African Information Society Initiative (AISI) e-strategies

:: AISI Implementation Framework

African Information Society Initiative
United Nations Conference Centre
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
20-21 October 1997

DISD/ATAC/I/4
12 October 1997

ECA framework for implementation of AISI

The information and communications revolution offers Africa an unparalleled opportunity to leapfrog into the twenty-first century. Rather than a choice between falling behind slowly or falling behind faster, powerful new technologies now allow countries, regions, enterprises and individuals direct access to the world's expertise, markets, knowledge base, and financial resources. This access that can provide the tools for accelerated economic and social development.

The African Information Society Initiative (AISI) is a visionary statement of how Africa can make use of information and communications technologies (ICT) to accelerate the continent's economic and social development, of goals for such development, and of the policy measures necessary to realize them. AISI was conceived, elaborated, and politically endorsed by Africans to help Africa take advantage of this opportunity. Coordinated by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in Addis Ababa, AISI is also a framework for partnership to realize AISI goals shared by AISI's partners. These partners, linked in the Partnership for ICTs in Africa (PICTA), include international agencies (many from the United Nations Family), bilateral development assistance organizations, foundations, NGOs, and the African and international private sectors. Effective partnership promises an impact that is more than the sum of the parts, by drawing on the comparative advantages of the diverse partners following a common agreed upon strategy.

The present document presents UNECA's current thinking (in consultation with many of its partners) on its strategy for implementing AISI over the remainder of the 20th century along with its partners. The objective is for Africa to enter the new millenium with a substantial base of practical experience and achievements on the ground in African countries. This in turn can catalyze a massive continent-wide effort to apply ICTs to greatly accelerate Africa's economic and social development during the first decades of the twenty-first century. To do so will require selectivity. It will be necessary to:

  • choose for concentrated attention a limited number of program areas from the very broad array set forth in the AISI;

  • mobilize AISI partners effectively so that they contribute according to their comparative advantages and realize synergy by supporting a critical mass of well-focused activities in priority countries rather than dispersing their resources

It may also be necessary to:

  • focus activities in a relatively few countries where there are strong national champions at the political level and the policy and regulatory frameworks are evolving in a positive direction

  • Country focus across themes concentrates efforts and ensures chances of success. A "big push" in priority countries can achieve a critical mass of achievements.

These achievements can then serve as showcases to mobilize greatly expanded donor and member State commitment to AISI objectives and programmes in the first decades of the twenty-first century. However, at the same time many countries have already approached ECA with interest in starting AISI activities in their countries; concentration on four or five priority countries might exclude others from participation. Additionally, if concentration is the chosen modality, what criteria should be used: those countries with the best chances of success? In many of these there is already a heavy inflow of assistance and start up of activities - e.g. in the IDRC Acacia selected countries of Mozambique, Senegal, South Africa and Uganda; as well as in other countries with many "champions" of AISI and a conducive policy environment, such as Ghana. In others, absence of an enabling policy environment might frustrate project implementation. The views of the Committee are particularly sought on this issue.

Priority Thematic Areas for Concentrated Effort

At the October 1996 meeting of donor and executing agency partners(1) seven related thematic areas were selected for priority attention in AISI implementation:

  • awareness raising,

  • policy and regulatory framework development (including the development of National Information and Communication Infrastructure plans strategies),

  • connectivity,

  • democratization of access to the information society (with particular reference to the development and testing of multipurpose community telecentres),

  • training and capacity building,

  • sectoral applications (with a suggested concentration on education, health, and electronic commerce), and

  • development information (with emphasis on African content creation, management and dissemination) .

These areas are not independent, and the order is relevant. Without awareness of the benefits use of ICT can bring in accelerating economic and social development, policies and regulatory frameworks are unlikely to change. Likewise national information and communications infrastructure strategies will probably not be developed. The needed cheap and broadband connectivity will not be forthcoming without policy and regulatory frameworks encouraging domestic and international investment. Without connectivity, it is hard to speak of democratizing access to it. And without this connectivity, reaching beyond the capital cities to small towns and rural areas, sectoral applications are not possible without further increasing domestic and international inequality. Capacity building is of course necessary for all of these areas. Of these sectoral applications, education, health, and electronic commerce seem to offer the greatest immediate and long-term benefits in improving national competitiveness in an increasingly global, knowledge-based economy. Making available global, regional, and national knowledge for promotion of economic and social development will strengthen the sectoral applications and help marshal global knowledge resources for African countries.

A critical mass of activities is needed in each of these areas to ensure the reality of an African information society by the year 2010. ECA has its own strengths and weaknesses and must proceed with its implementation programme, in concert with its partners, in the area of its own strengths. ECA has been directed by the ECA Conference of Ministers to take the lead in co-ordination of AISI. ECA has particular strengths in convening, in building policy awareness, and in working with member States towards developing policy plans and strategies; historically it has a history of leadership in the area of development information management and dissemination. These are clearly areas on which it should focus.(2) However, with the restructuring of ECA and the creation in January 1997 of the Development Information Services Division, DISD has been given new posts which it will use to build strengths in the area of sector applications. Therefore it wants to work with member States to assess and serve their needs in this area.

The Partnership for Information and Communications Technologies in Africa

A further note is necessary on the role of ECA's partners in implementing AISI. At the Rabat April 1997 meeting of donor and executing agencies implementing projects on information and communication technologies AISI was generally accepted as the framework for their collaboration in the field of ICT's in Africa. However, each agency or organisation has their own comparative advantages and traditional areas of concentration which they want to maximize, and their own ideas for priority projects within and among the AISI priority thematic areas. ECA can not direct, obviously, what areas these organisations and agencies choose to enter. However, through partnership with them it can see where there are opportunities for action or missing links in the overall framework and step in to stimulate action. For information, here is a partial list of some of these areas:

  • ACCT (La Francophonie) - Awareness Raising, Sectoral Applications (Education)

  • Bellanet International - Development Information Knowledge Management

  • Carnegie Corporation of New York- Science and Technology, Libraries

  • Food and Agriculture Organisation- Awareness Raising, Sectoral Applications (Agriculture), Development Information Knowledge Management (Agriculture)

  • Global Information Infrastructure Commission - Awareness Raising (and through its members Connectivity and Sectoral Applications)

  • International Telecommunication Union - Awareness Raising, Policy and Regulatory Framework Development

  • International Development Research Centre - Awareness Raising, Democratization of Access

  • Organisation of African Unity - Awareness Raising

  • Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) - Democratization of Access, Sectoral Applications

  • Telecommunications Foundation for Africa - Awareness Raising, Policy and Regulatory Framework Development

  • UNCTAD- Electronic Commerce

  • UNDP/Sustainable Development Network Programme - Connectivity, Sectoral Applications (Environment)

  • UNESCO - Awareness Raising, Sectoral Applications (Education), Development Information Knowledge Management (Education)

  • UNIDO - Sectoral Applications (Electronic Commerce, Industry)

  • USAID - Connectivity, Sectoral Applications

  • WHO - Sectoral Applications (Health), Development Information Knowledge Management (Health)

  • World Bank - Policy and Regulatory Framework Development, Sectoral Applications, Development Information Knowledge Management

  • World Trade Organisation - Policy and Regulatory Framework Development, Sectoral Applications (Electronic Commerce)

The areas in which ECA suggests that it undertake activities with partners are detailed in the attached matrix. Also attached is a textual and matrix annex showing areas where the World Bank, taking a sample case of a partner in the implementation of AISI, is undertaking activities that fulfill AISI objectives.

A further aspect of partnership that has been little developed is that of partnership with the private sector. The views of the Committee are requested on how in co-ordinating the implementation of the AISI ECA can enter into effective partnerships with the private sector.

1. ECA Conference of Ministers resolution 812 (XXXI), in addition to mandating the establishment of the African Technical Advisory Committee, also directed the ECA Executive Secretary to set up a mechanism to assist in the development, follow up and coordination of the implementation of African Information Society Initiative programmes and projects. This regional co-ordinating committee met first in Addis Ababa in October 1996; in April 1997 several additional partners requested the enlarging of its terms of reference in a meeting in Rabat; this enlarged committee of partners will be meeting at ECA from 22-24 October following the ATAC meeting.

2. These are in line with the modalities that ECA's Executive Secretary has outlined for ECA's renewal: networking with African expertise, policy advocacy, demmininating best practices, clearinghouse for development information, capacity building through training seminars and workshops and partnerships to leverage resources and avoid duplication.