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 2005 annual
PICTA meeting will be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 7 -
8 September 2005 under the theme ‘Networking Development
in Africa’. This year the core PICTA partners are expected
to put extra effort into strengthening PICTA as an arena for
collaboration among the key institutions involved with ICT and
Knowledge for Development in Africa. To achieve this goal the
annual meeting will be joined by GKP Africa members and held
as a PICTA-GKP event. The participation is expected to initiate
a non-donor/ donor interaction and provide a good opportunity
for cooperation rather than duplication. The PICTA-GKP meeting
will be followed by a network facilitation training workshop
from 9 - 10 September 2005.
More: http://www.uneca.org/aisi/picta/
Swaziland
holds national debate on inclusive Information Society
Stakeholders in
Swaziland, including government officials, media, academia,
women, civil society and youth held a national debate on building
an inclusive Information Society in the Kingdom, as part of
the National Information and Communication Infrastructure (NICI)
formulation policy. The debate began at a two-day workshop which
ended July 15 and organized in collaboration with the Government,
under the framework ECA-Government of Finland ''Cooperation
in the Development of the Information and Communication Technologies
in Africa''. ECA has organised similar stakeholders workshops
in Niger and The Gambia.
More:
http://www.uneca.org/apps1/newsfromdivisions/News.asp?cmd=view&articleid=259
E-discussion: Engaging the African private
sector on Information Society issues
An electronic discussion
list for private sector and the information society was launched
on 12 July 2005 as an initiative of the United Nations Economic
Commission for Africa (ECA) in collaboration with Africa Practice
the AISI. The discussion aims to create a platform for African
private sector actors to share experiences and knowledge in
order to help develop innovative approaches to their needs and
to establish a dialogue with public and other stakeholders in
devising and implementing the WSIS plan of action at country
and regional levels. The list is expected to discuss various
issues until 5 October 2005. More: Thierry H. Amoussougbo (tamoussougbo@uneca.org)
Final
Report of the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) released
United Nations Secretary-General
Kofi A. Annan transmitted the Final Report on 14 July 2005 to
the President of the Preparatory Committee of the World Summit
on the Information Society, Ambassador Janis Karklins, and the
WSIS Secretary-General Mr Yoshio Utsumi. The WGIG was set up
by the Secretary-General of the United Nations after the first
World Summit on Information Society in 2003 failed to reach
an agreement the governance of the Internet. More: http://www.itu.int/wsis/documents/doc_multi.asp?lang=en&id=1660|1661|1662|1663|1664
Dakar
Declaration of the Local Collectives on the Information Society
(AFISLC)
Participants of
the African regional Forum of the Local Collectives on the Information
Society (AFISLC) organised by the Regional Council of Dakar,
Senegal from 13 - 15 July 2005 called for an equitable Information
Society. This was made in the Dakar Declaration adopted on 15
July 2005 in Dakar, Senegal. They also called on the mayors
and presidents of local authorities to actively participate
in the second World Summit of Cities and Local Authorities on
the Information Society to be held in Bilbao, Spain from 9 -
11 November 2005.
More: http://cresp.sn/forumdakar/index_eng.htm#
Website
of the Africa Youth ICT4D Network Launched
The African Youth
and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) Network
- AYIN- is a pan-African and an all-inclusive platform for African
youth input into the African Information Society agenda. With
a vision of “a networked generation of young Africans empowering
themselves and contributing to the continent’s active participation
in the Information Society”, the network is set to move
youth inclusion to the next level as far as the Information
Society is concerned. AYIN was launched on the 4th of February
2005 at the second African Regional meeting for the World Summit
on the Information Society (Accra 2005.)
More: http://www.ayinetwork.org/
Uganda’s
Ministry of Tourism, Trade and Industry launches website and
database
The Ministry of
Tourism, Trade and Industry (MTTI) has been in the process of
improving information flow within the ministry, as well as between
the ministry and its affiliated institutions. To achieve this,
a documents database (intranet) has been developed and its website
redesigned (www.mtti.go.ug) to meet the existing needs. This
will benefit the tourism, trade and industry sectors in the
country by availing information to its users in an efficient
way. The activities of improving the management of information
flow have been facilitated by IICD in collaboration with the
Government of Uganda within the Information Flow Management
and Networking (IFMN) project.
More:
http://www.iicd.
org/articles/iicdnews.2005-08-01.5146146048
Ethiopian Customs go digital
A four-month capacity
building training workshop for Ethiopian Customs Authority officials
as part of ECA’s efforts at strengthening ICT applications
in socio-economic sectors of African countries has just been
launched in Addis. The workshop is taking place at the Information
Technology Centre for Africa (ITCA). The training modules, which
have been customized to the Ethiopian contexts, include sessions
on establishing and maintaining information networks, database
management and GIS tools for surveillance and enforcement. Participants
expected to benefit from this programme include Addis Ababa-based
officials and Customs officers from various ports of the country.
This initiative is a result of an official request to ECA from
the Government of Ethiopia to build the capacity of its Customs
Authority to effectively implement and maintain an UNCTAD software
product, known as ASYCUDA, which is a computerized management
system. The system handles manifest, customs declarations, accounting
procedures, and transit and suspense procedures.
More: http://www.uneca.org/disd/
OTHER NEWS
..... OTHER NEWS .....
OTHER NEWS .....
Uganda
hosts regional ICT policy body
Uganda has been
chosen to host the Collaboration on International ICT Policy
for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) to enhance regional participation
in international ICT policy processes. CIPESA, a programme of
the Cape Town-based bridges.org aims to support governments,
civil society organisations, and other actors within the East
and Southern Africa region to participate in international and
regional decision-making processes on a wide range of ICT issues.
More: http://www.cipesa.org/
Africa
Regional Preparatory Meeting for WTDC-06
The Civil Society
Forum of the Africa Regional Preparatory Meetinng for the World
Telecommunications Development Conference (WTDC) met and discussed
the role of the civil society among others in achieving the
MDGs and also towards the next WSIS meeting in Tunis. The Pre-Event
for the African Civil Society took place from 1 - 3 July 2005
in Abuja, Nigeria. The Forum was timely as it offered the African
Civil Society the space to address issues and challenges of
the African information society. On the other hand, civil society
entities got educated on the World Summit on the Information
Society as well as the other issues in the Africa Information
Society Initiative - AISI.
More: http://www.ncc.gov.ng/ITUWorkshop/itu-arp
m/civilsociety.html
African
ISP Association Selects Regional Carriers
The Association
of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Africa announced the
two successful bids in response to its call for proposals to
provide direct Internet connections between African countries.
One of the winning bids came from Transtel, one of the largest
private telecommunication network operators in the southern
hemisphere and a division of Transnet Limited. The other was
a joint bid from Africa Online, a pan-African ISP, and Sky Vision,
a leading provider of international Internet services over satellite
and terrestrial fibre optic systems. More: http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-84656-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html
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
13
September 2005, AISI Media Awards at the Highway Africa Conference,
Grahmstown, South Africa
The September event
will cover the following awards: The AISI/GTZ Media Awards 2005,
AISI/IDRC Media Awards 2005, AISI/IICD Media Awards 2005 and
the AISI/OSIWA Media Awards 2005. Entries for the AISI/GKP/SDC
Media Awards 2005, a category under the 2005 AISI Media Awards
programme aiming at recognising journalists reporting on the
WSIS process and Africa, will continue to be received until
30 September 2005 with the award being given during the second
phase of the WSIS scheduled to take place in Tunis from 16 to
18 November 2005.
More: http://www.uneca.org/aisi/mediaaward.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 .....
WSIS-Gender
Caucus e-discussion: Gender issues in the Tunis Phase
The WSIS Gender
Caucus is organizing an email-based discussion to identify the
relevant issues and develop methods and strategies for integrating
gender perspectives into the WSIS deliberations at PrepCom3
in September and the Tunis Summit in November. This discussion,
organized and moderated under the Electronic Networking Project
component of the WSIS Gender Caucus, will be for a period of
three weeks, from July 25th to August 13th 2005. To join this
discussion list just send a blank email to mailadmin@genderwsis.org.
For more information about the Gender Caucus, visit the WSIS
Gender Caucus website, www.genderwsis.org
Call for Contributions to Prepcom
3
All governments
and stakeholders have been invited to continue making contributions
for PrepCom-3. Contributions can be sent by email to: wsis-contributions@itu.int
Launch
of a book on Gender Digital Divide in Francophone Africa
In preparation of
the African Woman Day 2005, the Gender and ICT Network (a joint
initiative ENDA-ART-OSIRIS) launched the book "Fracture
numerique de genre en Afrique francophone: une inquietante realite"
(Gender digital divide in Francophone Africa: a harsh reality".
This book is published by ENDA and presents the results of research
undertaken, since two years in six countries (Benin, Burkina
Faso, Cameroon, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal), with the support
of the International Development Research Center (Canada). Free
copies of the book (in French) can be downloaded at: http://www.famafrique.org/regentic/indifract/
fracturenumeriquedegenre.pdf
Call
for Abstract - World Congress on Communication or Development
(WCCD)
The Communication
Initiative (The CI) is one of three organisations - with The
World Bank’s Development Communication Division and FAO
and the support of the Government of Italy - co-hosting and
organising the World Congress on Communication for Development
[WCCD] to be held in Rome, Italy on March 15/16/17, 2006. Abstracts
and proposals for papers and other innovative ways to present
relevant knowledge and experiences in this field at The Congress
are invited on the following broad topic areas For more information
contact Chris Morry of The Communication Initiative at: cmorry@comminit.com
E-debate
on “Intellectual property rights: issues for Africa in
the information society,” 20 July – 21 August 2005
The goal of this
four-week long email discussion is to raise awareness of critical
issues around intellectual property rights (IPR) for Africa,
to provide an overview of the existing legal processes and tools,
to discuss alternatives to the current situation, and to facilitate
exchange and collaboration between individuals and organisations
working in this field. Based on the discussion, a short summary
report -- including a number of recommended activities -- will
be prepared in English and French. To subscribe, please visit
http://www.cipaco.org/ article.php3?id_article=74&lang=en,
or send an email to Ken Lohento (klohento@panos-ao.org) (West
and Central African participants) or to Anthony Mugeere (anthony@bridges.org)
(East and Southern African participants). Northern African participants
are encouraged to use any of the subscription methods above.
For more information: http://www.cipaco.org/rubrique.php3?
id_rubrique=34&lang=en
Information Technologies and International Development (ITID),
now in its second year, is a scholarly journal focused on the
intersection of information and communication technologies and
economic and social development. It is a peer-reviewed, international,
multi-disciplinary quarterly designed for researchers and practitioners
from the engineering and social sciences; technologists; policy
makers; and development specialists. ITID is edited at the University
of Maryland and Georgia Institute of Technology and published
by The MIT Press. Information Technologies and International
Development publishes material on the subject, broadly defined,
of information and communication technologies and the developing
world. The editors are soliciting full-length research articles
as well as shorter research reports. Detailed instructions for
authors are available online at http://mitpress.mit.edu/itid
Latest
issue of iConnect Africa out
The
quarterly web, print and email service produced by ECA and IICD
aims to raise awareness in the wider African development community
regarding the possibilities offered by ICTs in development.
It reports on activities that form part of the Africa Information
Society Initiative (AISI) and Building Communication Opportunities
(BCO) initiative. iConnect Africa draws content from its partners,
links resources and expertise and encourages collaboration.
The August 2005 (Vol 2, No. 1) has just been produced with features
on ICTs and education, perspectives on stakeholder activities
as well as news items on various trends around the continent.
More: http://www.uneca.org/aisi/IConnectAfrica/
index.htm
African
ICT Achievers Awards, Executive Business Forum
To increase the
Corporate Social Investment (CSI) component of the African ICT
Achievers Awards, the programme now incorporates an Executive
Business Forum, which complements its existing pillars, designed
to promote ICT investments, capacity building and innovation
on the African continent. The executive business forum will
act as a common vehicle, where decision makers can discuss efforts
to bridge the digital divide and promote the interests of youth
and women in ICT sector. The executive business forum will be
held on the 31st of October 2005, at Gallagher Estate in Gauteng,
South Africa. This year, the CSI component has been increased
to facilitate the development of winners. To nominate individuals,
NGOs’ and organizations worthy of being recognized as an
African ICT Achiever, please revert to www.ictachievers.co.za
or simply call 011 603 1600.
Archives:
(Note:
All documents are in PDF) To view PDF files, download the Adobe
Adobe
Acrobat Reader.
