Partnership for knowledge sharing and connectivity: special challenges of Africa

Monday, 23 June, 2:30-6 p.m. Sheraton

Panel outline:

Africa was the last of the world's regions to gain connectivity to the Internet, and there is still a long way for the region to go to realize the potential of connectivity for knowledge sharing and to

ensure its reach beyond the elites in capital cities. Many persons and organizations have been working to meet the special challenges of Africa in this area and to establish a framework, both for African societies and for partners working together, to meet them. To define the way ahead, participants will be asked to break into working groups following the session to outline plans for specific areas.

Panel chair: Mr. K.Y. Amoako, Executive Secretary, Economic Commission for Africa and Under-Secretary-General, United Nations fax: +251 1 51 28 14 e-mail: kamoako@worldbank.org amoako.uneca@un.org

Panelists (alphabetical):

• Lishan Adam, Connectivity Project Officer, Economic Commission for Africa lishan_adam_at_uneca@un.org +251 1 51 44 16 or 251 1 51 05 12
• David Balson, Executive Director, Bellanet International Secretariat +613 238-7230 dbalson@bellanet.org
• Karen Banks, Director, GreenNet fax: +44 71 833-1169 karenb@gn.apc.org
• Kevin Cleaver, Technical Director, Africa Region; and Director, Africa Region Knowledge Center, the World Bank kcleaver@worldbank.org
• Nicolas Gorjestani, Lead Knowledge Management Specialist, Africa Region Knowledge Center, the World Bank ngorjestani@worldbank.org
• Michael R. Jensen, consultant to African Information Society Initiative +27 82 181 576-6035 mikej@wn.apc.org
• Richard Labelle, senior consultant to United Nations Development Programme Sustainable Development Network Programme fax: 416 824-3215 or c/o Chuck Lankester, UNDP/SDNP, 212 906-6952 rlabelle@web.apc.org
• Venancio Massingue, Director, Computer Center, Eduardo Mondlane University fax: +258 1 494 755e-mail: venancio@bravo.uem.mz
• Lane Smith, USAID Leland Initiative Coordinator +202 647-2993 lasmith@usaid.gov
• Robert Valantin, Senior Information Scientist, International Development Research Centre fax: +613 563-3858
• Kate Wild, Senior Advisor, Information and Communications, International Development Research Centre +27 11 403-1417 kwild@idrc.ca

Session organizer: Nancy J. Hafkin, Team Leader, Promoting Information Technology for Development, Development Information Services Division, Economic Commission for Africa fax: +251 1 51 44 16 or +251 1 51 05 12 e-mail: hafkin.uneca@un.org

Panel content:

Part I: Mr. Amoako, (2:30-2:40 p.m.)

History of the African Information Society Initiative, its vision (notes, PowerPoint)

introduction of panel

Part II: 2:40-3:30 p.m.(before questions and answers)

Historical connectivity and transfer of knowledge in Africa experiences. Way in which it proceeded, differences between Africa and other regions, major players in it, lessons learned from it for application to the way ahead.

Participants: (10 minutes each)

Lishan Adam

Karen Banks

Michael Jensen

Venancio Massingue

12. Lishan Adam:

Light historical overview up to 1995

- networking initiatives up to 1995 Addis Symposium

- CGNET, NGONET, ESANET, PADISNET, HealthNet, CABECA (IDRC Telematics Program)

- RIO (ORSTOM), others

- Packet Switching, FIDO, Packet Radio, LEOs,

- Partners = CGIAR, NGOs (ELCI), ECA/PADIS, APC, Universities, VITA, SatelLife, others

- Addis Symposium watershed event

Lessons

- activities since early 1980s in Africa

- simple email was/is/will be critical element in development - national-level services serving all groups

- training, trouble shooting and hand holding at local level - sustainable solutions possible early on

- synergies between partners and projects

- increasing number of players and level of interest and needs in area points to need for greater collaboration and transparency/reporting out.

Lessons from sustainable networks: sysop perspectives

- role of support, business plan (comparative analysis of cases)

- understanding network users and their local situation (user interface, documentation)

- role of indigenous players

13. Karen Banks:

(Outline not yet received)

14. Michael R. Jensen, Lessons learned and toward the future:

Cost of access, the critical factor in democratisation

Telecommunications infrastructure - limitations and new prospects

Technical Skills Capacity building

New models for shared service provision

Accessing the Information Economies of the North

15. Venancio Massingue

(Outline not yet received)

Q/A's, 3:30 - 4 p.m.

Part III:

Mr. Amoako introduction to Part III (3 minutes) 4:00-4:05 p.m.

Partners to help realize the vision for knowledge society, where we go from here (10 minutes per presenter or organization team). Focus on particular challenges facing Africa and how we intend to meet them.

Panelists: 4:05-5 p.m.

David Balson, Bellanet

Kevin Cleaver/Nicholas Gorjestani, World Bank

Richard Labelle, UNDP

Lane Smith, USAID

Robert Valantin/Kate Wild, IDRC⁽¹⁾

16. David Balson, Bellanet

Bellanet Partnership with UNECA et al for AISI

- Web site, collaborative dialogues support, national-level connectivity/training information discussions

Partnership for ICTs in Africa (PICTA)

- Web site, African ICT-Activity Information Management System

(AI-AIMS) components - program/project database, donor profiles, country activity matricies, full text database

- donor/executing agency collaborative dialogues support

17. Kevin Cleaver and Nicolas Gorjestani, KNIT, World Bank

1. Africa's transition from closed political and economic situations which undervalue and curtail knowledge acquisition, to more open societies that cry out for knowledge, will stimulate an increased demand by civil society for knowledge and connectivity. World Bank staff working in Africa see this occurring in many, though not all, African countries. We also see a proliferation of efforts to establish better connectivity, including those discussed at this conference. The big challenge will be in the delivery of knowledge through these connections.

2. Part of the problem remains the lack of African government readiness to open up to all sources of knowledge (due largely to telecommunications monopolies, constraints on mass media, distrust of foreign influence). Part of the problem is lack of education of many people (inability to access and use knowledge). Part is the absence of knowledge based institutions in Africa, as well as absence of networks and professional associations.

3. The private sector will be the most important source of input to breaking the telecommunication monopolies, breaking government locks on the mass media, and in supplying knowledge of a commercially important type.

4. The World Bank is helping by advocating and financing privatization of telecommunications, massive investment in education (primary through tertiary as well as specialized), support of private sector development (in many cases through equity investment), and support of professional associations. Our African Virtual University project will start up this year, with distance education through 10 African universities.

5. The World Bank also finances connectivity components of its projects including connectivity for the poor.

6. The Africa Region of the World Bank has developed a best practice system with information and material (including statistics) on 28 sectors. Presently it is available on our Intranet to staff. Next year it wile to African governments and institutions. We will be conveying technical knowledge in each sector of development endeavor to Africans through the various connectivity media available. We hope to partner this effort with other participants at this conference. Up to the present, ECA has been the major African partner, with several governments also partnering at the local level (Mozambique, Malawi, Senegal, and Ghana).

18. Richard Labelle, UNDP SDNP

Keywords: Internet, connectivity, capacity building, training, awareness promotion, TCP/IP, decision makers, sustainable development, local knowledge.

The UNDP Sustainable Development Networking Programme (SDNP) seeks to help develop the capacity to use and apply the Internet and appropriate information and communication technologies and information management practices in support of sustainable development. Specifically, the objectives of the SDNP are:

- To facilitate access to information in support of decision making for sustainable development;

- To enhance participation of elements of civil society in the development process.

In Africa, SDNP has 11 operational SDNPs (out of a total of about 31 worldwide), and is negotiating to establish 12 others. SDNPs are engaged in awareness promotion, training, the provision of equipment and advice to establish Internet services and in generally helping users to become providers as well as users of information of local relevance. The UNDP SDNP intervention will focus on achievements, lessons learned, challenges and next steps. Increasingly, the focus in Africa South of the Sahara especially, is on the creation of national TCP/IP Internet networks and this will be discussed.

19. Lane Smith, Leland Initiative

The Leland Initiative will share the lessons learned from the first year of program operations, with a particular emphasis on the creation of enabling policy environment, the development of a robust Internet Service Provider industry, and both the content and institutional challenges of using the Internet as a development tool.

20. IDRC: Robert Valantin and Kate Wild

- IDRC historical agenda: focus on applying information techniques and technologies to bring local knowledge into development debates - research & policy

- overall vision and programming on Information/Communication/ICTs for development

- emphasis on capacity building (people, institutions, and networks).

- Acacia:

- modern representation of that agenda: today's technologies offer a unique opportunity for communities to use their own knowledge to influence planning and decision-making from local government to international levels

- responds to and supports political imperatives of democratisation, decentralisation

- focus on community empowerment: create an enabling environment through programs to address policy, infrastructure, technology and content blockages: integrated strategies, opportunites, crosscutting issues

- building social and cultural considerations into development, especially development involving new technologies.

- IDRC: one devt organisation among many working on ICT & devt in Africa: the int'l & reg'l frameworks for cooperation are in place - now time to translate them into reality on the ground and to extend to more dynamic and systematic partnerships with the private sector: possible example of Mozambique

Q and A's (5:00-5:55 p.m.)

Part IV: Sum up, directions for follow-up by chair (5 minutes) (5:55-6:00 p.m.)

1. This ordering is alphabetical. Can we talk about another ordering? It's a very political and rival group.