ECA's perspectives on the Digital Solidarity Agenda

By Mercy Wambui, Communication Officer,DISD, ECA
10 May 2004

DISD’s Director, Ms. Karima Bounemra Ben Soltane was a speaker at the recent ITU Africa Telecom meeting that took place in Cairo, Egypt from 3-6 May 2004.

During a session entitled “The Digital Solidarity Agenda: ECA’s Perspectives”, Ms. Bounemra provided a concise appraisal of ECA’s vision and activities with respect to creating knowledge societies in Africa. She noted increased high-level political will by various stakeholders and a growing awareness and committment to mainstream ICT into programmes that are aimed at achieving developmental challenges addressed in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

She pointed out that in the lead up to the Tunis phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), ECA has been hard at work with various partners to mobilize human, financial and technological resources. These resources, she said, are critical for the inclusion of all men and women in the emerging Information Society.

For affordable access to be a reality for every African woman and man, she noted that the ultimate challenge facing Africa today is the need to mobilize long-term strategic investments that will develop and sustain the Information Society on the continent. However, “Achieving socio-economic benefits from the use of ICTs requires significant costs and requires massive amounts of capital investment” she said, adding that “the digital solidarity agenda should have an all-inclusive approach that seeks to galvanise human, technological, cultural, as well as financial resources for building and sustaining the Information Society”.

On policy developments to-date, she pointed out that more than 30 African countries out of 53 have formulated national e-strategies to create the necessary enabling environment for integrating ICTs in their national development agenda. The number of countries with ICT policies increased from 13 in 2000 to 16 in 2002, while countries in the process of developing a policy jumped from 10 in 2000 to 21 in 2002. She warned that as more countries begin to implement national e-strategies, the success of a country’s digital agenda will depend on whether or not it has appropriate financing mechanisms.

A full copy of the speech is available at www.uneca.org/aisi or on request to atemtime@uneca.org