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United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
ECA, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, is the regional arm of the
United Nations Secretariat, mandated to support the economic
and social development of its 53 Member States, foster regional
integration, and promote international cooperation for Africa’s
development.
ECA is a key pioneer in the area of ICT for development, imple-
menting the Africa Information Society Initiative (AISI) – an
action framework for promoting Africa’s digital agenda adopted
by the Conference of Ministers of Planning and Economic
Development in 1996 and subsequently endorsed by African
Heads of State. Major activities include the development of
national e-strategies for socioeconomic development and current
activities.
E-policies/e-strategies – ECA has been assisting some 28 African
countries in developing national e-strategies through the National
Information and Communication Infrastructure Plans, to address
MDGs and national Poverty Reduction Strategies. ICT strategies
have been introduced at sector-wide levels including support for
public administration (e-government), commerce/trade, agricul-
ture as well as health and education. At the sub-regional level,
activities are underway to facilitate the harmonization of national
strategies and regulatory frameworks in collaboration with the
Regional Economic Communities. Measuring the impact of the
Information Society is being undertaken through the Scan ICT
initiative to build statistical capacity of Member States and use ICT
indicators for development.
Information and knowledge resources – this entails building
the capacities of African policy makers, civil society organiza-
tions, the private sector and institutions through workshops,
training and exhibitions led by the Information Technology
Centre for Africa. Through VarsityNet, ECA is supporting the
research and development capacity of African universities and
research institutions for applications to serve African interests.
A WSIS African Academia Research Network has been in oper-
ation since 2003 where leading researchers are working on four
themes: ICTs and Industrialization; African Languages and
Cyberspace; the Enabling Environment; and Measuring the
Information Society. The African Virtual Library and Information
Network (AVLIN) provides Internet-based information and
knowledge resources and services to assist Member States and
their institutions. The Commission’s Geo-information
Programme is increasing its work to promote geo-spatial data
sharing and integrating geo-information policy into e-strategies
and plans, as well as fostering public participation in geo-infor-
mation management.
Partnership and networking – under the broad framework of
the Partnership for ICTs in Africa (PICTA), ECA works with part-
ners such as the Finnish Government, Industry Canada,
European Commission, German Technical Cooperation, Swiss
Agency for Development and Cooperation, International
Development Research Centre, International Institute for
Communication and Development, and Ford Foundation. Other
partnership mechanisms and activities include implementing the
regional node of Global ePolicy Resource Network (ePol-Net
Africa) to ICT policies – collaboration between ECA, Industry
Canada and the Canadian ePolicy Resource Center (CePRC). ECA
is also the regional focal point for the Global Knowledge
Partnership in building multi-stakeholder partnerships for the
Information Society, and provides secretariat support for the
African Stakeholders Network of the United Nations Information
and Communication Technology Task Force. ECA is also working
with the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and
Earth Observation (ITC), the Global Spatial Data Infrastructure
Association, EIS-Africa, and the International Federation of
Surveyors to mention a few, in implementing the Geo-information
programme.
Outreach and communication entails a series of activities to
promote AISI goals, involving key stakeholders, including acad-
emia, civil society, media, MPs, private sector, women’s groups
and the youth. Information outputs produced to promote and
create awareness include the ICT for Development video docu-
mentary Africa Goes Digital and the award-wining AISI radio
series, newsletters (iConnect Africa, PICTA bulletin), briefing
papers and web resources.
Website:
E-mail:
Implementation of WSIS Geneva Action Plan
As part of the African Information Society Initiative (AISI) framework, ECA has
been mobilizing Member States for their active participation in the WSIS
process starting with the first regional conference for the Geneva World
Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) held in Bamako in 2002. The
Second Africa Regional preparatory conference held in Ghana under the theme
of “Access: Africa’s key to an inclusive Information Society” in February 2005
brought together over 2,000 delegates, including governments, civil society,
private sector, media and academia as well as representatives of the
international community, to prepare an African Regional Plan of Action
(ARPoA) for the second phase of the Summit (WSIS II) scheduled in November
2005 in Tunis. Among the high-level delegates was His Excellency Paul
Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda, His Excellency Mohammed
Ghounnushi, Prime Minister of Tunisia, and His Excellency Mr Yoshio Utsumi,
Secretary-General of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), as
well as ECA’s Executive Secretary KY Amoako. The event was supported by
ECA’s key partners and the outcome was the Accra Commitments, which is
serving as a roadmap for Africa for the Tunis phase and beyond, focusing on
development orientations, resource mobilization including human resources,
international cooperation, with concrete operational aspects.
AISI activities include the development of national e-strategies for
socioeconomic development