PICTA Bulletin is a monthly
publication that provides information on activities of members in the Partnership for ICTs
in Africa (PICTA), as well as news on ICT-related activities in Africa.
Africa
Bureau renews commitment for African participation in WSIS 2005
The meeting of the WSIS Africa
Bureau, which took place from 20 to 21 February 2004 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia evaluated
participation of African stakeholders before and during the Geneva conference and made
proposals for the African regional preparatory conference for WSIS phase 2. This also
included issues on partner coordination, CSO/Media participation; modalities for
organising Tunis 2005; the role of the Bureau and the need for a strong outreach and
communication strategy. A set of recommendations were made focusing on strengthening the
Bureau’s role in the entire process to ensure effective and active African
participation. For further info, contact Makane Faye (mfaye@uneca.org)
Scan-ICT, statistics and data gathering for the Information
Society
ECA, in collaboration with IDRC
held a concluding workshop for the first phase of the Scan-ICT project from 17 to 18
February 2004 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The workshop brought together ICT practitioners
and statisticians to reflect on the first phase of Scan-ICT, a multi-donor project which
also includes the European Commission and NORAD aimed at building Africa's capacity to
gather information and data needed to support ICT investments. The workshop reviewed the
Scan-ICT methodology used in each country through country reports, identified lessons
learnt, and discussed approaches to mainstreaming Scan-ICT into decision making processes,
including linkages to the national e-strategy (NICI) development process and attaining the
MDGs. The need for extension of the project to its second phase with a possibility of
including some more countries was recommended. A new dynamic to this workshop was the
participation of statisticians from selected National Statistics Offices, who made calls
for their inclusion in the next phase of the project. The participation of the
statisticians also assisted ECA to determine how they can be involved in measuring the
Information Society. For further info, contact Mohammed Timoulali (mtimoulali@uneca.org). For more on Scan-ICT Phase
1 go to: http://www.uneca.org/aisi/scanict.htm
NICI Review Workshop
ECA, in collaboration with the
European Commission organised a two-day NICI review workshop from 19 to 20 February 2004
in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The workshop took stock of best practices and lessons learnt in
the formulation and implementation of NICI plans and strategies. National NICI focal
points presented their respective processes and reviewed the NICI methodology used in each
country. The workshop also identified new approaches to implementation and how the
policy-making process can be enhanced in the future. In addition, experiences in
developing sectoral and village e-strategies were shared among the participants. For
further info, contact Makane Faye (mfaye@uneca.org)
Web: http://www.uneca.org/aisi/nici
UN Secretary General Extends Mandate for Task Force Until End 2005
UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan
has decided to extend the initial three-year term of the UN ICT Task Force until the end
of 2005. This will extend the work of the Task Force until the second phase of the WSIS,
due to be held in Tunisia in December 2005. More: http://www.unicttaskforce.org
MicroSoft defends African government deals
Conceding that open source
software has a role to play, Microsoft has defended its deals with African governments,
following a strongly-worded warning by the Free Software and Open Source Foundation for
Africa (http://www.fossfa.org/tiki-index.phpFossfa). FOSSFA issued a warning to
African governments earlier this week that entering into "deals" with Microsoft
would jeopardise their own software industries and limit their countries' ICT growth.
Microsoft rejects this claim, saying there is place for both commercial and open source
software in Africa, and that both will contribute to the continent's ICT growth. FOSSFA
co-ordinator Bildad Kagai said in a letter to open source advocates in Africa that recent
agreements and partnerships that African governments had been signing with Microsoft were
"in essence, killing [the] local software industry and inhibiting the potential of
developing local human capacity in the field of ICT". More: http://allafrica.com/stories/200402200482.html
ICTs for Intercultural Dialogue - A UNESCO Project for Indigenous
People
Preserving indigenous
peoples’ cultural resources by fostering access to ICT, thus contributing to
narrowing the digital divide is the aim of this new project. Involving ten indigenous
communities - the Naga and the Mentowai in the Asia Pacific region, the Pygmies and the
Himbas in Africa and the Quechua, Aymara, Kikanantay, Rapa Nui and Mapuche in Latin
America - the project aims at fostering the use of ICTs to contribute to revitalizing
their identity and at recovering their cultural self-worth and dignity. More: http://portal.unesco.org/ci/ev.php?URL_ID=14364&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201
UN to support global e-Democracy
A project to promote e-democracy
across the world is to be launched by the United Nations this summer, beginning with a web
portal aimed at strengthening IT practice in national parliaments of the developing world.
The portal will be launched with best practice guidelines supplied by Angola, Cameroon,
Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. The project follows a UN
resolution, adopted in October 2003, which called on Parliaments worldwide to use IT for
greater public transparency and accountability, and to build closer links between nations
(http://www.ipu.org/conf-e/109-3.htm).
Connecting rural networks with Knowledge Sharing
In preparation for the launch of
the KariaNet Initiative, to take place in April 2004, IFAD supported 5 country-level
workshops. The Outcome Mapping methodology developed by the Evaluation Unit at IDRC guided
the process. Each 2-day workshop set out to articulate a National vision and mission,
identify main boundary partners and their respective outcome challenges and formulate a
series of progress markers which would demonstrate the changes in the behaviours and
actions of the boundary partners that the projects would expect, like and love to see.
Bellanet co-facilitated 2 of the 5 workshops taking place in Egypt and Tunisia. KariaNet
is a joint initiative of IFAD and IDRC that seeks to strengthen knowledge-sharing
capacities through the identification of problems and solutions across IFAD projects and
among its stakeholders in five countries of the NENA region - Egypt, Morocco, Jordan,
Sudan and Tunisia. A regional start-up workshop is being planned for April 2004 to launch
the initiative. More: http://www.bellanet.org
IT Training for Gambian Journalists
Twenty-seven Gambian
journalists, who are currently undergoing a UNESCO sponsored journalism training in the
Gambia, have been participating in a week long course aimed at building basic IT capacity,
including web searching, at the Resource Center of the UNESCO Regional Office for
Education in Africa, in Dakar, Senegal. More: http://portal.unesco.org/ci/ev.php?URL_ID=14340&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201
Building Communication Opportunities (BCO) Alliance: the
successor to the Building Digital Opportunities Programme (2001-2004)
The Building Digital
Opportunities (BDO) Programme comes to an official close at the end of March 2004. The
follow-up to the BDO is the Building Communications Opportunities (BCO) Alliance
(2004-2007). Five bilateral agency partners and five NGOs support the BCO. The former
include: the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the UK Department for
International Development (DFID), the Dutch Directorate-General for International
Cooperation (DGIS), the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DMFA) and the Swiss Agency for
Development and Cooperation (SDC). NGO partners are: the Association for Progressive
Communication (APC), Bellanet, IICD, OneWorld International (OWI) and Panos. More: http://www.iicd.org/partners
5 March
2004, Coordination Meeting on Information Society Statistics, New York , USA
The objective of the meeting is
to exchange information on the state of advancement of measuring Information Society in
national statistics systems and to agree on common procedures – as a means of a
questionnaire- to approach statistical offices with the objective of raising information
in a standardized basis. The meeting will be attended by experts from DESA, UN Regional
Commissions, the OECD, ITU and others.
15 – 19 March 2004, Africa Source: African Free and Open
Source Software Developers Meeting, Namibia
This practical workshop will,
for the first time, bring together Free and Open Source Software (F/OSS) developers from
across Africa. During the five day event, participants and facilitators will share
technical skills and experiences, discuss key challenges in realizing F/OSS projects, and
develop concrete strategies for strengthening the nascent community of F/OSS technologists
working in African contexts. The Africa Source workshop will connect African software
developers with the goal of building the F/OSS developer community in Africa. This event
is organized by the Tactical Technology Collective, the AllAfrica Foundation, and
SchoolNet Namibia, in cooperation with the Free and Open Source Software Foundation for
Africa (FOSSFA). It is supported by the Open Society Initiative Southern Africa, the Open
Society Institute - Budapest and the government of Namibia. More: Web: http://www.tacticaltech.org Email: africasource@tacticaltech.org
15 – 19 March 2004, Telecoms Business Simulation (TBS),
Maseru, Lesotho
The Commonwealth
Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) is holding an Eastern and Southern Africa
multilateral event on Telecommunications Business Simulation (TBS). This regional workshop
is being hosted by the Lesotho Telecommunications Authority (LTA) on behalf of the CTO.
The workshop has been designed to demonstrate the strategic and commercial issues faced by
an incumbent telco in a new multi-carrier competitive environment. This event will take
the form of four teams, which represent four companies that have fixed-line, mobile and
ISP businesses, and compete against each other by interacting with the computer model.
More: http://www.cto.int
17 – 19 March 2004, The ICT World Forum, Hannover, Germany
The theme of the Forum is
“achieving business profitability with technology: strategy & the high
performance technology business”. The Forum is the most powerful gathering of ICT
leadership in the world. The ICT World Forum has a strong history of attracting the best
speakers from the leading technology companies. The Forum will host the world’s
leaders in ICTs in conjunction with the world’s largest ICT event - CeBIT. Its goal
is to create a global brain trust to focus on the present and future issues facing the ICT
industry and its global business. The Forum will attract a broad network of leaders from
business, government and academia together focusing on the key issues facing the global
ICT industry in the year ahead. Its purpose is to empower the members with a unique
viewpoint that helps sets the tone for CeBIT, the world’s largest ICT gathering.
More: www.ictwf.com
23 – 25 March 2004, The Kenya National ICT Convention,
Incorporating: The CTO Conference: Implementing the WSIS Action Plan, and ea.telecom,
Nairobi, Kenya
The Kenya National ICT
Convention will be the culmination of a series of national sector-focused ICT conferences
convened by the National ICT Board and supported by IDRC. In addition, the event will
include two regional events: The first one is the Commonwealth Telecommunications
Organisation (CTO) Conference: Implementing the WSIS Action Plan, and the second one is
the fourth annual ea.telecom Conference to provide a specialist stream within the
Convention for regional operators, regulators, policy-makers and users, to learn from
positive technical, regulatory and organizational developments in the telecommunications
sector. For full details, contact: Sean Moroney, AITEC UK, Tel: +44-1480-495595
sean@aitecafrica.com OR Andrew Karanja, AITEC Kenya, Tel: +254-(0)722-702187 Web: www.aitecafrica.com
25 – 26 March 2004, UN ICT Task Force Global Forum on
Internet Governance, UN HQ, New York, USA
A Global Forum on Internet
Governance will be held at United Nations Headquarters in New York, to bring together
leading actors and all relevant stakeholders, including Member States, civil society and
the private sector, interested in Internet governance issues. More: http://www.unicttaskforce.org/
25 – 27 March 2004, Sixth Meeting of the UN ICT Task Force,
UN HQ, New York, USA
The Sixth Meeting of the UN ICT
Task Force will address the outcomes of the Geneva phase of WSIS. The agenda, once
finalized, will be posted on the UN ICT Task Force website. During the first two days of
the meeting, the discussion will be held in a format of a Global Forum on the subject of
Internet governance. It will be an opportunity for relevant stakeholders - including those
who are not members of the Task Force - to engage in an open discussion of all aspects of
this range of issues. In the period leading up to the Global Forum, an on-line discussion
of these issues will be organized to ensure as broad and comprehensive representation of
views, perspectives and recommendations as possible. More: http://www.unicttaskforce.org/
14 - 16 April 2004, SADC Regional Consultation on National
e-Government Readiness, Gaborone Botswana
This is a collaboration between
the Centre of Specialisation in Public Administration and Management (CESPAM) and the
Commonwealth Network of IT for Development (COMNET-IT), who together are engaged in a
partnership for the development of materials and training for e-Government. The event will
address e-Government in its broadest sense and provide insights into the status, trends
and achievements within SADC countries, and lessons learnt. It will also provide templates
for the assessment of e-Government readiness and progress, capacity-building and support
requirements, both nationally as well as regionally. The Government of Germany through
GTZ, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Government of Botswana are sponsoring the
workshop. More: www.cespam.net
22 – 24 April 2004, Workshop on e-Strategy Burkina ,
Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso
This is a validation workshop
for the e-Burkina strategy. It is organised by Délégation Générale à l'informatique.
More : Makane Faye (mfaye@uneca.org).
3 – 5 May 2004, Tenth Meeting of the Intergovernmental
Committee of Experts for Southern Africa (ICE), Lusaka, Zambia
ECA-SA is organizing the Tenth
ICE Meeting to be held at the Mulungushi Conference Centre in Lusaka, Zambia from 3 to 5
May 2004. The theme of the meeting is “Private Sector Development in Southern
Africa”. The 10th ICE meeting is expected to critically assess progress achieved by
the ECA Southern Africa Office (ECA-SA) in implementing its work programme as determined
by priorities for 2003/04. It will also consider private sector development; sustainable
development; implementation of the system of national accounts; and the status of
information for development activities in the sub-region. The meeting will make
recommendations on the future orientation of the work programme of the Southern African
ECA sub regional office. Contact: The Director, ECA Office in Southern Africa, P.O. Box
30647, Lusaka, Zambia, Tel (260 1) 228502/5, Fax: (260 1) 236 949, E-mail: srdcsa.uneca@un.org
3 – 8 May 2004, ITU Telecom Africa 2004, Cairo, Egypt
Conscious of the opportunities
that new and affordable telecommunication technologies have brought about, the Forum at
ITU TELECOM AFRICA 2004 will focus on the following themes: a) Creating successful
business models, b) Policy challenges, c) Appropriate technologies, d) Using ICTs to meet
the UN Millennium Development Goals, and e) Africa and the world. More: http://www.itu.int/AFRICA2004/index.html
24 – 26 May 2004, e-Nigeria: Implementing the WSIS Process:
The case of Nigeria, Shehu Musa Yar’adua Conference Centre, Abuja, Nigeria
The conference aims at drawing
up strategies for the implementation of the WSIS process in Nigeria; exploring the
framework for the development and use of ICTs as the driving force of Nigerian economy;
identifying necessary ICT human resources and infrastructure required for the deployment
of e-strategies; proffering solutions to the challenges of ICT within the framework of
Nigeria economy; examining the existing strategies for national development and examine
strategies of re-designing them in line with the latest technologies and applications in
the global economic structure. More: www.enigeria.org
Last
Call for Participation. The World Summit in Reflection: a deliberative dialog on WSIS
The journal of Information
Technologies and International Development (ITID) and the Berkman Center for Internet
& Society at Harvard Law School are calling for contributions to a special dialogue on
the outcomes, outputs, and experiences from the World Summit on the Information Society.
These contributions will be assembled into a series of deliberative reports that are
expected to help chart a course towards the 2005 meeting in Tunis. For more on ITID: http://mitpress.mit.edu/ITID For more on the
Berkman Center: http://cyber.law.harvard.edu
Additional contact information: The World Summit in Reflection, Attn: Dr. Michael L. Best,
The Nunn School of International Affairs, Georgia Institute of Technology, 781 Marietta
Street, NW, Atlanta, GA 30332-0610 USA, michael.best@inta.gatech.edu
KEMILINKS INTERNATIONAL: ICT AFRICA AWARDS
These Awards have been
established to promote the use of ICTs in Africa and to encourage best practice. The
Awards have been designed to recognise and reward those individuals and organisations that
have demonstrated excellence in promoting the use of ICT for the overall development of
the African continent and are open to all Africans (in or outside Africa) and African
based organisations (limited or otherwise), public bodies, and not-for-profit
organisations that are directly or indirectly engaged in the promotion of the use of ICT
technologies. The Awards categories are: 1) Country with Best Policy Framework; 2) Country
with Best Convergence Policy Framework; 3) Regulator with Best Regulatory Framework; 4)
Best National Mobile Operator; 5) Best Regional Mobile Operator; 6) Best National Fixed
Line Operator; 7) Best Multimedia Signal Distributor; 8) Country/Broadcaster with the best
local content; 9) Best Internet Service Provider (includes VOIP, Hosting Services, Email
service providers); and 10) Most influential African in international arena. More: kemilinks3@aol.com
Global Information Technology Report 2003-2004; World Economic
Forum (WEF)
Covering a total of 102
economies, the Networked Readiness Index of the new Global Information Technology Report
measures the preparedness of economies to participate in, and benefit from ICT
developments. Since it was first launched in 2001, the Report has become a valuable and
unique benchmarking tool to determine national ICT strengths and weaknesses and evaluate
progress. The Report also highlights the continuing importance of ICT application and
development for economic growth. The executive summary and chapters 1 and 2 can be
downloaded free of charge from: http://www.weforum.org/site/homepublic.nsf/Content/Global+Competitiveness+Programme%5C
Global+Information+Technology+Report
Delnet Programme Supporting Local Development
This is an initiative of the
International Training Centre of the International Labour Organization (ILO), which
supports and assists local actors in the promotion of the territorial development
processes since 1998. The current Distance Learning Specialization Courses include a)
Management of Local Development, and b) Gender Approach to Local Development. Course
enrolment includes access to the Information and Technical Advice Services, the Delnet
databases and Networking. Training, information and technical advice services are provided
through the Internet and via email. At the end of the course, after the final examination,
participants will receive an official diploma issued by the ITC of the ILO. Course
enrolment: Academic year: April 2004 - April 2005, Deadline for enrolment: 26 March 2004 /
Start date: 23 April 2004. For further information: Web: http://www.itcilo.it/delnet E-mail: delnetenglish@delnetitcilo.net Telephone:
+39 011 693 6656
Archives:
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