| Contribution
of The International Telecommunication Union (ITU)
1. In line with the UN Resolution 57/7, the ITU
Development Programme for 2003-2006 as adopted by its governing
bodies in 2002 is in line with the NEPAD objectives as well
as the UN Millennium Declaration and the Brussels Programme
of Action for Least Developed Countries for the Decade 2001-2010.
The governing bodies also adopted specific Resolutions for
ITU to support the NEPAD whose implementation focused on:
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bringing together African member states to discuss various
issues pertinent to realization of the NEPAD vision and
ultimately the MDGs
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bringing together core development partners active in
the ICTs in the Africa region to agree on a common approach
to harmonize their intervention to the continent . The
potential for ITU's contribution has been high within
the ICT and telecommunications but is limited by resources.
Closer coordination and joint activities with other UN
agencies should produce better results for the NEPAD.
2. The most significant contribution has
been a Study on the NEPAD Preliminary Assistance whose objective
was to:
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Assessment the actual situation
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Identify technical and regulatory obstacles that hinder
rapid development of infrastructure and services/applications;
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Identify alternative technical scenarios of building
the infrastructure and measures to enable sustainable
telecommunications and ICTs development;
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Evaluate the level of investment required to meet the
short and medium term objectives of the NEPAD and identification
alternative funding scenarios
This study has been finalized and presented
to twelve core partners including UNECA, AfDB, ATU, COMESA,
RASCOM, URTNA among others in January year 2005. More important,
to facilitate further action, the participating institutions
to this meeting agreed to:
(i) Adopt the report entitled "Partnership
framework for ICT infrastructure development in Africa"
as a reference document for collaboration and action framework
for ICT development in the African region ;
(ii) Establish an Interagency Coordinating
Committee (IACC) to coordinate and follow up ICT infrastructure
development projects in Africa with membership as follows:
AU (Chairman), ATU (Secretary), ITU, ECA, e-Africa Commission,
RECs, URTNA, ADB, PAPU and RASCOM. Other institutions are
to be invited as appropriate;
The Report was considered by a Ministerial
Symposium held in Abuja, Nigeria 3-4 July 2005. The Ministerial
Symposium comprising the African Ministers in charge of Telecommunications
and ICTs adopted the Report as a reference document for
action aimed at accelerating development of ICTs in Africa.
This report is the most inclusive report on ICT infrastructure
in Africa since the 80s. It calls for implementation actions.
3. In addition to the above, the ITU supported
the NEPAD e-Africa commission with a study which took stock
of all existing and planned ICT Infrastructure in the Central,
North and West African region. The report was discussed by
all stakeholders in July 2005 with the objective of outlining
strategies to accelerate development of broadband infrastructure.
4. The ITU also provided funding to hire
an expert on e-learning to support the NEPAD e-School project
for a period of one year. This support was provided through
the e-Africa Commission.
5. Further ITU contributions to implementation
of MDGs and the NEPAD vision have been in:
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Advocacy (through seminars, workshops and symposia);
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Human Resource Development (seminars, workshops, support
to Centres of Excellency based in Nairobi & Dakar);
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Direct project support at national and regional levels
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Documents