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.
infoDev
begins survey and capacity building activities in Africa, the
Caribbean and the Pacific focusing on ICT use in education
The infoDev survey projects in Africa and the Caribbean will
help to answer some basic key questions related to the use of
ICTs in education. Initiated at the request of infoDev's donors,
the surveys are meant to document the lessons learned from investment
and activities, successes and failures related to ICT use in
education in the past decade, in order to inform a number of
policy dialogues and project preparation activities in the future.
More: http://www.infodev.org/section/programs/mainstreaming_icts/education/ed_current_workplan/fiji_events/
Integration
of ICT in the National Development Planning Framework of Uganda
The National Planning Authority, mandated to coordinate development
planning, has taken ownership for the President’s campaign
promise to integrate ICTs firmly into development efforts including
the Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP). It has taken up
this task as a follow up of the Roundtable Workshop of November
2005, held in collaboration with I-Network Uganda and International
Institute for Communication and Development (IICD). More: http://www.iicd.org/articles/iicdnews.2006-08-31.8421623518
African
telecom company supports ICT development projects in Africa
The International Institute for Communication and Development
(IICD) and Manobi, an African telecom company, are entering
into a strategic partnership for the support of several ICT
development projects in Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Uganda and
Zambia. Manobi and IICD will initially develop joint activities
on existing projects. Manobi will offer support in many different
ways, including assisting IICD’s local project partners
to use mobile phone technology to improve existing information
services. Secondly, Manobi will advise local governments on
the use of mobile phone technology to improve public information
and to develop e-business. One benefit of this initiative will
be that farmers will be able to access market price information
via text messages, Wireless Application Protocol (WAP) or the
mobile Internet as well as by using the personal computer or
personal digital assistant (PDA). This will result in farmers
being able to negotiate better prices and subsequently to offer
a supply according to what the market actually demands. More:
http://www.iicd.org/articles/iicdnews.2006-08-29.6134308141
Call
for working together for long-term sustainability
The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) ICT policy
workshop held in London recently ended with the call for linking
national advocacy to global networks through collaboration and
information sharing and working together for long-term sustainability.
The workshop, attended by 18 participants from different countries,
provided a unique opportunity to the national portal managers
to learn from each other and share their experiences. The first
day of the workshop mainly focused on understanding and mapping
the ICT policy issues that relate to the APC's work. More: http://www.apc.org/english/news/index.shtml?x=5039055
In May 2004, the Cabinet of the Kingdom of Swaziland created
a 23 member multidisciplinary Task Team to develop an inclusive
ICT Policy. The team was also entrusted with the task of coordinating
ICT development in the country. The ECA provided technical and
financial assistance to guide the team during the execution
of its work. Cabinet approved the NICI policy in August 2006
and implementation planning has commenced. The Cabinet also
approved the creation of a new Ministry responsible for Information
Technology, Telecommunication, Broadcasting and Postal Services
to spearhead ICT development in the country. More: Sizo Mhlanga
(smhlanga@uneca.org).
2006
AISI Media Awards
ECA and its partners to honour outstanding African media professionals
and institutions that made a mark in covering ICT4D issues in
the continent. The Africa Information Society Initiative (AISI)
Media Awards are given to journalists who tell the development
side of the digital divide story, and who can show case examples
of how ICTs are making a difference in the African continent.
More than 170 entrees were received for the 2006, which recognises
Information Society reporting by eighteen journalists, including
nine winners and nine finalists in various categories. The award
ceremony will take place on 12 September 2006 at the 2006 Highway
Africa conference. More: http://www.uneca.org/aisi/mediaaward.htm.
ITCA/ISTD
Capacity building for Ethiopian Customs Authority on Automated
System for Customs Data
ECA's Information Technology Centre for Africa (ITCA) through
the ICTs, Science & Technology Division (ISTD) has launched
in early August the final training module in the first phase
of the series of capacity building activities for officials
of the Ethiopian Customs Authority. This training programme
is geared toward supporting the implementation and sustainability
of IT systems for which it is being upgraded. The program is
divided into three phases. The first phase is aimed at building
the skills of the customs officers in supporting computer hardware,
operating systems and networking. The second aims at building
the skills of the customs officers in web, database and application
development technologies. The third phase will introduce IT
project management and Geoinformation Services (GIS) tools for
better tracking of goods and services. More: http://www.uneca.org/disd/news/0803200601dnadisd.asp
Knowledge
Networks through ICT access points for disadvantaged communities
The UN Regional Commissions took the opportunity of their interactions
in the WSIS process to strengthen collaboration and promote
cooperation on new ICT projects. It was in this context that
the UN Development Account agreed to provide funding for a joint
project on “Knowledge Networks through ICT access points
for disadvantaged communities” to be implemented in five
continents. The main goal of the project is to empower poor
and disadvantaged communities through the transformation of
existing ICT access points in selected countries around the
world into knowledge hubs of global knowledge networks. The
project aims at increased engagement of target beneficiaries
in disadvantaged communities (with an emphasis on women) in
these knowledge networks. This involvement will serve to deploy
relevant knowledge pertaining to key areas of sustainable development
such as employment, education, gender and health. Throughout
its activities, the project stresses the link between ICTs and
development, including the achievement of the Millennium Development
Goals, in particular Goal 8. The first meeting of the Regional
Commissions to kick-start the project is scheduled for October
2006 in Beirut, Lebanon. More: Aida Opoku-Mensah (aopoku-mensah@uneca.org).
OTHER
NEWS ..... OTHER NEWS .....
OTHER NEWS .....
South
Africa: State must go open source. (SANGONeT)
With government spending almost R3-billion per year on a single
proprietary software vendor, the dominant position of proprietary
software in the South African ICT market remains entrenched.
SANGONeT and the Internet Society of South Africa support a
change in government policy that will give meaning to its National
Open Source Strategy. They have drafted a petition for endorsement
by South African civil society organisations. More: http://sangonet.org.za/
Kenya:
ICT Bill cracks down on computer crimes. (AllAfrica)
The Kenyan government has finalised an ICT Bill that also addresses
offences linked to computer crimes. Amongst other things, the
Bill will make it a criminal offence to programme mobile phones
using computers. More: http://allafrica.com/stories/200608280068.html
11
– 13 September 2006, ICT-Learn 2006 "Towards a Knowledge
Society", Cairo, Egypt
Organised by Human and technology Development Foundation (HDF),
the main objective of the Fifth International Internet Education
Conference is meeting the networking needs of the international
e-learning and distance education providers. The annual ICT-Learn
conference is the key networking venue for strategists and practitioners
from Middle East and North Africa and all over the world. The
ICT-Learn 2006 International Conference will feature the issues
we face and the strategies we use to meet the challenges of
teaching and learning in a variety of circumstances. The theme
accommodates the diverse situations in which we exercise our
respective mandates. Conference themes include e-learning: design,
development and delivery; Open Source, open content and online
learning; quality assessment, measurement and evaluation of
e-learning; and policy issues and large scale take-up of e-learning.
More: http://www.distant-learning.net/index.shtml
11
– 13 September 2006, Highway Africa
More than 500 journalists from 40 African countries will be
attending the annual Highway Africa Conference from 11 to 15
September 2006 in Grahamstown, South Africa to discuss issues
relating to the impact of the Internet and digital technologies
on journalism, media and society in Africa. This year’s
Highway Africa marks its 10th anniversary. Billed as the biggest
gathering of African journalists in the world, the conference
will be a time for critical reflection on the role that new
media has played - and will play - in democracy and development.
The conference will include several side events such as book
launches, exhibitions, training workshops and meetings of various
groups and forums. During the event, a number of awards, including
ECA’s AISI media awards will be presented. More: http://www.highwayafrica.ru.ac.za/
14
– 15 September 2006, Preparatory meeting of the High Level
Committee (HLC) on policies and regulatory frameworks favourable
to the development of telecommunication and ICT networks and
services in Africa, Nairobi, Kenya
The above-mentioned meeting will take place under the auspices
of the African Union (AU) and at the invitation of the African
Telecommunication Union (ATU) in Nairobi, Kenya. This is a follow
up meeting to the first one held at the AU in August 2006. Representatives
from national, regional and international organizations from
all stakeholders are expected to participate in the meeting.
Some of the topics to be discussed include ICT and telecommunications
policies, legal and regulatory frameworks, institutional framework
and capacity building, and telecommunications and ICT networks
and services to reach the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
More: http://www.atu-uat.org/
OR http://www.atu-uat.org/
18
– 21 September 2006, Preparatory Meeting on Internet Governance
- “Africa: On the Road to Athens”, Cairo, Egypt
During the training workshop on IG that took place in Addis
Ababa under the auspices of ECA in July 2006, the African Group
expressed their wish to meet before the First Internet Governance
Forum (IGF) to be held in Athens, Greece from 30 October to
2 November 2006. The decision was made in order to share expertise
and articulate views on this issue at a regional level before
the international fora. The meeting is co-sponsored by the National
Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (NTRA) of Egypt and the
Diplo Foundation of Malta. Participants will tackle important
IG issues including the themes for the IGF, the relevant diplomatic
preparations, the relevant diplomatic preparations, the main
IG instruments as well as the main conceptual approaches, principles
and analogies used in the IG debate. More: http://www.ntra.gov.eg/english/main.asp
25
– 26 September 2006, GKP EXCOMM Meeting, New York, USA
This event is GKP’s official meeting of its Executive
Committee. Participation is with GKP’s official representation.
More: http://www.globalknowledge.org
10
– 12 October 2006, the second Connecting Rural Communities
Conference, Abuja, Nigeria
Organised by the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation
(CTO), the event will be hosted by the Nigerian Ministry of
Communications. This is the second in a four-event series, which
focuses on the development of ICTs and in particular the progress,
which is being made on connecting rural communities. The agenda
will cover several topics essential to enhancing company’s
understanding of the market, including latest regulatory initiatives
for promoting ICTs in rural areas; marketing strategies to drive
rural revenues; best practice case studies of successful rural
communications projects; an overview of the variety of current
and upcoming ICT technologies for connecting rural communities;
how ICTs can be used to deliver e-health, e-education, e- agriculture,
e-government and e-commerce to rural areas; future financing
mechanisms for setting up rural communications; Governments’
plans to expand rural ICT access; and developments on mobile
and satellite communications. http://www.cto.int/crcafrica06/
16
– 20 October 2006, Workshop on the formulation and the
implementation of the ICT policies in Africa, Dakar, Senegal
In the framework of their common activities as a follow up to
the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), ECA, l’Organisation
internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), the USAID, the NetTel@Africa
network as well as the governments of the UK and Canada in collaboration
with the Ministry of telecommunications and new technologies
of Senegal, are organizing this workshop under the theme "formulation
and implementation of ICT policies in Africa”. The workshop
is organised for French-speaking African countries. It constitutes
the second of a series of four seminars having to be held in
the various regions of Africa. Participants include the representatives
of Governments, regulators, institutions in charge of implementation
of national ICT policies, operators and service providers, associations
of the consumers, private sector, civil society, research institutions,
development partners, etc. More: Makane Faye (mfaye@uneca.org).
As a result of the restructuring at ECA, the former Development
Information Services Division (DISD) of ECA has been renamed
to ICTs, Science and Technology Division (ISTD) since July 2006.
The work progarmme of the division remains the same, focusing
on the implementation of the African Information Society Initiative
(AISI), with additional S&T component. Ms. Aida Opoku-Mensah
is the Officer-In-Charge of the ISTD, and the contact details
of the division remain unchanged. More: Aida Opoku-Mensah (aopoku-mensah@uneca.org).
APC
Chris Nicol Prize 2007 for FOSS
Nominations called for the APC Chris Nicol FOSS Prize, which
recognises initiatives that are making it easy for people to
start using free and open source software (FOSS). The prize
will be awarded to a person or group doing extraordinary work
to make FOSS accessible to ordinary computer users. The APC
FOSS Prize has been established to honor Chris Nicol, a long
time FOSS advocate and activist who for many years worked with
APC. APC is looking for initiatives that improve the accessibility
to, knowledge of and/or usability of FOSS, are user-oriented,
are documented so that others can learn from and replicate the
model, and have demonstrable impact and have increased the number
of people using FOSS on a day-to-day basis. The Prize is open
to any person or group anywhere in the world who supports or
promotes user-oriented free and open source software. The application
form must be completed in either English or Spanish however
there are no language restrictions regarding the language of
the project. Small-scale activities are encouraged to apply.
The Prize: US$ 4,000.00 may be shared by up to two initiatives
at the jury's discretion. Deadline for nominations is 30 March
2007. More: http://www.apc.org/english/chrisnicol
CBA-World
Bank Award for Programme on Development Issues
For a radio or television feature that illustrates development
issues. The programme must be more than a simple narrative.
It must be engaging for a wide audience, and focus clearly on
a development issue. Deadline: October 15 2006. More: http://www.comminit.com/awards2006/awards2006/awards-1443.html
Contact: CBA Awards, Commonwealth Broadcasting Association,
17 Fleet Street, London EC4Y 1AA, United Kingdom, Tel: +44 207
583 5550, Email: award@cba.org.uk
UNESCO
Internships
For students from a wide range of disciplines, to obtain professional
experience at UNESCO Headquarters and Field Offices worldwide
during a 1- to 4-month internship. Depending on qualifications,
these internships relate either to UNESCO's strategic activities
or to administrative or technical functions. Deadline: Rolling.
More: http://www.comminit.com/funding2006/internships2006/awards-1337.html
Time
machines wanted: ITU TELECOM opens competition to predict the
digital future
ITU TELECOM WORLD 2006, the leading global ICT event, has launched
a competition to find the industry’s best future-gazers.
The Digital Life Theatre Competition invites companies to submit
a 2-minute DVD demo that outlines their visions for the future
in a digital age. The four winning demos will be displayed on
giant screens as part of the Digital Life Theatre at the heart
of the ITU TELECOM WORLD 2006 exhibition from 4 – 8 December
2006 in Hong Kong. There will be four competition categories
to capture the scope of digital life itself: Digital Life at
Home; Digital Life in the Office; Digital Life in the field
of Media and Entertainment; and Digital Life in Society. Competition
entrants are asked to send their demos to the ITU TELECOM by
15 October 2006. The successful demos will be selected and announced
by 16 October 2006. More: http://www.itu.int/WORLD2006/pdf/Competition_Overview.pdf
The
UN Millennium Development Goals Report 2006
Six years ago, leaders from every country agreed on a vision
for the future - a world with less poverty, hunger and disease,
greater survival prospects for mothers and their infants, better
educated children, equal opportunities for women, and a healthier
environment; a world in which developed and developing countries
work in partnership for the betterment of all. This United Nations
report shows where we stand in 2006 toward achieving these goals.
More: http://mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Resources/Static/Products/Progress2006/MDGReport2006.pdf
Archives:
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