‘ICT Focus Magazine’, Ethiopia

http://www.ictfocus.net/

ICT Focus Magazine has successfully presented perspectives beyond national boundaries, while also focusing on rural development as an important issue. The magazine’s contribution to ICT development includes raising awareness among readers on the WSIS process and what it means to Ethiopia. 

ICT Focus magazine, the first of its kind in Ethiopia, is the premier source for strategies and resources for the ICT sector in the country.  Each issue offers timely news analysis, product, and company profiles, feature articles, and regular columns analyzing the latest technology trends.

Radio Afrique Espoir FM 99.1, Benin

The winner of this year’s AISI-OSISA Radio Award is Radio Afrique Espoir from Benin. Based in the capital, Porto Novo, “Radio Afrique Espoir” is one of the private radio stations which started during the process of democratization in Benin in the late 80s.This radio station has contributed greatly to freedom of speech, particularly in rural areas where government radio cannot reach properly. Radio Afrique Espoir allows the local population to participate actively in any issues related to the development of their communities. It provides a platform where community members can call in, participate in radio discussions and give their points of view on any action taken by the government, while facilitating the participation of the community in the administration of the radio station. Radio Afrique Espoir uses local languages in many of its programmes, a policy that is almost non-existent with the government radio station. The station has generated enthusiasm among the population, encouraging them to contribute to the production of radio programs.

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Association Yampukri, Burkina Faso

http://www.yam-pukri.org

This award is for the best factual (documentary and features) stories and news on ICT for Development in Africa. The judges selected Association Yam Pukri for the award. The documentary programme features various aspects of the Association and its achievements in Burkina Faso. It is playing an important role in popularizing the use of ICTs by youngsters in Burkina Faso. It also helps poor people access Internet and offers computer training courses, as this has become a basic requirement in the country. In addition to training, Yam Pukri is also active in undertaking research studies on Internet in Africa, and in publishing books on internet and computer sciences for students and professionals. Yam Pukri has established a very good working relation with partners particularly with NGOs. Under its new program called “ Local Information and Network Exchange” It creates a solid network which will strengthen the existing one.

YAM PUKRI is a national NGO with 700 members, including professors, ICT professionals, students and other institutions. The objective of the association is to popularize ICTs among the youth through conducting ICT training at 6 training centres, operating 3 Cyber Centers, undertaking studies and research on the Internet and publishing books and materials. Since its inception, the association has trained 900 people, established a computer library, and published 5 training books.

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Takawira Musara, ‘Dialling for Africa’, Zimbabwe

Mr. Takawira Musara’s article, “Dialling for Africa”,   reviews limited coverage of telecommunication networks in Africa and examines wireless and satellite technologies and voice over IP (VOIP) to explore the potentials for servicing the mostly rural population in the continent.  It also touches upon the regulatory frameworks and ICT policies which play key roles in attracting investments and attaining socio-economic development.

IT & Telecom Digest, Nigeria

www.it-telecomdigest.com

IT and Telecom Digest highlights innovative and relevant technologies to Africa, such as mobile telephony, while profiling and interviewing ICT entrepreneurs who are the providers of new services in Nigeria. Featuring mostly local stories and events, the magazine is a valuable source of information for ICT professionals and the business community to play a leading role in the advancement of ICTs. 

Second Place:            

Bianca Wright, South Africa

The second prize is given to Ms. Bianca Wright of South Africa for her articles about ICTs. “Cities of the Future” investigates the e-city phenomenon to see if Cape Town is about to become South Africa’s Silicon Valley and what it will mean for the country. She writes about telecommuting and its potential for transforming South African business practices in her article “To Commute or not to commute?”

Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) website

http://www.wougnet.org

The judges selected the website of the Women of Uganda’s Network (WOUGNET) as a winner for this year’s IICD Award on Local Content Applications. The site is a good source of information, knowledge, best practices and lessons learned on women’s issues, and a variety of socio-economic issues. The collection of information and web resources on ICT policies, for example, informs the audience of key ICT for development issues, such as open source and the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) Gender Caucus. It also serves as an entry point and hub for their engagements and participation. 

WOUGNET is a non-governmental organization established in May 2000 by several women's organizations in Uganda. Its mission is to promote and support the use of ICTs by women and women’s organizations in Uganda, so that they can take advantage of the opportunities presented by ICTs in order to effectively address national and local problems of sustainable development. The organization is also interested in how these technologies can be integrated with traditional means of information exchange and dissemination including radio, video, television and print media to improve conditions of life for women by enhancing their capacities and opportunities for exchange, collaboration and information sharing.  

Second Place:

African Languages Technology, Nigeria

The second prize is given to African Languages Technology (ALT) of Nigeria for its innovative features and for applying ICT to the local context. ALT aims at appropriating Human Language Technologies (HLT) for use in African languages via advocacy and service projects. One component of the project addresses HLT awareness and research capacity building by supporting the Africa Regional Centre for Information Science in the University of Ibadan. Another contribution of ALT is the research on the Yoruba language which is spoken by about 30 million people in Nigeria, Benin and Togo. The research led to the designing and implementation of a Yoruba keyboard and consultations towards the standardization of mapping of the full Yoruba character set in ASCII and UNICODE. In addition, the project developed Yoruba text-to-speech software to meet the information demand among non-literate people.

Yoruba keyboard

Etienne Tasse, Cameroun

Mr. Tassé’s work “Les premiers pas des langues africaines sur Internet” was recognized for the consistent and informed reports about a variety of ICT issues, especially on the benefit of open source software to Africa, an insightful overview of the Bamako 2002 meeting and the development of African language software.

After a graduation in business administration in 1985, Mr Etienne Tasse has been trained in journalism in Cameroon, Netherland and France. During many years, he has been a reporter, then responsible of the economic column in the cameroonian weekly challenge hebdo. In 1995, he was appointed editor in chief of this newspaper. At the same time, he was the cameroonian correspondant of several news agencies and magazines : IPS, Syfia International, Jeune Afrique Economie, Afrique-Asie, etc. In 1998, he established a small news agency in Cameoon known as JADE Cameroun (Journalistes en Afrique pour le développement). Here, Etienne Tasse and his colleagues write investigation papers which are published in newspapers of several African and European countries, through Syfia international, a network of which he is a member. Mr Etienne Tasse also produces radio programmes to increase population awareness of development issues, and retrain reporters in investigative journalism. In addition, he trains radio reporters to use ICTs, mainly the digital audio techniques.

Salif Sanogo, ‘CyberNTIC’ , Mali

Mr. Sanogo created a TV programme “CyberNTIC”  in Mali’s national public TV two and half years ago. The 30-minute programme on ICTs aims to popularize the technologies among the youth in Mali. In addition to reporting on technical subjects, the programme interviews guests and demonstrates tips and know-how to transform the audience into net-savvy generation.

Mr. Salif Sanogo is a Malian who has wide-ranging knowledge and experience in mass media, including radio and TV broadcasting. He studied at l'Ecole Nationale d'Administration in Bamako and CESTI (Centre d'Etudes des Sciences et Techniques de l'Information) in Dakar where he obtained a diploma in journalism with a specialization of TV broadcasting. His work experience ranges from a presenter at the national TV of Mali and a correspondence for Africa No. 1 in Mali. He continued to study broadcasting and multi-media journalism at l'Ecole Superieure de Journalisme de Lille in France, while working at Radio France Internationale, l'Est Republicain and France 3, Lille. Since returned to his country, he resumed his work at the national TV station and established CyberNTIC, the winning work for the Media Award, which is broadcast every month on TV.

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Brenda Zulu, Zambia

This category recognizes female journalists and supports their interest in reporting ICT for development issues. The overall objective of this award is to encourage women journalists to enter into reporting on specialized fields such as ICTs. For this category, Ms. Brenda Zulu of Zambia was selected for her progressive and personal stance in her reportage. Her article “Why Does Africa Lag Behind?” compares experiences in Africa and Afghanistan and explores how ICT applications can help reduce poverty in the African context. In “A Safari Into A Cross-culture World Of Women: African Caucus”, she reports on the Know How conference organized in July 2002 in Kampala, Uganda. It emphasizes the importance of access to information among rural women and their empowerment. It also reports on Internet cafes’ contributions to enhance women’s confidence in using ICTs and gaining information that were previously beyond their reach.

Linking gender discrimination and lack of means of communication among women activists, Brenda Zulu’s article, “Voices from Kampala Know-How Conference” advocates different modes of communication and information generation to meet women’s information and communication flow from grassroots to the top. In “Governments Depoliticise Information”, she challenges African governments by questioning why Internet services in the US and Europe are much more affordable than in Africa and why newly created regulatory bodies are not functioning the way they are supposed to.

Ms. Zulu is a citizen of the Great Britain, but lives and works in Lusaka, Zambia. As a freelance journalist, she reports on a variety of critical socio-economic issues, such as ICTs, HIV/AIDS, and gender. After studying journalism at the Zambia Institute of Mass Communication and Education Trust, she worked at the Daily Express, the Times of Zambia and the Today Newspaper. For her dedication to the work and journalism, she was presented an award for the best journalist by Care International and SCOPE OVC. She is a member of the Zambia Independent Media Association (ZIMA).