwanda began its national information and communication strategy in 1998 with support provided by ECA and the United States Agency for International Development. In Rwanda there has been sustained high level support for the NICI process. Among its national goals is the use of ICTs to modernise government. Senegal described its development strategy that included Multi-purpose Community Centres. It called for an African forum on e-commerce. The Government of Japan commended ECA for its work in this area and indicated that it had been providing resources to ECA's trust fund since 1994. It was prepared to discuss financial commitment for application of ICTs in the Africa region. Among the points that arose from the discussion were:
Role of development agencies and the private sector in the NICI process: The Response from Donors Development agencies responded at this panel and outlined their own perspectives and opportunities for technical and financial support. Chair:
The donor community at ADF showed a tremendous amount of good will and promised continued support for ICT related projects and programmes. Donors made brief presentations on ICT projects they have supported ranging from providing basic connectivity, building capacity around e-commerce and provision of advice to governments in WTO negotiations. They were also interested in ICT for development projects that considered issues such as poverty alleviation and private sector development. With respect to NICI plans, the donors assured the session that they would continue to fund projects and programmes, so long as they were demand-driven. Partnership with the private sector was underscored, as was the importance of including a human resource capacity component in the national plans. Among the specific presentations: The World Bank noted that it had provided a billion dollars for information technology-related projects, $100-200 million of which had gone to Africa. Projects included the Global Distance Learning Project, the African Virtual University and WorldLinks. They stressed the need for capacity building among policy-makers. USAID said Africans must develop national ICT plans which reflect their own challenges and priorities rather than relying on outside solutions. They stressed the need for regional co-operation and noted they were promoting e-commerce in the SADC region where several e-commerce partnerships between the US and African countries have been established. IDRC described the Acacia project that focuses on the transforming poor communities through utilization of information and communication technologies. The European Commission said that it had ICT funding and support available but had not yet received any requests for it from African countries. If African countries wished to secure EU funding in this area, they needed to make it a stated priority. EU noted that it had helped several countries liberalise telecommunications and that it was ready to support NGO to undertake ICT training in Africa and to establish telecentres. UNDP noted that its African Internet Initiative now included 15 sub-Saharan countries. It was ready to support the establishment of gateways, regional and subregional hubs to bring down the cost of connectivity in the region, as well as the establishment of points of presence and a whole range of pilot projects. The session underscored the following:
Private sector panel: assessment of the potential for joint action on the national plans and programmes Chair: Derrick Cogburn Panelists:
Issues covered in this session included:
The private sector panel stressed the need to create an enabling environment for the involvement of the private sector in ICT planning. The private sector could contribute its expertise to the planning process. The panel recommended the creation of a fund to facilitate NICI development. WorldSpace said that it was establishing a project funding group. Representatives from Cisco, Sun and Oracle reported on their training and education initiatives across Africa and elsewhere in the world. In discussion it was suggested that the private sector should contribute to generic skills training in ICTs. Participants felt that the multinational private sector should be involved not only in pilot projects but also in setting up cutting-edge technology laboratories on ICTs in Africa.
Opening Session - Sunday, 24 October 1999 Setting the Scene - Monday, 25 October 1999 Closing Session - Thursday, 28 October 1999 Annex I - The Way Forward to a people-centred African Information Society Annex III - ADF '99 Documentation Annex IV - PARTNERS in adf ’99 Annex V - List of Participants |
