DECLARATION

BY THE PARTICIPANTS AT

THE AFRICA ENGINEERS' DAY MEETING

HELD DURING THE WFEO WORLD CONGRESS IN TUNIS, TUNISIA

12 – 17th OCTOBER 2003

Developments in Information and Communication Technology have the ability to raise living standards. Participants gathered at this conference met on 14th October 2003 and considered the topic:

"The Contribution of African Engineers to the Information Society".

They observed that African Engineers by virtue of their knowledge and training stood in a unique position to perform many of the important roles of necessary to support, sustain and expand information distribution in the societies and made the following declaration:

We recognise that some of the key roles that can be performed by engineers are those of:

• Design, manufacture, installation, operation and maintenance of infrastructure for information systems.

• Advocacy for the construction/expansion of appropriate infrastructure within their various countries.

• Application of Information systems in areas such as health, agriculture and education as a means of improving living standards.

We find that there is a need for African Engineers to strengthen their contributions in all these areas. We suggest that African Engineers should take up more enterpreneural roles and take steps to educate policy makers and become more involved in policy decisions. In addition, we reccommend that African Engineers should strive to:

• Ensure the formation/strengthening of engineering organisations on the continent.

• Establish networks between their various countries and share information. In particular participants suggested the development of software and documents that could be shared free of any charge.

• Encourage the installation of approprite infrastucture that would make possible the desired networking between the various African Countries.

• Establish a single focal point(s) of reference where:

  • existing relevant activities and initiatives could be publicized and made more easily accessible to member African Countries.

  • The development of Africa unique solutions could be facilitated.

• Establish appropriate linkages with engineers in developed economies. In particular, African Engineers on the continent should establish firm links with African Engineers in the Diaspora.

• Strengthen in particular the training of personnel to maintain and operate the infrastucture for information systems networks as well as the personnel involved in the application of solutions employing information systems.

• Take appropriate steps to ensure that female members of their societies are made fully aware of the opportunities for employment that exist within the sector.

• Establish an accreditation system with uniform and internationally acceptable criteria for all engineering and ICT related courses on the continent to ensure the maintenance of high standards of professional practice and the mobility of engineers within the continent. This we consider vital if countries are to derive the maximum benefits from any systems employed.