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.
The workshop took
place from 27 to 28 June 2005 in Kigali, Rwanda with the main
objective of undertaking a comprehensive stock-taking exercise
to review the implementation of the NICI-2005 Plan. The workshop
also looked at modalities to implement the Rwanda e-Government
strategy including challenges and opportunities within the overall
framework of the reform of the Rwandan civil and public service.
Based on the outcome of the stocktaking exercise, ECA is going
to prepare a comprehensive NICI-2005 Plan Implementation Review
Report to serve as a basis for the development of the NICI-2010
(NICI-2) Plan. It is also acknowledged that the methodology
developed for undertaking the review process and the Review
Report itself could serve as a ‘best practice’ model
for other African countries embarking on the NICI process to
learn from and adopt. More: http://www.uneca.org/aisi/nici/rwanda/NICI-2005
Plan Implementation Review.htm
Gambia
stakeholders' consultation on Information Society
The consultation
workshop was organized as a response to a request for awareness
raising and training by the Parliament of The Gambia, in line
with the recommendations of the third and fourth meetings of
the Committee on Development Information (CODI). The workshop
resulted in enhanced awareness on Information Society issues,
including the Gambia NICI processes and documents; better understanding
of the roles of stakeholders such as parliamentarians, media
and the private sector in the implementation of the national
policy and plan; and networks were established with plans of
action and clear understanding of how their contributions fit
into the overall NICI coordination structure. More: http://www.uneca.org/aisi/GambiaWS/index.htm
Scan-ICT Phase II launched
ECA and the Government
of Finland organized a workshop that was held from 30 June to
2 July 2005 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to launch the second phase
of Scan-ICT. The workshop reviewed the set of core indicators,
which were adopted by the second African Regional Preparatory
Conference for the WSIS, held in Ghana in February 2005. Lessons
were learnt from participants of the first phase of the project
and partners involved in developing ICT indicators at regional
and international levels. The methodology toolkit and the core
indicators that were developed for the implementation of Scan-ICT
phase II were discussed and guidelines for implementation of
the project at country level defined. Participants agreed upon
a timeline for implementation of the project starting from now
to December 2006. The role of National Statistical Offices (NSO)
and other stakeholders in sustaining the process at national
level was discussed. Participants noted that the national coordination
mechanism needs to be determined based on specific conditions
in the respective countries. Participants were drawn from Cameroon,
Ethiopia, The Gambia, Ghana, Mauritius, Mozambique, Rwanda,
Senegal, Swaziland, Tunisia, and regional/international organizations
such as ITU, UNCTAD, and UNESCO. More: http://www.uneca.org/aisi/scanictp2ws.htm
Empowering
Niger Stakeholders for building an inclusive Information Society
The workshop was
organized by ECA as a follow-up request from the National Assembly
and the Government of Niger for stakeholders, including parliamentarians,
media and private sector actors. Two workshops, one for parliamentarians
and another one for media and the private sector took place
in Niamey from 1 to 3 June 2005. The workshop resulted in increasing
the awareness of stakeholders on NICI and the WSIS processes,
and a better understanding of ICTs to address the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) and to fight poverty. The workshop
also created awareness on implementation mechanisms such as
the e-Policy Resource Network (ePolNet) and the need for creating
ICT4D networks of stakeholders and an ICT Committee within the
Parliament. Each group is developing strategic Plan of Action
to advance the NICI/WSIS implementation. More: http://www.uneca.org/aisi/nigerws/
Dgroups
Phase 2 to be launched
The Dgroup workshop
took place from 6 to 7 June 2005 at Royal Tropical Institute
(KIT), Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Participants were drawn from
Bellanet, Hivos, Worldbank, DFID, KIT, IICD, SNV, INASP, and
CTA. Dgroups has had a strong history of supporting online collaboration
since it was first established in February 2002, and it continues
to grow with interest from other organizations. The workshop
reviewed some of the general needs and opportunities, and included
some new ideas related to the way the partnership currently
operates. The workshop defined some of the minimum requirements
for continuation of Dgroups & the Partnership for the future,
including the technical and overall management and the decision
making process. Recognizing that there is huge potential for
expanding the scope of work done by the Partnership to support
online networking, participants reached agreement that Dgroups
is ready to enter into a Phase 2, following re-defined vision
and mission statements, a re-organized management and governance
structure, and a new partnership agreement. More: Mark Faul
(mfaul@bellanet.org)
Fourth
Meeting of WGIG
The WGIG held its
fourth meeting from 14 to 17 June 2005, and finalized its report,
which will be submitted to the Secretary-General of the United
Nations. The report will be presented to all stakeholders at
a meeting in Geneva on 18 July. The WGIG met in closed sessions
from 15 to 17 June at the Château de Bossey in Céligny,
Switzerland. In conjunction with its last meeting, the WGIG
held open consultations at the International Telecommunication
Union in Geneva. For more on the record of the proceedings of
the WGIG consultations: http://www.wgig.org/
African
and Arab Regional Conference on "Electronic Transaction
Security, Digital Signature and PKI"
The conference took
place from 20 to 22 June 2005 in Tunis, Tunisia, organized by
the National Digital Certification Agency under the aegis of
the Tunisian Ministry of Communication Technologies, in collaboration
with ECA and the Agence Intergouvernementale de la Francophonie
(INTIF). The event allowed participants and experts from the
region, to familiarise themselves on digital signature and PKI
(Public Key Infrastructure) technology, and learn more about
digital signature deployment and discuss the strategy and actions
to foster PKI deployment in the region. It was also held in
preparation for the World Summit for the Information Society
WSIS Tunis 2005 More: http://www.certification.tn/Conference/PKITunisia2005/programme.htm
Second regional e-Government stakeholders
consultative workshop
The workshop took
place from 27 to 29 June 2005 in Nairobi, Kenya as a follow-up
to the first workshop held in Dar Es Salaam from 17 to 19 November
2004, which agreed on the need for the development of a regional
e-Government strategy for the East African Community (EAC) and
also on the initial priority areas for the implementation of
e-government flagship applications. The workshop was intended
to further involve stakeholders in consolidating and sharing
views regarding the strategic priorities for e-Government and
in spelling out the scope for implementation of initiatives
within the sub-region. Close to 80 participants from Kenya,
Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, South Africa and Canada, EAC and ECA
attended the workshop. Participants commended ECA for launching
the initiative with EAC and welcomed the involvement of the
Canadian ePolicy Resource Center (CePRC). The CePRC announced
a contribution of 500, 000 USD for the implementation of the
programme. As security is a real concern, a workshop on the
theme is planned for 2006. The third consultative workshop will
be held in Uganda later this year. More: Mohammed Timoulali
(mtimoulali@uneca.org).
Commonwealth
Action Programme for the Digital Divide in Malta
The Commonwealth
Action Programme on the Digital Divide (CAPDD) held its Coordinating
Committee meeting in Malta in June. The Coordinating Committee
agreed that member countries and regional / pan-Commonwealth
agencies should be consulted on programmes and projects that
would facilitate the CAPDD. This process would then enable the
Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) to ensure that the
CAPDD would be actioned after the November 2005 meeting. As
such, a Commonwealth-wide call was issued for programme and
project proposals. More: http://www.cto.int
APC-Africa-Women:
GenARDIS small grants awarded
The GenARDIS small
grants fund was initiated in 2002 by CTA, IICD and IDRC, to
support work on gender-related issues in ICTs for ACP agricultural
and rural development. Ten winners of the € 5000 one-time
grants have just been announced. The fund is coordinated by
APC-Africa-Women. More: http://www.cta.int/about/genardis2_winners.htm
Access
to information as a prerequisite to achieving the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs): an African perspective - debate on
Radio Nederland
The debate took
place last 26 May in The Hague as part of the World Summit on
the Information Society (WSIS) process in the Netherlands and
aimed to raise more awareness of the use of Information and
Communication Technologies in Africa. Both challenges and successes
are highlighted. Participants of the debate were Hon. Dr. Johnson
Nkuuhe, Member of Parliament of Uganda and Ms. Aida Opoku-Mensah
from ECA. Both of them are also members of IICD’s International
Advisory Board. It was organised by NCDO, IICD, OneWorld.nl,
Hivos and RNW. Besides via radio, the debate was also broadcasted
via the website of Radio Nederland Wereldomroep (RNW). More:
Summary of the radio programme (http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw/en/features/development/050617agl?view=Standard)
OR the full transcript of the radio programme (http://www2.rnw.nl/rnw/en/features/development/050616agl?view=Standard).
OTHER NEWS
..... OTHER NEWS .....
OTHER NEWS .....
e-Nigeria
2005
The just concluded
e-Nigeria 2005 conference held from 28-30 June 205 was on the
theme ICT Deployment for Sustainable Development in Nigerian
Rural Areas. One particular highlight of this event was the
amount of ICT activities being undertaken by some administrations
in some of Nigeria's 36 states. In Kano state, an Office of
Special Advisor has been created on Information and Communication
Technology, tasked on sensitization on ICTs, development of
infrastructure and connectivity and drafting of an e-strategy
at the state level. In the western part of Nigeria, Oyo state
there have been e-learning initiatives in secondary schools
introduced by the state government, including the recently launched
Wesley College of Science e-learning programme (www.wescosibadan.com).
There are also major e-Government initiatives underway and the
Oyo State Government has recently established a committee for
the articulation of ICT policy for the state (www.oyostate.com).
Other states at the forefront of promoting ICTs include Bayelsa,
Plateau and Osun. More: http://www.enigeria.org/
Vincent Olatunji (volatunji@nitda.gov.ng).
African
community radios go on line. (AMARC Africa)
Five African community
radio stations have opened their Web portals to the world, and
more will follow their lead as part of a project that seeks
to strengthen radio broadcasting on the continent, the World
Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) in Africa
announced on 22 June 2005. More: http://africa.amarc.org/
11
- 15 July 2005, International ICANN Meeting, Luxembourg City,
Luxembourg
The meetings are
open to any interested person. ICANN encourages broad participation
in its bottom-up consensus-development process. Meetings can
be attended in person, through webcast and remote participation
opportunities, and/or by joining one of the various ICANN-related
mailing lists. More: http://www.icann.org
11
- 12 August 2005, World Youth Development and ICT (WYDI 2005)
Conference, Arusha, Tanzania
This conference
is being organised with a theme of "Young People Creating
Global Culture". The event aims at bringing together more
than 250 young professionals, community leaders, non-governmental
organisation (NGO) leaders, university students, ICT professionals,
among others. More: http://www.wydi2005.tk/
31
August - 2 September 2005, World Information Technology Forum
(WITFOR) 2005, Gaborone, Botswana
The Forum is hosted
by the Government of the Republic of Botswana, in collaboration
with the International Federation for Information Processing
(IFIP). WITFOR is a state-of-the-art, high-level international
forum, aimed at ICT policy-makers and practitioners. More: http://www.witfor.org/
The Zulu saying
"Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu" or "A person is a
person through other people" provides the inspiration for
the meeting's theme of Networking Development in Africa. This
year the core PICTA partners are putting extra effort into strengthening
PICTA as an arena for collaboration among the key institutions
involved with ICT and Knowledge for Development in Africa. The
meeting will discuss experiences of the 2003 PICTA meeting in
Tunis, which used the Open Space methodology to facilitate the
creation of a range of collaborative project ideas, a number
of which have come to fruition since then. The meeting will
be held prior to the GKP Africa meeting (Sep 9 - 10) in the
interest of giving participants greater opportunity to combine
attendance. More: http://www.uneca.org/aisi/picta/picta05.htm
9 - 10 September 2005, GKP
Africa Meeting, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
The main theme of
the meeting is "Deepening Regional Networks and Linking
Them with Global Networks for Greater Impact". The workshop
will be oriented towards giving participants training in participatory
facilitation methods for face-to-face meetings, linked with
the use of ICTs such as WIKIS in order to help produce outputs
as the meeting is taking place. The special methodology that
will be used for this workshop is currently being prototyped
in Canada by IDRC with the sponsorship of Telecenter.Org. IDRC
has confirmed the availability of the chief facilitator for
the GKP Africa workshop (Allen Gunn), with funding from Connectivity
Africa. More: http://www.uneca.org/aisi/picta/picta05.htm
19 - 30 September 2005, Third
Meeting of the Preparatory Committee of the Tunis Phase of WSIS,
Geneva, Switzerland
The third meeting
of the Preparatory Committee of the Tunis Phase of the World
Summit on the Information Society (WSIS PrepCom-3), will be
held in Geneva, Palais des Nations, from 19-30 September 2005.
PrepCom-3 will be a critical step in the preparatory process
for the Tunis Summit, which will take place in Tunis from 16-18
November 2005. PrepCom-3 will consist of two full weeks of negotiations
on all issues related to the output of the Tunis Summit. This
meeting will have to forge consensus on the final document(s),
which is/are to be adopted by Heads of States and Governments
at the Tunis Summit. More: http://www.itu.int/wsis
ANNOUNCEMENTS .....ANNOUNCEMENTS .....
NEW
AISI VIDEO
ECA has produced two video
programmes to showcase successful examples of ICT for development
activities in four countries: Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia and Ghana.
This video constitutes part of the ICT4D outreach activities
and was undertaken within the framework of the African Information
Society Initiative (AISI). Supported by the German Technical
Cooperation (GTZ), the video programmes, “Africa Goes
Digital” and “The Challenges of ICT for Development”
highlight challenges and opportunities of the Information Society
in Africa, and demonstrate real life experiences to this effect
in these countries. The productions are currently being distributed
to African TV stations. More: Atsuko Okuda (aokuda@uneca.org).
Development
Gateway Award finalists announced
Efforts of the six
nominees range from using radio and satellite for Tsunami recovery
to rural banking. The Development Gateway Award recognizes the
most exemplary contribution in the field of ICT for development
during the last 10 years. The award focus is ICT's impact on
social and economic development. More: http://www.developmentgateway.org/award
NEW
VIDEO: “Make ICT Training Work For You”
introduces multimedia resource for non-profits. Commissioned
by APC, media specialists c2o/Toy Satellite designed and produced
"Make ICT Training Work For You", an introduction
to the ItrainOnline's Multimedia Training Kit (MMTK). The MMTK
provides trainers in telecentres, community media organisations
and the development sector with a structured set of materials
to help make that jump between new and traditional media or
train in a new skill area. The MMTK is a joint project of the
APC, Bellanet, IICD, INASP, Oneworld.net and UNESCO. Download
the video and other resources utilised in the making of the
video: http://www.toysatellite.org/mmtk/
Archives:
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