AISI states that although African countries are equally placed to take advantage of ICTs to facilitate their socio-economic development processes, they cannot hope to move their industrually weak, subsistent and agriculture based economies towards information and knowledge based economies unless they develop and implement comprehensive and integrated ICT-led socio-economic development policies, strategies and plans. The NICIs are sets of steps to be undertaken by governments to harness ICTs for development and to implement the objectives outlined by the AISI. These steps include:

1. e-readiness assessment - to undertake base line studies and to define the general problem and policy areas
2. e-policy - to detail government commitment and strategic direction.
3. e-strategies and actions - to detail how policy commitments are translated in concrete programmes and initiatives for implementation

ECA, working in partnership with key partners, has asssisted over 28 African Countries to develop ICT national strategies for accelerating their socio-economic development and is also working with a number of these countries to embark on implementation. The following outlines the core NICI implementation modes and sets parameters for focus areas:

• A mechanism to implement the global vision of AISI at national level
• A national response to facilitate the digital inclusion of Africa and its integration into the globalization process
• An exercise for developing national ICT policies and strategies and implementable progammes
• A guiding framework for integrating ICTs into national development programmes
• A monitoring and evaluation tool of the role of ICTs in national development - SCAN-ICT
  
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• A strategy to enable various groups and sectors identify their ICT needs and devise the appropriate and corresponding applications.
• It is a step closer towards implementation on a micro-scale and because it focuses on a particular sector targets are manageable.
• It provides a framework for programme planning, project development and implementation at the level of a sector.

Village Information and Communications Infrastructure Strategies
What are the elements of a VICI strategy?

• Developed to decentralize the NICI process after the formulation of the national policy as a way of democratizing access under the AISI framework and philosophy.
• Introduced to give a chance to the majority of the African people living in the rural areas and that constitute approximately 60-70 per cent of the national populations to become actors and identify their ICT needs.

Regional Strategies
What are the elements of a RICI strategy?

• A facility for harmonizing national strategies at the sub-regional levels by Regional Economic Communities for consistency in regional economic integration goals in the area of ICTs
• Allows for harmonization of national regulatory frameworks as countries deregulate and liberalize their telecommunication markets.
• Provides a framework for the development of information and communication infrastructure that can facilitate regional economic integration goals of the African continent.
• Provides an impetus for strengthening capacity at the sub-regional level in ICT for development and building a critical mass to facilitate regional integration through ICTs.

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