10 December 2003
Towards WSIS 2005: ECA Launches African Academia Research Network
By Mkpe ABANG
In a bid to put the academia on the driving seat to play a key role in the unfolding information society, the Economic Commission for Africa, (ECA), launched on December 10, 2003 the African Academia Research Network in Geneva, as part of the opening day activities of the World Summit on the Information Society, (WSIS).
Launching the new Network, Executive Secretary of the ECA, Mr K.Y. Amaoko noted with pride that many of the issues that were just being debated upond “on a worldwide level are issues that we have been trying to promote in Africa for the last eight years.” Africa, he said, has made “tremendous progress in embracing the information society” and listed some countries that had taken convincing steps on the issue. They include Egypt, Mozambique, Rwanda and South Africa. He urged the Academia Network to take up the task of preparing Africa for the second part of the summit. “Our goal, the media, the academia, is to take the challenge and make sure that the rest of Africa is part of this agenda, and you have a vital role to play.”
Director, Development Information Services Division of the ECA, Ms Karima Bounemra Ben Soltane, explained that in launching the Network, the ECA expected the Academia “to play a more dynamic role” in the second phase of the WSIS, which will be held in Tunis November 14-16, 2005. “If you look at what is happening this year (WSIS 2003) there is more grassroots participation; this is important for Africa. But we also want a dynamic and vibrant intellectual participation from African countries,” she added.
Aida Opoku-Mensah, Team Leader for the ICT for Development Programme of ECA, explained that the network was a result of the retreat that took place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia recently. “The idea was to get the academia thinking on how they can champion the information society,” she said. The team started “dreaming” on the way forward. Part of this dream, she stated, “was very wild”, but part of it was also “very practical” and therefore, the network’s initial assignment would be brainstorming on how it would operate in shaping the thoughts and views of the African continent on the information society with eyes on the second phase in Tunis.
Because some of the issues are quite “complex and dense”, she said by getting involved the academia would already have had the experience of the precise processes of dealing with information society issues on a global scale and in particular, how such issues affect Africa. This would then help to shape the African voice and focus for WSIS 2005.
About the writer: Mr. Abang is Editor-in-Chief of IT & Telecom Digest Magazine, Lagos, Nigeria. He contributed this piece as Team Member of ECA at WSIS 2003.
Information:
aisi@uneca.org
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