Resources on: ICTs and Youth
Documents and articles
A Youth Leadership Program for Africa
This chapter introduces a youth volunteer program for information and communication technologies (ICTs) for communities in Africa. The program, known as the Youth Leadership Program for Information and Communication Technologies and Community Development in Africa (ALPID), derives its impetus from the realization that information gaps and lack of access to existing informatics will further marginalize Africa as we enter the 21st century.
African ICT Gurus, Where Are You?
By Mawutodzi K. Abissath. An African proverb that seeks to motivate and inspire the youth says: “A child who knows how to wash his hands very well, eats with elders. It is common place that the 21st century belongs to the Information and Communication Technology (ICT).In other words, it is a century of knowledge. The Internet has even made this knowledge widespread and accessible to anybody who seeks information.
African Youth and the Information Society
A Report on the Online Discussions at www.dgroups.org/groups/aisi-youth-l under the auspices of African Information Society Initiative.
The African Youth and the Information Society discussions began with welcome messages by UNECA’s Thierry H. Amoussougbo and ‘Gbenga Sesan, the discussion moderator while Eustache Nguie Sino helped bridge the language divide by providing dual translations between English and French.
African Youth on the Information Highway
This book describes a new initiative to promote the involvement of youth in Africa’s new information economy. It reviews existing infrastructure, the policy environment and its impact, and the feasibility of increased ICT applications in rural communities. It will appeal to decision-makers and ICT producers and users, as well as to development professionals, academics, students, policymakers and practitioners in international development and information technology.
Border Jumpers
July 24, 2005: Professor George Ayittey, distinguished economist from the American University in Washington, DC, discusses social, political, and economic development in Africa with Anchor, Bill Moyers.
Contribution of African Youth, Abuja, Nigeria, July 2005
Recommendations to WTDC 2006 African Regional Preparatory Meeting. In the past several years efforts have been deployed around the subject of youth and ICT. Youth have demonstrated great dynamism and will to promote ICT as a tool for the development of their society. Several recommendations and concrete actions have come out of this process.
ICT to Promote Youth Employment
Owerri Digital Village, Nigeria: Best Practices, GKP Regional Africa Meeting, Accra, January 30, 2005.
Africa Is the Most “Youthful” Continent in the World, 50% of Africa’s population is below age 18. High percentage of Africa’s population is between ages 15 – 25. Bridge Between Current and Future: often young people are leaders in ICT policy, processes and applications globally. Bottom of Development Pyramid: in both developed and developing countries; youth were identified as a group that was often marginalised.
Keep the Youth ICT Literate!
As long as poverty, injustice and gross inequality persist in our world, none of us can truly rest. Alleviating poverty is not an act of charity. It is an Act of duty - Nelson Mandela. While many people in the developed world enjoy easy access to information through the Internet, email and telephony, billions in the developing world do not. The digital divide is not a problem in itself, but rather a symptom of deeper, more important divide of, income, development and literacy.
Nepad e-Africa Youth Programme Established
Participants of the NEPAD e-Africa Youth Programme, 11-12 April 2006.
Johannesburg, South Africa, 12 April 2006. Participants from various African countries, who gathered here, 11-12 April 2006, formed a NEPAD e-Africa Youth Programme, whose main objective is to build a cadre of young people who will raise awareness on issues of the Information Society and serve as active participants in building an inclusive Information Society in their countries and on the African continent.
The ITU Africa 2001 Youth Forum Declaration
Meetings have been held, seminars have been hosted, communiqués have been issued, but it appears that the face of things in Africa remains the same, if not deteriorating. We believe it is high time to take the bull by the horns and exert the force that will take Africa from its current inertia and place it on the path of action and relevance.
Towards an African e-Index
Household and individual ICT ACCESS AND USAGE across 10 African countries (2005), edited by Alison Gillwald.
Research ICT Africa! fills a strategic gap in the development of a sustainable information society and network knowledge economy by building the ICT policy and regulatory research capacity needed to inform effective ICT governance in Africa. The network was launched with seed funding from the IDRC and seeks to extend its activities through national, regional and continental partnerships.
Links
African Information Society Initiative (AISI)
The African Information Society Initiative (AISI) is an action framework that has been the basis for information and communication activities in Africa since 1996. AISI is not about technology. It is about giving Africans the means to improve the quality of their lives and fight against poverty.
African Information Society Initiative -- Youth
List of activities related to youth in the framework of the AISI.
Africa Regional Youth Caucus
Youth Caucus leads a network of young people which spreads across all 53 countries of the Commonwealth. There are five members of this caucus - the Pan-Commonwealth Youth Representative and representatives from the regions of Africa, the Caribbean, Asia and the South Pacific.
Africa Youth Information Technology Conference for National Youth Councils in Africa
The envisaged conference will look into ICT issues that have been identified for presentation and discussion. The main focus is youth, gender, e-health, and how technology can help in building democratic societies.
African Development Forum 1999: The Challenge to Africa of Globalisation and the Information Age
Information and communication technologies (ICTs), The Information Age, knowledge societies and the information economy pervade all aspects of everyday life in 1999, except in most of Africa. What has become the central feature of modern life globally is hardly felt in Africa, other than in elite circles of some capitals. If Africa remains on its present course, with the lowest teledensities in the world, with the fewest computers of any region, isolated from the information and knowledge available at the fingertips elsewhere, it has no chance to compete globally.
African Information Society Youth Network (AISYN)
The AISYN is a regional youth information and communication electronic network. Its objective is to facilitate and coordinate the implementation of youth-targeted ICT-programmes in the context of promoting sustainable youth livelihood, education and enterpreneurship opportunities in Africa.
The network endeavors to enter into collaborative partnerships with local, regional and international development. partners in the areas of: programme development and implementation; resource mobilization and allocation; policy formulation and advocacy. The UNECA has been proposed as the ideal host of the AISYN, under the AISI.
African regional meeting of the World Telecom Development Conference
Our view is that the African regional meeting of the World Telecom Development Conference provides Africa’s youths with opportunities to showcase what they are doing with ICTs while pressing forward through advocacy their position/input on issues that affect telecoms growth in the region. It will also be a time for Africa’s youth to network and establish strong links and contacts with their respective Communications bodies geared towards ensuring that youths in each African Country is involved and participates in the telecoms for development campaign.
African Regional Preparatory Meeting-Youth Workshop
World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC). As part of OVF's effort to position itself as an integrator of best practices to maximize the potential of the youth, an OVF delegation made up of Country Directors Kafui Prebbie of OVF-Ghana and Olaposi Abiola of OVF-Nigeria participated in the African Region Youth Preparatory Workshop for the WTDC ’06.
Book Review - African Youth on the Information Highway: Participation and Leadership in Community Development
Since the 1970s, most African countries have been experiencing serious socioeconomic problems. These include the general underdevelopment of rural areas with its attendant economic gap between urban and rural centres; high poverty levels, (both urban and rural); high population growth rates that inevitably exert excessive pressure on the education and health systems; inadequate education and health services, intolerably high illiteracy rates, and high incidence of disease. Other problems include youth unemployment attributable to, among other factors, declining employment opportunities for young people and, more recently, the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) Youth Awards
The Global Knowledge Partnership is the leading international multi-stakeholder network of government, business and civil society organisations committted to harnessing the potential of information and communication technologies (ICT) for sustainable and equitable development.
Helping Out-of-School Youth Attain Labor Market Success: What We Know and How to Learn More
The experiences of young people soon after they leave school often play a critical role in their long-term future. It is a time when they develop occupational competence, learn to apply their academic capabilities, and gain the generic workplace skills required in most jobs. It is often a time of testing careers and of completing formal education.
ICT Africa Investment Summit
The ICT Africa Investment Summit is an annual forum where African stakeholders in the ICT sector gather together to address issues that are critical to securing increased investments in the broadcasting, IT and telecommunications infrastructure – and service delivery – in Africa. The Summit also highlights the investment opportunities in the sector and identifies options for accelerated development of the ICT infrastructure in Africa.
International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
Projects in sub-saharan Africa. The International Development Research Centre (IDRC) is a public corporation created by the Parliament of Canada in 1970 to help developing countries use science and technology to find practical, long-term solutions to the social, economic, and environmental problems they face.
Microsoft Community Affairs 2006 Unlimited Potential Program Recipients: Middle East and Africa
Focusing on cross-cultural collaboration, this program encourages the creation of multinational teams from all over Africa. These teams will prepare African youth to enter the work force in the global economy, where geographical, language, and cultural barriers no longer exist. Funding from Microsoft will be used for the institutional development process and for management of the program.
Nairobits:African Youth Online
NairoBits is a Digital Design School that provides education to the Nairobi slum youth.We put digital tools of expression in the hands of the youth who have the creativity but not the means to express themselves. These youth in turn act as multipliers to the organisation that we partner with.
Opportunities and Challenges of ICTs for Youth Development in Ghana: policy and programme implications
Ghana has witnessed a proliferation of information and communication technology (ICT) and services (cellular telephones, pagers, cable television, Internet, etc.) since 1990. The country adopted an ICT policy in 2003 that acknowledges the social and economic pressures of a youthful population (60% of the population is under 25 years of age). However, the policy is silent on youth development, education and employment opportunities, and does not mention gender parity.
Partnership in ICTs in Africa (PICTA)
PICTA is an informal group of donors and executing agencies committed to improving information exchange and collaboration around ICT activities in Africa.
Schoolnet Africa portal
SchoolNet Africa is dedicated to providing schoolnet practitioners in Africa with value-added information and a range of resources in support to the use of ICTs in Education initiatives at local level. We have developed this African SchoolNet Centre to provide information and resources for African schoolnet practitioners to enhance the implementation efforts. The African SchoolNet Centre collects and houses information on national schoolnets in Africa and globally and provides space for networking and collaboration among schoolnet practitioners.
The African Youth and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) Network - AYIN
AYIN is an pan-African an all- inclusive platform for African youth input into the african information society agenda. With a visin of “a networked generation of young Africans empowering themselves and contributing to the continent’s active participation in the Information Society”, the network is set to move youth inclusion to the next level, and as far as the Information Society is concerned.
Timbuktu Chronicles
Emeka Okafor is a consultant and entrepreneur with a background in Finance and Information Technology who lives in New York City. His interests include sustainable technologies in the developing world and paradigm breaking technologies in general. His blog, Timbuktu Chronicles seeks to spur dialogue in areas of entrepreneurship, technology and the scientific method as it impacts Africa.
Winners of the 2004 ICT R&D Small Grants Programme
Acacia and Connectivity Africa, the two regional ICT4D programmes of Canada's International Development Research Centre, awarded six small grants for research on the effects of information and communication technologies (ICTs) on African communities, and for innovative ICT applications in support of sustainable development on the continent.
World Summit Youth Award
The World Summit Youth Award (WSYA) mission is to empower youth by creating digital opportunity. In spite of their technological expertise, young people remain marginalized, unemployed and lacking voice in the decisions that affect them each day. We believe that if youth are given a space to showcase their skills, ideas and projects, they will be empowered as agents for social change and creativity. In addition, the networking and skill-sharing between award winners and WSIS delegates can open new doors to the information society.
Youth Activities During WSIS Accra 2005
It is no longer news that Africa needs to hook up with the new opportunities that are being presented by ICT. The WSIS process helped highlight the significant networks, processes, people and efforts that had remained unacknowledged till the summit's commencement.
Youth and ICT Skills in African Labour Markets, With Particular Reference To Ghana
Globally, the role of ICT as a catalyst for national development has long been acknowledged. The potentials of ICT have been dramatized by rapid transformation of production, distribution and exchange, and consumption systems as well as the way work is organized. Skills required by employers, especially in the area of ICTs has hence changed and highlighted the need for accelerated development of ICT infrastructure, including facilities for ICT skill enhancement among the youth. It is important to note that whilst many developing countries, including those in Africa, have embarked upon programmes for installing ICT infrastructure with a view to expanding access and usage the related issue of training especially for young and new labour market entrants has been largely ignored, especially in Africa.
