Q: Would
you like to tell us about the relationship between ECA and the
WSIS?
A: There is a strong
relationship and real partnership between ECA and the WSIS,
which is based on our common belief that ICT has a very strong
impact and is a catalyst and facilitator for development. Therefore,
the ECA's role has been really to help the Africa region to
prepare for the WSIS, and to support and encourage its active
participation in the Summit itself. ECA was instrumental in
organizing the Africa Regional Conference held in Accra earlier
this year in collaboration with the Government of Ghana where
African stakeholders all came together to discuss preparations
for this Summit and the way forward post-Tunis. We have also
worked with various stakeholders throughout the year and helped
develop a Common African Position for WSIS through the WSIS
Prepcom process.
Q: Are there
any particular programmes that the ECA is involved in, in terms
of ICTs?
A: ECA launched the
African Information Society Initiative (AISI) upon the request
of its member States, which was the first regional framework
to prioritize the issues of ICTs within the continent's socio-economic
development agenda. The National Information and Communication
Infrastructure (NICI), or national e-strategies, is one of the
pillars of AISI at the national level to facilitate the digital
inclusion of Africa into the globalization process, and to act
as a guiding framework for integrating ICTs into national development
programmes. E-strategies have been implemented in places such
as Rwanda, where we are working together with UNDP to help advance
the country's ICT agenda. As you know, President Kagame himself
will be here at this Summit. In addition, as part of the WSIS
agenda, we have supported the formulation of the African Regional
Action Plan on the Knowledge Economy (ARAPKE) based on the AISI
and NEPAD goals and priorities. African ICT ministers as well
as various stakeholders from the continent have endorsed this
plan. The Ministers themselves now constitute a strong advocacy
group to champion ICT issues in their respective countries,
as well as collectively on the continent. At the sub-regional
levels, we are also working with Regional Economic Communities
such as ECOWAS, SADC, EAC and COMESA to assist them to develop
sub-regional strategies, especially in strengthening regional
integration goals.
Q: In terms
of skills development, this is obviously another very important
aspect of any e-strategy.
A: Yes, this is an
important area, and there is awareness that the lack of skills
constitutes a major constraint. You must have the necessary
skills to ensure the optimal utilization for system facilitation
instruments. African governments and our development partners
are conscious of this fact. There has been a build-up of activities
with our development partners such as the Canada Fund for Africa,
the Government of Finland, the Swiss International Development
Cooperation Agency and the Global Knowledge Partnership, as
well as the private sector, particularly ICT companies such
as CISCO Systems, which are helping to build IT academies on
the continent.
We face a big challenge
in overcoming the skills constraint, but the awareness is there,
the commitment is there, and the ability to partner is also
there, so plans are indeed in place.
Q: The ECA
has a substantial presence at this Summit. How will you measure
the success or failure of the ECA’s presence?
A: We will measure
our success by the type of coalition we build around the Africa
regional action plan. But first, we would want the conference
as a whole to be successful. We would need to arrive at a consensus
on thorny issues, the most important of these being Internet
Governance.
But having said that,
we would want recognition of the tremendous work that has gone
into the preparation of Africa's participation at the Summit
and the African regional action plan, as well as our ability
to build a coalition around this and to establish modalities
to resource its operationalization. I think if you can get even
that done, it would be worthwhile.
There is no doubt
in my mind that this will happen. We are here in full force,
African governments are represented at the right level and we
have a lot of panel discussions and side or related meetings
that are going on just to centre stage the challenge that this
area poses. Through these meetings, we can see the interest
of the international community to support Africa.
