:: Academia Retreat > Biographies of Participants

Mohamed Ben Ahmed is a Tunisian national with a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Paris IX (1978). He speaks and writes in French, English and Arabic. His professional experience includes: Director and founder of the School of Computer Science in the University of Tunis II and was professor of the School from 1984 to 1990. He is currently Professor of the National School of Computer Sciences at the University of Manouba and Director of Research, Documentation and Software. He has also served: as State Secretary attached to the Prime Minster’s Office for research on science, technology and computer sciences; Senior Advisor and Director for Planning, Statistics and IT Department for the Ministry of Higher Education; and as an expert and consultant in computer sciences and related areas in different international organisations such as UNIDO, UNESCO, USEE, ALESCO and to different Tunisian companies. He has also published several books on subjects related to information technologies and globalization.

Boshra Mossaad Awad is a professor of chemistry, Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. She is currently acting as the consultant of the Minister of Education and Higher Education in Egypt to improve and upgrade teaching and learning using new technologies. She is also an informatics technology expert in the Science Education Center (SEC), Ain Shams University. She has developed an Online Bilingual (Arabic-English) chemistry course, including the course text, animations, graphics, 3D molecules, navigations, simulation, online chat-room, virtual classrooms, synchronous and asynchronous discussion boards, bulletin board, quizzes, self-tests, evaluation, and glossary. The URL for this is available from: http://pentane.chem.uiuc.edu:8900/. She is currently using this online course in teaching her students, blended with the face-to-face traditional educational methodology. She was awarded a certificate from the University of Illinois through the Making the Virtual Classroom a Reality series of online faculty development courses. She was also awarded certificates from Illinois, Parkland, and California Universities (USA) in Structural programming, HTML, DHML, JavaScript, C++, Visual Basic, and web-based authoring tools. She has produced 7 interactive simulated CD-ROMs in chemistry and practical chemistry. She was awarded the International Intellectual Of The Year 2001, by the International Biographical Center of Cambridge, England.
        
Dawit Bekele has been an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at the Addis Ababa University since 1994. He is also the founder and managing director of EthioLink, a private company mainly known for its worldwide famous EthioGift electronic commerce service that was selected as finalist for the Stockholm Challenge 2000 award. Dawit obtained a Ph.D. in computer science from Université Paul Sabatier, France. During the last eight years, Dr. Dawit Bekele has been involved in many national initiatives to propagate Information and Communication Technologies in Ethiopia. In 1995, he served in the Bringing Internet to Ethiopia (BITE) committee that lobbied for the introduction of the Internet in the country. In 1997, he was a member of the National Information and Communication Infrastructure Framework Committee (NICIF), which was a technical advisory committee to the Deputy Prime Minister. In 1998, he was one of the founders and the first president of the Ethiopian Computer Standards Association (EcoSA) that is trying to develop and popularize computer standards in Ethiopia. He is still an active member of the executive committee of EcoSA. In 1999, he was a member of the National Y2k Committee. Dr. Dawit Bekele has also served as a consultant for various organizations around the world.

Kwame Boafo-Arthur holds a PhD in Political Science and he is educated in Ghana and Canada. He is an Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Political Science at the University of Ghana, Legon. In 1998, he won the Fullbright senior African Research Scholar Award from the University of California, Los Angeles. He was a visiting Fellow at the Nordic Institute of African Studies in Uppsala, Sweden in 1999 and at the African Studies Centre at Leiden, The Netherlands in 2001. Since October 2002, he has been a consultant to the Ghana National Reconciliation Commission on Chieftaincy and Religious Bodies issues. Currently, he is a member of several University Boards: Academic, Faculty of Social Studies, School of Administration, Estate Management Committee, etc.

Prof J A Boon is presently holding the position of Director of Telematic Learning and Education Innovation at the University of Pretoria. The prime responsibility of this position is to initiate education innovation throughout the whole university system especially e-learning. Before holding this position he was a member of the top management of the University of Pretoria. His initial university education was in Classical Languages: Greek and Latin. In 1978 he was awarded a doctoral degree in Information Science. In that same year he became professor in Information Science, a position he is still holding. He has published extensively on different topics in Information Science, inter alia: information needs, university libraries as information centres, information policies, information management, information auditing, measuring and defining the information society and information for development.

Lola Dare is a community physician and medical epidemiologist. She obtained her first degree from the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan and an M.Sc. in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 1991. She also has been awarded certificates in Population and Development; and International Health as David E. Bell and Takemi Fellow of the Harvard School of Public Health, United States of America in 1994 and 2000 respectively. Dr. Dare is a fellow of the National Postgraduate Medical College in the Faculty of Community Medicine. She has since 1993 worked at the College of Medicine, University of Ibadan and as lead consultant of the NGO (occupying the position of Chief Executive Officer) Center for Health Sciences Training, Research and Development [CHESTRAD] International. She has been involved in research design, implementation and evaluation in the field of reproductive health with a focus on the status and well being of young persons and women in poor resource settings. Her expertise covers the development of information, education and communication (IEC) materials adopting a participatory approach to content and layout. She is knowledgeable in design of service provision programs that optimize private /public sector resources to empower and improve reproductive care to young persons. This compliments experience in the design and management of field based laboratory services and referral laboratory support for sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS. Dr Dare is a member of many local and international professional and development organizations including the Nigerian Medical Association, American Public Health Association, International AIDS Society and Institute of Directors.

Abdoulaye Diakite holds an M.Sc. in Computer Science from the State University of Voronel, Russia and a Ph.D. in Computer Sciences from Lomonossov State University in Mosacow. Since 1999 he has been responsible for a distance education project of UNESCO/RINAF. From 1998 to 2001 he was head of the Distance Education Team of the Ministry of Higher Education and Research. From 1997 to 2000 he was responsible for the ICT component of the Guinean Higher Education development project. Dr Diakite was the UNESCO chair on technology and rural development. He has been a Deputy Director of the Polytechnic Institute in charge of Research from 1990 to 2001, and was Dean of Electrical Faculty of the University of Conakry. Mr Diakite writes and speaks in French, English and Russian. He has written many scientific papers, books and contributions in computer sciences, higher education research, ICTs and related fields. His current domains of interest are: operating systems, free software, ICT policy and implementation, and distance and open education.

Mr G.O.S. Ekhaguere is Nigerian with a Ph.D. in Mathematical Physics, from the University of London, United Kingdom. He is currently a Professor of Mathematics at the University of Ibadan. He has been a member of the Senate of the University of Ibadan since 1979 and was recently (1995-1997) a member of the Governing Council of the University. From August 1997 to December 2001, he was a Senior Programme Officer at the Association of African Universities based in Accra, Ghana, and was responsible for matters concerning graduate training & research, quality assurance, academic mobility on the continent, international cooperation and gender equity. He is the President of the International Centre for Mathematical & Computer Sciences based in Lagos and the Chairman of the Knowledge, Leadership & Development Foundation, based in Ibadan. He is also Consultant on Higher Education to the Ford Foundation (Office for West Africa).

Tina James is an independent consultant with more than 18 years experience in various aspects of ICTs in Africa, but particularly in underdeveloped areas. Tina has led several large, multidisciplinary projects in both the ICT and environmental management arenas. These include the current development of a national ICT technology roadmap for South Africa, development of the Information Policy Handbook for Southern Africa (2001); baseline studies for the CIDA-supported South African IT Industry Strategy; preparatory papers on the African Learning Network for the UN Economic Commission for Africa; several evaluation studies on the use of ICTs in education and a recently completed study on the diffusion and uptake of ICTs in eight industry sectors in South Africa. Additional expertise includes research on gender and ICTs, community telecentres, universal access, and the use of ICTs to support entrepreneurs in developing countries. As Senior Advisor to the Canadian International Development Research Centre's Acacia Programme, which addressed the use of ICTs by disadvantaged, rural communities in sub-Saharan Africa, she was responsible for project development and implementation as well as support for planning activities. Tina was appointed by the South African Department of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology to serve on the ICT working group for the national Foresight initiative, which developed a technology strategy for ICTs. She served a two-year term on the ECA's African Technical Advisory Committee for the African Information Society Initiative (AISI). She is also an associate of the University of the Witwatersrand’s LINK Centre, where she lectures on Gender and ICTs.

Tunji Lardner is a strategic ICT and public affairs management expert, a public policy analyst, with UN experience in coordinating conferences, and excellent writing, public speaking and interpersonal skills. Mr. Lardner is an Internet technology savvy, with a strong understanding of the unfolding knowledge-based and knowledge driven global economy, and with a thorough grasp of the Information Age and the unfolding “digital economy”. He is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the West African NGO Network (Wangonet) since 1999. He also served as a consultant for the West African Internet Project – an initiative of the Ford Foundation, West Africa Office, Nigeria, from 1997 to 1999 whilst the Chief Executive Officer for Agenda Consulting Ltd., Nigeria. As a journalist he has been correspondent, reporter/researcher and editor for various magazines in Africa, Europe and USA. Mr. Lardner has also undertaken various consultancy activities for UN agencies and Universities, as well as being a well-read author.

Pradeep Maharaj obtained a Bachelor of Accounting Science from the University of South Africa and is completing a Masters degree in Financial Economics through SOAS, University of London. Currently he is the Chief Executive of Blue IQ, the Gauteng Provincial Government's strategic economic infrastructure investment programme. The initiative is aimed at creating world-class infrastructure that is designed to boost economic growth in the province in a sustainable way over the medium to long term. Blue IQ has been allocated R3,5 billion and has a five-year mandate to implement 11 mega projects. He is also Deputy Director General of Treasury for the Gauteng Provincial Government responsible for the financial policy, the budget and the overall expenditure of the province. He is deeply involved in financial management reform initiatives in the public sector.

Noel Chabani Manganyi, has a doctorate in Psychology from the University of South Africa has undertaken several advanced training as a Post-Doctoral Fellow in Clinical Psychology at the Yale University School of Medicine in the USA. From 1976 to 1980, he established the Department of Psychology at the Umtata Branch of the University of Fort Hare (later the University of Transkei) first as Head of Department. He later became the first Dean of the Faculty of Arts. Following his departure from UNITRA in 1980 he worked as a Professor and Senior Research Fellow at the African Studies Institute of the University of the Witwatersrand until 1990. Beginning in the early 1970s Chabani Manganyi published a range of scholarly papers and nine books (both nationally and internationally). His last book “A Black Man Called Sekoto” was published by Wits University Press in 1996. He is currently doing some work on the transition of the 1990s in South Africa. Chabani Manganyi has practised extensively as a professional psychologist (private practice) and as an expert witness in the Supreme Court of South Africa during the turbulent days of the 1980s and the early 1990s. He has served on the Board of Directors of a number of companies and organisations. More recently he was Vice-Chancellor of the University of the North (1990-1992), Director-General of Education (1994-1999) and is currently the Advisor to the Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Pretoria.

Dorothy Okello obtained her M.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Kansas, United States, and her B.Sc. Eng., Electrical Engineering (First Class Hons.) from Makerere University, Uganda. She is currently a Ph.D. Candidate at McGill University, Canada, where she is specialising in broadband satellite networking. Ms. Okello has worked for Makerere University since 1992 first as a Teaching Assistant, and currently as a Lecturer in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Faculty of Technology. She is a telecommunication professional with experience and strengths in information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure design and implementation as well as ICT as a tool for development. Of particular interest is the access and use of ICTs by women and women’s organisations in Uganda. Ms. Okello is Coordinator of Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET), a non-governmental organisation initiated in 2000 to promote and support the use of ICTs among women and women organisations in Uganda.

Aderemi Raji Oyelade is a Nigerian scholar and poet, teaches African and African American literature, literary theory and creative writing in the Department of English, University of Ibadan, Nigeria where he obtained a doctorate degree in 1994. His research interest covers aspects of black literature and criticism, cultural studies and the emergent tradition of African female poetry in the twentieth century. In 1999, Dr. Raji-Oyelade was a Fellow of the American Studies Summer Institute at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo. His scholarly essays have appeared in ARIEL, Research in African Literatures, Wasafiri, Presence Africaine and GLENDORA Review of Books among others. He is currently the Coordinator of the Graduate-Staff Seminar Series in the Department of English. As a creative writer, Remi Raji’s first collection of poems – A Harvest of Laughters – has won national and international recognition: Honorable Mention in the Okigbo National Poetry Prize in 1997; in the same year, joint-winner of the Association of Nigerian Authors/Cadbury Poetry Prize and winner of the Association of West African Young Writers’ VOCA Award for Best First Published Book of the Year. In 2001, two new volumes of poems - Webs of Remembrance and Shuttlesongs America: A Poetic Guided Tour - appeared in print. Remi Raji has served as editor of ANA REVIEW, the official journal of the Association of Nigerian Authors; he is the Secretary of the resuscitated center of P.E.N. in Nigeria. Dr Raji-Oyelade has served as Resident Poet and Professor of Cultural & Social Diversity at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville and at the Eugene Redmond Writers Club of East St. Louis, US. He was the Year 2002 Harry Oppenheimer Visiting African Scholar to the Centre for African Studies, University of Cape Town, South Africa.

De nationalité sénégalaise, Olivier Sagna est Docteur en Histoire de l’Université Paris VII et titulaire du Diplôme Supérieur des Sciences et Techniques de l’Information et de la Documentation de l’Institut National des Techniques de la Documentation (INTD) du CNAM (Paris). Maître-assistant à l’Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar (UCAD), il a enseigné les sciences de l’information de 1988 au 1998 à l’Ecole des Bibliothécaires Archivistes et Documentalistes (EBAD). S’intéressant depuis le début des années 90 à la problématique du développement d’Internet en Afrique en général et au Sénégal en particulier, il a participé, en tant que membre de la Commission Université –Réseaux d’Information (CURI) à l’introduction d’Internet à l’Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar. Il a travaillé comme consultant pour le Centre de Recherches pour le Développement International (CRDI) organisme canadien pour la définition de la stratégie ACACIA Sénégal dans le cadre du programme ACACIA d’utilisation des technologies de l’information et de la communication au profit des communautés de base. De 1998 au 2000, il a exercé les fonctions de conseiller technique en matière de TIC et coordonnateur de l’Initiative Leland à la mission de l’USAID au Sénégal. Depuis, novembre 2000, il est détaché par l’Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar au Bureau Afrique de l’Ouest de l’Agence universitaire de la Francophonie basé à Dakar comme responsable des formations avec pour mission principale la formation des enseignants et chercheurs d’Afrique de l’Ouest à l’utilisation des TIC. Olivier Sagna est également le Secrétaire général de l’Observatoire sur les Systèmes d’Information, les Réseaux et les Info routes au Sénégal (OSIRIS http://www.osiris.sn), une ONG qui fait de la veille sur l’utilisation, l’appropriation et l’impact socioculturel des TICs au Sénégal. Il est le rédacteur en chef de BATIK, Bulletin d’Analyses sur les Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication, une lettre d’information électronique mensuelle sur l’actualité des TICs au Sénégal publiée par Osiris.

Timothy Waema is a Senior Lecturer and the head of ICT in the University of Nairobi. He lectures in a variety of courses in both Information Systems and Computer Science in the School of Computing and Informatics. He has been instrumental in initiating many academic programmes when he was the Director of the Institute of Computer Science, including M.Sc. and Ph.D. programmes in Computer Science and Information Systems. As the head of ICT in the university, Dr. Waema initiated and managed many ICT projects, including creating wide area network backbone infrastructure, development of corporate MIS applications, developing the university web site and enabling a sustainable Internet connectivity. He has also participated in numerous consultancies in ICT in both the public and private sectors. Before joining the University in 1991, Dr. Waema worked as a telecommunications engineer with the former Kenya Posts and Telecommunications Corporation. Dr. Waema has a BSc. Honours Degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from University of Bath, U.K. and a Ph.D in Strategic Management of Information Systems from University of Cambridge, U.K.

Rapporteur

Catherine N. Ngugi holds a BA degree in literature from Middlesex University in UK and an advanced Diploma in Marketing Management from the Marketing Society of South Africa. She holds also an MA degree in African Studies, SOAS, University of London, UK. Ms Ngugi has worked in the private sector as well as in non-profit sectors mainly in Brand Management, Unilever (EA), Nairobi, Kenya; Safina as Head of the Policy Unit, Endowment Fund & Grants Management – Kenya; CODESRIA, Dakar Senegal, and in Regional Fund & Grants Management Training, Oxfam GB, West Africa Regional Office, Dakar Senegal.

Ford Foundation Staff

Omotade Aina is the Regional Representative of the Ford Foundation's Office for Eastern Africa, based in Nairobi. He studied sociology at the University of Lagos and the London School of Economics and obtained his doctorate from the University of Sussex. He was a professor at the University of Lagos, lecturing on urban poverty, governance and development. There he combined research with activism, being one of the founders of the Nigerian Environmental Study Team and the Lagos Group for the Study of Human Settlements, and he has published widely on related issues. Tade began at the Ford Foundation in 1998, coming from the Dakar-based Council for Development of Social Science Research in Africa (CODESRIA), where he was the Deputy Executive Secretary. In the Nairobi office, Tade has developed a portfolio in Governance and Civil Society that has focused on the strengthening of the values and institutions of participatory democratic governance.

Anne-Marea Griffin is program consultant and coordinator of the Ford Foundation's Higher Education in Africa Project based in the Ford Foundation, Nairobi office. She has worked in this capacity since March 2000, but has also done long-term consultancy work in affiliation with the Ford Foundation's West Africa office from 1996 to 1999, in the area of organizational development, strategic planning and program management and evaluation. She has studied at Harvard, Northwestern and Yale Universities and has worked extensively in international affairs, development and policy analysis.

Gerard M. Salole is a social anthropologist and development worker. Salole read Social Anthropology and African History at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London (1977). His M.A. (Econ.) thesis (1979), from the University of Manchester, was on change in ethnic identity in the Shoa (Ethiopia) and the Zongo (Ghana). His Ph.D. thesis (1981), from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Manchester, was on politics, identity and symbolism in a Sardinian town (Italy). Currently the Representative of the Southern Africa Office of the Ford Foundation based in Johannesburg, Salole was previously the Director of the Department of Programme Documentation and Communication of the Bernard van Leer Foundation based in The Hague. Prior to this, Mr. Salole worked for Save the Children Federation (USA) in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe, and Redd Barna (Norwegian Save the Children Federation) and Oxfam in Ethiopia