:: Stakeholders - WSIS Academia Research Network Brainstorming Workshop 9 - 11 June 2004 United Nations Conference Center - CR6 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The Academia Research Network (ARN): a briefing paper for presentation at the first brainstorming session of the ARN

Background
A nation's ability to fully develop an Information Society depends on the capacity of its people to be educated, to assimilate, and to process complex information. In this context, higher education institutions play a critical role, whilst repositioning themselves for the challenges of globalization and the information age.

Worldwide, academic communities have been part of a driving force in creating the Information Society, including spearheading intellectual leadership through a series of knowledge-building activities. They constitute a tremendous reservoir of expertise that could provide vital assistance working with governments, private sector and civil society in an increasingly globalized and complex world.

Apart from the absence of systematic programmes on research and development activities there is limited literature available on the Information Society produced about Africa by Africans. According to a recent report of the Association of African Universities’ ICT Technical Experts, “many HEIs in Africa have not been part of the globalization and the information age, thus being left out of the unprecedented tools made available by the ICT revolution for education, learning, research and development and for various categories of management activities”.

As a result, Africa’s academic and intellectual communities are considered relative newcomers to discourses on the information society despite their earlier involvement in information for development activities in late 1980s and 1990s, with projects such as the Pan African Development Information System (PADIS) and the Capacity Building in Electronic Communications for Africa (CABECA). Whilst these initiatives placed African universities in the driver’s seat of ICT-related activities in Africa momentum has dropped since then.

It is for this reason that Academia Research Network project has been launched to bring the diverse and varied research activities in the field of ICTs and society to the attention of African researchers, signaling the need for academics to effectively engage in collaborative research activities on the continent and assert their intellectual role.

The African Information Society Initiative (AISI) and the African Learning network
In building an Information Society where key stakeholders can play a pivotal role, ECA upon the request of its Member States launched the Africa Information Society Initiative (AISI). This was the first framework of its kind to concretely prioritize the issue of ICTs within the socio-economic development agenda. This initiative was approved by the ECA Conference of Finance Ministers in 1996 and adopted the same year by the Summit of Heads of State and Governments of the Organization of African Unity and ultimately supported by the then G7+1 as Africa’s major ICT initiative in its 1997 Denver Summit. The AISI recommendations fed into the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Action Plans and are the cornerstone of the NEPAD ICTs Short Term Action Plan.

Through the implementation of AISI, ECA has supported the formulation of national e-strategies commonly known as National Information and Communication Infrastructure (NICI) plans, in approximately 30 African countries, which promote the formulation and implementation of e-strategies. Other AISI activities include information and knowledge management activities and projects that include the Information Technology Centre for Africa (ITCA), which is an information and communication technology (ICT) focused exhibition and learning centre to demonstrate to African policy makers and planners the value of ICT for development.

With respect to information and knowledge management activities for African academia, ECA considers the higher education community as the intellectual backbone to lead Africa into the digital age. The AISI framework document states that the AISI higher education and research objective is “to act as a vehicle for pooling national and regional intellectual and human resources to help contribute to research and development efforts in the continent.

In re-affirming the role of academia, universities and research institutions in the Information Society, ECA created VarsityNet, which is part of the Africa Learning Network (ALN), created to facilitate the effective use of ICTs in the learning and teaching process. The ALN was launched during the first African Development Forum (ADF’99), of which the theme was “The Challenge to Africa of Globalisation and the Information Age”. The ALN is based on the premise that transformation in education and learning requires a shift from traditional methods where new technologies can create the opportunity for the best minds to exchange information across vast distances, both at the national level and across throughout the Diaspora.

There are three pillars to the ALN:

• ICTs in schools, and the creation of a regional SchoolNet Africa structure that supports national and regional school networking activities. The initiative started with networking schools in Africa and has expanded to capacity-building activities for teachers, as well as research on ICT and education. It is currently operational in 31 countries in over 300 schools.

• VarsityNet, which establishes connectivity at universities and related institutions of higher learning and research, and stimulates the development of content production and information sharing within this environment. Under the VarsityNet programme, a pilot Research & Development project is underway supported by the Ford Foundation and implemented by the Addis Ababa University and the Inter-University Council of East Africa (IUCEA). The project in Ethiopia is engaged in research on a pilot application in the area of e-government and the use of the Amharic local language for a web-based, multilingual and multi-alphabet, customizable document exchange platform to be used by local and central governments in the country. IUCEA is implementing the project in collaboration with the Universities of Nairobi (Kenya), Makerere (Uganda), Dar-es-Salaam (Tanzania) and the Jomo Kenyatta University of Science and Technology (Kenya) to develop a pilot application that supports the International Fellowships Programme (IFP) and the Inter-University Students Exchange Programme for East Africa.

• OOSYNET, a youth networking initiative that addresses the needs of Out-Of-School Youth (OOSY) at the national and regional level. Some pilot activities underway include support to the Imfundo project in Ethiopia focusing on enhancing the learning experiences and livelihood skills of urban disadvantaged children through information and communication technologies (ICTs).

Each of the above-mentioned categories comprises four areas of focus:

• Curriculum Development and Access to Information for Learning
  Measures to enrich learning of cultural, scientific and social subjects, to lay the foundation for self-guided learning and, adapting appropriate media for different learning environments

• New Learning Approaches and Outcomes
  Measures to promote peer education, community learning ventures, public debate and decision-making skills

• Knowledge Sharing and Building Intellectual Capital
  Measures to promote the creation and presentation of content and knowledge by learners and teachers and to empower them as global communicators

• Programme Sustainability and “Revenue” Creation
  Measures to promote the production of content for sale in the knowledge marketplace (e.g. to Centres of African Studies), to protect African intellectual property and to reinforce human capacity in science, engineering and technology

More information on the ALN is available at http://www.uneca.org/aisi/

The Academia Research Network as Part of VarsityNet
As flipside to the VarsityNet R&D activities that has been focusing predominantly on applications and software solutions, the ARN will concentrate its research activities on ICT and society issues. Although the research activities are distinctly different, it is expected that there will be synergies between the researchers working on R&D activities with members of the ARN.

The launch of the ARN took place in December 2003 during the first phase of WSIS, having originated from a Visioning Retreat on the theme "Intellectual Leadership and the African Information Society Initiative: What Role for Africa's Academic Community?” The Retreat was organized by ECA and the Ford Foundation partners in June 2003 to prepare the African academia to reflect upon their role in the Information Society and to sensitize them to the WSIS process. Participants brainstormed for two days to identify their vision of an Information Society, and measures they should take for their involvement beyond the mere usage of ICTs. This also included how African research and higher education institutions could provide a leadership role to ensure that they become innovative contributors.

To translate vision into reality, the creation of an Academia Research Network was proposed as a concrete follow up activity of the Retreat. ECA in collaboration with the Ford Foundation has since taken the lead in creating this network so as to provide a platform and space for leading African academics and researchers to enhance their role and to reflect on the many intellectual issues related to the Information Society.

WSIS, ECA and the Academia Research Network
The WSIS provided a global platform where key actors: governments, UN agencies, private sector, academia, the media and the civil society, came together to develop a common vision and understanding of the Information Society and have adopted a declaration and a plan of action.

ECA has been working with African stakeholders to solicit their input and encourage their active participation in the WSIS process to ensuring that Africa’s voice and concerns are articulated and addressed throughout the preparations for the Summit. This process began when ECA in collaboration with the Malian Government organized the African Regional Conference held in May 2002, as a preparatory meeting for WSIS. Known as Bamako 2002, the Conference was attended by 45 African countries with representatives from governments (most of them at ministerial level), civil society, and the private sector.

To date, it has been difficult to concretize the consistent input of the African academia in building the African Information Society, in general and in the WSIS, in particular. Yet, they represent an unparalleled but untapped source of knowledge, expertise and innovations on the continent and can make significant contributions to the advancement of the African Information Society as well as the incorporation and integration of African views and issues into the WSIS processes. Consequently, ECA remains committed to ensuring that African academia to play a significant role in the continent’s Information Society, despite the fact that they still lag behind other sectors, such as civil society and mass media, in preparing for the next phase of WSIS, to be held in Tunis, Tunisia.

Proposed Research Topics for the Academia Research Network
In implementing the AISI at the national level, many countries have embarked on national e-strategies/policies (known as National Information and Communication Infrastructure – NICI plans), and the intellectual input and guidance of academia needs to be increased in both the formulation and implementation processes of such policies. In line with the objectives of the AISI and the ALN VarsityNet programme and the WSIS Action Plan, the first consultative (and brainstorming) session of the ARN will bring together academics and researcher to review trends in the Information Society and:

• Determine strategies to reverse the absence of systematic programmes on policy research on an African-driven information society for Africans;

• Identify research topics that can enhance the development of the African Information Society;

• Establish modalities for the subsequent launching of sub-regional networks of the ARN based on the identified topics; and

• Propose an action plan for specific follow-up activities in respective sub-regions.

In light of this meeting, ECA has selected some initial topics for members to consider and review, which could serve to enhance the discussions and lead to research activities based on agreed and appropriate methodologies and frameworks.

1) Capacity building for the Information Society in Africa
Capacity building can be defined, in general terms, as the process of improving a nation's capacity to effectively initiate and implement policies, programmes and strategies for maintaining and advancing institutions, infrastructure, and systems for the production and exchange of goods and services. The main elements include immediate solutions to bridge the capacity gap, such as generating and utilizing knowledge on contemporary issues and challenges, as well as institutional capacity development efforts for sustaining societal needs.

With respect to the emergence of the Information Society and access to the ICTs, there are two strands to capacity building. ICTs can contribute to both individual and institutional capacity building and facilitate knowledge acquisition as educational tools in various fields. With respect to capacity building in the ICT sector, they provide the necessary skills for the skillful manipulation of technology and the mastering of practical applications. Capacity building in the short to long term is becoming a key strategy for building an inclusive Information Society where the utilization of knowledge becomes an integral component for education and overall socio-economic development. However, the determining factors are:

• Creating the enabling educational policy to support the development of e-literate citizens;

• Assisting educational institutions adapt to new requirements as a result of the Information Society;

• Developing the necessary multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary skills within educational institutions;

• Designing new models for capacity development both within and out of educational institutions

2) Creating an enabling environment
a)    Internet Governance

The Internet is a collection of networks joined together to form a global communications medium made up of multiple components including technical protocols, elaborate numbering and naming systems based on widely accepted standards. This infrastructure allows the transmission of information across a multitude of interconneted networks, making the management of the Internet a controversial and high collaboration activity. Given this background, the UN Secretary-General under the framework of the WSIS Action Plan has established a Working Group on Internet Governance to develop a common understanding of the respective roles and responsibilities of governments, the private sector, and civil society from both the developing and developed countries.

For African countries some outstanding issues in this area include:

• Participation and involvement in global Internet issues in line with national priorities and needs;

• Developing the appropriate national legal and regulatory framework within countries such as electronic protection (encryption) to ensure the development of e-commerce;

• Supporting initiatives that building capacity in policy implementation based on socio-cultureal and socio-economic conditions.

b)     Intellectual Property Rights (IPRs)

Globalization and the Information Age has pushed the need for the protection of new rules on Intellectual Property Rights (IPSs) given that the Internet has created a digital world without borders offering acess to free content and knowledge (through information products). For people in the developing world who cannot afford to pay authors from the developed countries, this brings great promise of better access to learning and education. However, new techniques in IPR protection as a result of the Information Society have been introduced to reduce profitability risks from digital technology. Developed countries as major exportrs of intellectual property products pushed for a change in perspectives in the international arena, leading to the “Agreement on trade-Related Aspect of Intellectual Property Rights” (TRIPs) taken up by WTO and other global bodies such as ICANN, and WIPO from various perspectives. The upshot of this is that richer countries will have more leverage for the enforcement of IPRs with mounting pressure on poorer ones to institute similar IPR legal administrations. This is an area where African countries are least prepared, and consequently where strategies are needed for instituting IPR regimes based on international principles without having to compromise on their national priorities. How can academia provide advice to their governments including:

• Advise countries on the establishement of cyberlaws and IP policies in line with their national e-strategies;

• Seek solutions on creating the appropriate IP infrastructure;

• Assist with the building of the requisite human resources necessary for managing IP regimes/systems;

• Develop human capacity in the area of cyberlaws.

3) African languages and content development in the cyberspace
With over 2,000 languages, which represents a third of all the languages worldwide, Africa cannot afford to ignore the issue of language in the development and building of an Information Society. Yet local African languages can become marginalized as a result of the Internet revolution with English becoming the dominant language. Efforts need to be made to include the use of local languages in the electronic world, if the majority of Africans are to gain access to the Information Society. Given that Africa is under-represented in the global Information Society, there is a need to build capacity to produce and collect accurate and relevant local content in official and national languages, recognizing oral and traditional forms of communications.

AISI emphasizes the importance of preserving and promoting African cultures, including the usage of local languages and content creation. There have also been calls to address new imperatives and challenges in the adaptation of African languages to promote greater access to the Information Society, as clearly spelt out in the Bamako Declaration. Consideration should be given to the continent's linguistic specificities with the introduction of ICTs for content generation and creation. Consequently, research collaboration work could focus on technical aspects of the use of extended Latin-based character sets and non-Western scripts on computers and the Internet. Other issues include synchronization of content development in local languages and ICT policies in African countries. Therefore, some of the issues for discussion are:

• Determining the economic, political and technological aspects of language development in the Information Society

• Building individual and institutional capacities for addressing language needs in the academic community

• Providing an information and knowledge infrastructure for local language exchange and dissemination.

4) Measuring the impact of the African Information Society
The tremendous growth in the use ICTs led to an increased interest in understanding its social and economic impact, giving rise to crosscutting research to understand the effects on the academia community in particular and the society at large. In addition, there is a need to develop indicators for the targets set in the WSIS Action Plan “as global references for improving connectivity and access in the use of ICTs” which are to be achieved by 2015. In addition, the WSIS Action plan recommends development of indicators for monitoring implementation between the two phases of the WSIS. This led to the involvement of the UN ICT Task Force and comforted the role of the UN Regional Commissions. In this context, several activities are being carried out by stakeholders, including consultations on indicators and benchmarking issues, development of questionnaires and discussions on core data sets, and the involvement of statistical offices and academia.

ECA with the support of IDRC, EU and NORAD has since 2001 taken up the challenge of developing information society indicators in the framework of the Scan-ICT project, which started in 2001. Scan ICT is an initiative that supports the growing investment in information and communication technologies (ICTs) as well as the transition of Africa to an Information Society. The pilot phase was implemented in six African countries (Ethiopia, Ghana, Morocco, Mozambique, Senegal and Uganda) to collect, analyze, and disseminate information on the penetration and application of ICTs in various sectors of the national economy and society. One of its objectives is to put in place a system of data collection and updating at the national level for monitoring the information society. The Scan-ICT process and methodology have been fully documented and all the reports are available at: http://www.uneca.org/aisi/scanict.htm

A critical concern in Africa is documenting the impact of the Information Society on the life of citizens and its contribution in facilitating the implementation of the MDGs and the role of academia becomes essential with regard to measuring information society developments that can only be analyzed by further research. A number of research areas should be addressed in the context of measuring the impact of the African Information Society. These include:

• Identification of indicators for measuring and benchmarking the information society;

• Assessing information society indicators;

• Determining the appropriate methodologies in the African context; and

• Determining the role of national statistics offices in the process.

5) Mainstreaming gender in the Information Society
Increasingly, information and knowledge have become essential building blocks of the Information Society and vital resources of the information economy in Africa. Since its inception, the AISI has recognized access to information and knowledge as key to the empowerment of women as a means to achieving gender equality. An ECA study on assessing ICT impact on society concluded that in a number of spheres, there are significant discrepancies between men and women in terms of access to information and communication technologies (ICT) for development and involvement of women in IT professions. These factors and others, notably socialization and the fact that girls are not adequately oriented towards the sciences in education, are no doubt prohibiting to women's access to information.

To this end, it has been reiterated in Chapter J of the Beijing Platform for Action, and subsequently in ECA’s Africa Women’s Report , that utilization of information and knowledge would enable women to make informed decisions and improve their participation in political, economic and social activities for the betterment of their lives. Out of these broad conclusions, several research questions can be drawn including:

• Defining the quantitative or qualitative assessment of the impact of ICT access in women’s economic empowerment and political participation;

• Assessing ICT polices and their impact on men and women; and

• Preparing women-friendly policies vis a vis the Information Society.

6) Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships in building the African Information Society
The Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) defines Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships (MSP) as “Alliances between parties drawn from government, business and civil society that strategically aggregate the resources and competencies of each to resolve the key challenges of ICT as an enabler of sustainable development, and which are founded on principles of shared risk, cost and mutual benefit.” The need for such alliances is a result of the recognition that no one party on its own can guarantee development.

Governments provide the political environment for development, specifically, the policies, standards and guidelines under which society should operate to achieve identified development goals. Civil society groups can influence policy and ensure that ICT strategies and programmes promote development, poverty alleviation, and participation of communities while advocating for the use of new and traditional ICT in the promotion of sustainable development based on social justice and human development. However, the academic sector is primarily responsible for training the workforce needed by most other sectors to undertake their various roles in the development of the Information Society. They also conduct research to advance technologies and develop new tools techniques and solutions. However, the objectives of all sectors can only be achieved if their efforts coordinated and the multi-stakeholder partnership (MSP) framework provides for such coordinated approaches. Though seven principles have been enunciated for the management of MSPs, the nature of the partnerships will still depend upon their jurisdictions. Moreover the concept of MSPs is still developing and there is a need for additional research on its application and on relevant issues within the African context. Specific issues, or research questions, to be investigated under the theme of MSP include:

• Determining the components of the information infrastructure that are best provided by academia;

• Identifying alternative models for funding public goods such as research on ICT4D in the academia community;

• Defining organisational and administrative models for shared responsibilities between various stakeholders;

• Developing strategies to support decision-makers with respect to the development of the Information Society.

7) The Industrialization of ICTs in Africa
Africa’s digital economy is characterized by being a net importer of all ICT products – computers, communication equipment, software and related services. Digital inclusion in the African context entails support and access to information and communications manufacturing capabilities especially with regard to low cost and appropriate technologies among other issues.

The NEPAD work plan emphasizes “the need for increasing Africa’s capacity in design and manufacturing of communications equipment”. African countries are developing ICT policies and strategies that promote the establishment of local ICT industries to facilitate the production, manufacturing, development, delivery, and distribution of ICT products and services. In some African countries ICT manufacturing capabilities are being encouraged through providing support to local ICT companies involved in innovative activities such as setting up IT parks. Some regional projects related to developing Africa’s capacity in ICT industrialization such as INDAFTEL are also underway.

There is a need to conduct research on selected critical issues related to the sector in order to review the current status, opportunities and challenges of ICT industrializations in Africa. In this regard, the African Academia Research Network can contribute significantly through research topics including the following:

• Advicing countries on more strategic choices and potential for ICT industrialization and manufacturing capacity;

• Determining strategies within this context for African regional integration programmes;

• Assessing lessons learned, particularly from other regions of the world;

• Designing private-public partnership mechanisms and models with a clearly defined role for academia.

Conclusion
The afore-mentioned issues, though not exhaustive, are aimed at opening and stimulating debate during the meeting to provide a unique platform for the full engagement of Africa’s intellectual community in determining their role vis a vis the development of the Information Society on the continent, as well as create a collaborative approach to research on ICT and society.

The workshop is expected to determine the modalities for the establishment of ARN sub-regional networks and the identification of key research topics for researchers to address based on an initial face-to-face meeting followed by regular electronic interaction by members and partners. ECA will provide electronic discussion lists for each sub-regional network and, where and when possible, promote sub- and regional engagement. The event will provide the opportunity for participants to reflect their views on the above-mentioned issues as well as identify other areas that they consider pertinent to current debates on the Information Society.

Participants are drawn from central, east, north, southern and west Africa, including resource persons, and representation from some regional and international institutions.

Through the activities of the ARN, ECA will harness research and analytical outputs as the contribution of the African academia to the WSIS 2005 process, as well as disseminate the research findings throughout the continent and internationally.

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Annotated Agenda
Issue/Background Paper
Documents
List of Participants
Academia Online Discussion List
Academia Retreat, June 2003