| Introduction to the discussion from June 1 to 18 On behalf of the Economic Commission for Africa, welcome to the African Development Forum '99 Discussion list. The 1999 Forum, the first, is being held on the theme The Challenge to Africa of Globalisation and the Information Age. This discussion list has been set up to widen the participation in the Forum (as not everyone interested in this topic may be able to travel to Addis Ababa at the end of October 1999) by presenting the major topics of the Forum for open discussion. Summaries will be prepared and posted at the end of each week of discussion, and copies of the summaries along with an analysis will be presented to Forum participants. Summaries will also be posted to the ADF Web site, where full information on the Forum is available. From now through 18 June, we would like to have your views on policies to strengthen Africa's information infrastructure. The emphasis is on policy because the Forum is being organized to influence African policy and decision makers. By information infrastructure, we are including both physical infrastructure as well as the human resources necessary to set up, maintain and use the infrastructure. What policies are necessary to encourage information infrastructure development - to create the enabling environment, to bring in the necessary foreign direct investment? What/where are some of the success stories? What progress are African countries making in putting in place policy that promotes information infrastructure development? What can we learn from the experiences in information infrastructure development of other developing countries, as well as from developed ones? Could the "digital diaspora" (Africans highly trained in information and communication technologies living and working in developed countries) play a role in information infrastructure development? What projects (multi-lateral, bi-lateral, NGO) and initiatives are working actively to improve information infrastructure in Africa? Which of these is working particularly in the policy area? What progress is being made in African Ministers' of Communication African Connection and how this will help? What new technologies are you familiar with that widen the possibilities of connectivity at affordable rates for unconnected areas and people, particularly Africa's rural areas? What is the experience of these technologies in use, even in beta-form? Your views and experiences on these topics and related ones are invited. Just a note on the name of this list: AISI refers to the African Information Society Initiative, adopted by the ECA Conference of Ministers of economic planning and development in 1996 as an action framework for African information infrastructure development. ECA is implemeting AISI in full collaboration with its partners. HITD refers to the Harnessing Information Technology for Development priority area of the United Nations Special Initiative for Africa, for which AISI is the implementation modality. AISI and HITD together have been the inspiration for the theme of the African Development Forum '99. If you have friends or colleagues who are interested in participating in the list, inform them that they can register by sending an e-mail message to lyris@lyris.bellanet.org , with the following typed in the body of the message: SUBSCRIBE aisi-hitd-l name (name is your full name) Nancy Hafkin Economic Commission for Africa |
