By Matthew Baker, 31 March 2006

Addis Ababa, 31 March - The World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) follow-up conference concluded Thursday 30 March with a resolution to promote access to and encourage more effective use of government information for democratic and economic development in Africa.

The four-day conference, hosted by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), also briefed participants on the upcoming Sub-Saharan Africa high-level colloquium on Information Literacy and Lifelong Learning. The colloquium, with initial sponsorship from Botswana, Ethiopia and Ghana, will be organized by the ECA with the IFLA Africa Section and UNESCO, and will feed into a larger global colloquium in 2008. Ms. Kay Raseroka of the University of Botswana introduced the colloquium, noting that “information literacy is our ticket to being part of a globalized world and information society”.

The conference agreed on a clear action framework to implement the recommendations of WSIS relating to libraries, archives and other information services at the local, national and pan-African levels. This will complement efforts already underway by ECA Library through the African Virtual Library and Information Network (AVLIN).