PICTA 2003 Annual Meeting, Tunis

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Annual PICTA Annual Meeting, 16 - 17 October 2003, Tunis, Tunisia

Dear PICTA members,

The Economic Commission for Africa, which is the secretariat of the Partnership for Information and Communication Technologies in Africa (PICTA), in collaboration with Connectivity Africa/IDRC, is pleased to invite you to the annual PICTA meeting which will be held in Tunis, 16 - 17 October 2003 in conjunction with the World Congress on "Engineering and Digital Divide" scheduled from 12 - 19 October 2003.

For this year's PICTA meeting there will be an attempt to create a dynamic and creative process amongst participants, and the larger part of the meeting will be carried out using an Open Space Technology process. This process is designed to allow people to share theirinterests and create new ideas, partnerships, and/or initiatives. For more information on Open Space Technology, please consult http://www.openspaceworld.org/wiki/wiki/wiki.cgi?

We are inviting participants at the meeting to reflect on ideas and opportunities for collaboration and coordination among investors in African ICTs for development, and the role that PICTA can play in supporting them.

As part of the preparatory activities, ECA will also compile activity updates for which you are all kindly invited to fill in the attached form. Updates, confirmations and all other forms of correspondence can be sent to Ms Aida Opoku Mensah, Team Leader, Promoting ICTs for Development at aopoku-mensah@uneca.org.

There will also discussions on Outcome Mapping, a learning-based approach to evaluation offered by IDRC's Evaluation Unit on the second day.

The PICTA Open Space is considered one of the official side events of the Engineering and Digital Divide World Congress of Engineers part of the WSIS series of events to be held from 12-19 October 2003. PICTA members are automatically invited to participate in the Congress and can register online: http://www.wfeo-cic.org

Bellanet, with support from Connectivity Africa, will also collaborate in facilitating electronic discussions prior to the meeting (September 15 - October 10).

Looking forward to your participation and seeing you soon in Tunis.

Yours sincerely,

Karima Bounemra Ben Soltane
Director, Development Information Services Division
On behalf of ECA and Connectivity Africa

Result of the Online Discussion

A 4-week discussion (15 September to 10 October) was held to provide a forum for dialogue between PICTA members leading up to the Annual meeting. Members intensively discussed the following four issues.

The annual meeting of PICTA took place from 16 to 17 October 2003 in Tunis, Tunisia in conjunction with the World Congress on "Engineering and Digital Divide" (12 to 19 October 2003)

Invitation to PICTA Members >>

PICTA Open Space >>

PICTA Action Plans >>

Outcome of Online Discussion >>

Picture Gallery >>

PICTA Open Space

Ms Allison Hewlitt and Ms Lucie Amouroux, facilitated the open space session. Participants were invited to propose the themes that they would want to initiate for discussion.

The following 10 thematic issues were proposed and discussed in small groups.

Why is it so Difficult to Document Who Does What?

GSM-mobile phones for Africa

How can PICTA communications support learning, South-South and
North-South dialogue, while leveraging what already exists?

Creating awareness of ICT among politicians and local donors

ICT initiatives in Africa and African governments actions to support
those

Supporting Knowledge Sharing Communities

Scoping African Needs and Priorities for ICTs in Africa

Better coordination among donors in five minutes a day or less

Improving Tertiary Education/Research Capacity Through Better Access
to and management of Internet bandwidth

Local Government ICT-Use

PICTA Action Plans

The Annual PICTA meeting resulted in a set of concrete action plans as follows:

Creating awareness of ICTs in Africa - developing a communications/ marketing strategy under the auspices of PICTA. The strategy would define the objective and conduct necessary research, identify the target audiences, and develop the messages and identify champions/spokespersons for each audience, identify venues for delivering the message, and define evaluation mechanisms.

Supporting knowledge sharing communities – aimed at assisting in the development of capacity among interest groups in Africa to take collective action and engage in proactive strategies to strengthen African voices in the development process. This will be achieved by building a consortium of African practitioners to commit to a common program.

Scoping ICT needs and priorities in Africa - developing analytical capacity for PICTA work, mapping ICT needs and priorities in Africa according to different stakeholders and regions, and resource Gap Analysis. Also need to develop an appropriate and thorough methodology, identify the consultative processes of different partners and possibly assess the appropriateness of each one, and share needs assessment tools and indicators amongst partners.

Achieving better co-ordination - facilitate a series of one-to-one conversations at forthcoming PICTA meeting. In terms of accountability, ECA’s brokering role as e-PolNet African hub was emphasised to involve assessment of request and some intelligent prioritisation. In addition, all members to seek to move from ‘wouldn’t it be nice if we co-ordinated’ to effective peer pressure, alongside practical tools to enable members to do so.

Bandwidth for Higher Education in Africa - obtain more bandwidth at cheaper and sustainable rates for the African tertiary sector. This can best be accomplished if African universities were to join together by purchasing bandwidth collectively. The planned activities include identifying relevant bandwidth initiatives that are already underway, and bringing together key stakeholders by convening an African higher education bandwidth summit. It is expected that participation will be limited to small number of countries/institutions and it is planned to hold the summit in June 2004.

Local Government Capacity Building for ICT-use - fostering improved use of ICTs at local government level; assisting local communities obtain improved access to information; creating more transparency and accountability mechanisms for communities at the local level; and the need to address possible resistance at central and local government level and build the culture of access to information – break the culture of silence and rumour. It is planned that these activities can be implemented by preparing a publication and forums/events for the fourth African Development Forum (ADF4). PICTA collaboration on preparation of a study of how ICTs can make a difference at the local level plus demonstrations and participation by champions and local partners.

	PICTA engagement in WSIS I & II and NEPAD
	PICTA accomplishments
	PICTA strengths and weaknesses
	Recommendations for future action plans

Outcome of the Forum: What should PICTA explore in the future?

	Separate sessions for donors and non-donors should be considered, where the 'donors only' meeting would be encouraged to feedback to the wider group, and the parallel 'non-donors' meeting could have a candid discussion on specific areas where donors are not co-operating and should be. There was a proposal that the donors forum consist of institutions that are primarily grant-makers and that non-donors provide critical feedback to donors in a transparent way, rather than anonymously.
	There is a need for a common platform, which could possibly be NEPAD; the next phase for PICTA could be a clear visioning of how all its members should integrate contributions towards the NEPAD agenda.
	Look at possibilities for more PICTA labeled joint activities so as to add value to common programmes and activities.
	The 'next' generation PICTA could concentrate on possible products, such as a roster of consultants, an ICT Job fair and also seek to build a bridge with other African regional groups, who are integrating ICTs in their own portfolio.
	Tackle thematic areas and present outcomes of evaluation processes or input from non-aligned analysts to deepen learning and critical reflection on members’ work.
	Stay focused on CONCRETE projects and make sure key people in the network MEET at least once physically to develop friendship and trust.
	PICTA could offer support to a number of countries, who have defined their ICT vision and priorities, to implement their vision.
	PICTA could get the participation of more regional and government decision-makers (from regulators to top level officials), who could influence policies in their respective countries and regions.
	PICTA could become a venue where ICT donors in Africa seek advice and input into their programs from NGOs, government, and other donors on a regular basis.
	Networking with the Africa Grantmakers Affinity Group (for US foundations working in African countries) might be useful.