[WSIS CS-Plenary] WSISPapers Newsletter No.5 - The challenge of developing ICTs in Africa

Fri Feb 25 15:32:46 GMT 2005

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  WSIS Papers Newsletter -  February 2005 No.5
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In this issue: THE CHALLENGE OF DEVELOPING ICTs IN AFRICA

Content:

- Africa in the global telecommunications map
- Information on ICTs development in Africa
- ICTD Policies in Africa
- ICTs as a global pubic good
- Africa at the WSIS

Available online at:

      http://wsispapers.choike.org/

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Sub-Saharan Africa consists of thirty-four of the fifty least developing
countries and fourteen of the thirty-two landlocked countries that are
confronted with the most daunting economic, social and political challenges
.

Despite progress in expanding the reach of basic and new ICT services and
applications in African countries, the majority of the population still does
not have access to telephone service, computers and the Internet. Moreover,
there is a wide and uneven disparity along the fault lines of social
inequality such as socio-economic status, age, gender, geographic location
and ethnicity.

Bilateral and multilateral agencies, the United Nations bodies and
foundations have played a key role in advancing the diffusion of ICT in the
region and fostering enabling environment for the participation of the
private sector in the delivery of services. However, despite optimism about
the capacity of the private sector and direct foreign investment in the ICT,
the outcomes of privatisation and liberalization have not been that
successful in Africa.

The large flows of private investment have benefited only a handful
countries such as South Africa, Tunisia, Egypt and Morocco where
infrastructure has well-developed already. Furthermore, privatisation did
not lead to automatic increase of the number of users or bring the costs of
access down, while the imposition of free-market conditions onto the
inequitable conditions in the region has simply reinforced the iniquitous
status quo and in some cases led to transfer from public monopoly to private
one.

Although competitive markets represent one of the alternative options to
promote universal service, there has always been a large segment of the
African population whose needs was not met by markets. Africa has the
largest segment of the population that is below the poverty line and with
weak purchasing power whose needs should be met by alternative financing
mechanisms that extend beyond the borders of the market.

Two main alternatives have been considered to bridge the access gaps: The
Digital Solidarity Fund and the Global Public Goods framework. The first
proposal was made by President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal during the first
phase of World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and the Fund was
established as a legal foundation in Geneva securing contributions from
cities and local authorities. While the enthusiasm is high particularly at
the level of key regional organizations and some countries, there is growing
uncertainty about a long-term "charity-based" strategy for ICT development.

On the other hand, the global public goods approach has become an important
and an alternative framework for justification for financing mechanisms that
go beyond what the market supplies. It argues that extending access to the
Information Society in developing countries is a global public good that
benefits everyone because of the value of network externalities. In other
words, since the global economy runs on global information networks to
create a global marketplace, the private sector in developed countries
stands to benefit from the extension of ICTs in developing countries and
should help pay for ICT for development as a global public good.

ICT development in Africa also faces other constraints apart from lack of
access. For example, unresolved problems of governance and injustice at the
local levels and the dynamics of the global economic systems seriously
hinder any effective ICT policy implementation.

Likewise, African countries' participation in global governance issues and
their access to trade and debt relief are critical for their improved
participation in information society. Financing the mainstreaming of ICTs in
health and education will make sense only accompanied by policies that
ensure new and additional resources and if the problem of the debt burden,
which makes it virtually impossible for African governments to maintain
adequate programmes of public education and health, are seriousy addressed.

For this reason, the discourse on financing ICT for development following
the WSIS process should therefore encompass frank evaluation of the
impediments associated with local governance, the global trade regime and
the broader debates on debt relief.

Based on the paper "Financing ICTs for development with focus on poverty" by
Lishan Adam

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Africa in the global telecommunications map
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*  African Telecommunication Indicators
ITU
This report provides facts and figures for the African region and market
trends. Published in 2004.
-->http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/publications/africa/2004/index.html

*  Least developing countries resources
 UN
Information on the economic, social and cultural situation of Africa.
-->http://www.un.org/issues/m-ldc.asp

*  Millenium development goals indicators
UN
Population, social, economic, and cultural development statistics, as well
as access to information and communication technologies figures.
-->http://millenniumindicators.un.org/unsd/mispa/mi_worldregn.aspx

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Information on ICTs development in Africa
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*  Research ICT Africa
This site provides in-depth research on information communication technology
(ICT) policy and regulatory research capacity in Africa needed to informed,
effective governance.
-->http://www.researchictafrica.net/

* APC Africa ICT Policy Monitor
This project of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) aims to
enable African civil society organizations to engage in information and
communication technologies (ICT) policy development to promote an
Information Society based on social justice and human rights.
-->http://africa.rights.apc.org/en-about-monitor.shtml

* African Information Society Initiative (AISI)
UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)
The African Information Society Initiative (AISI) is an action framework
that has been a basis for information and communication activities in Africa
since 1996.
-->http://www.uneca.org/aisi

* Acacia
The Acacia initiative is an international program to empower sub-Saharan
communities with the ability to apply information and communication
technologies (ICTs) to their own social and economic development.
-->http://www.acacia.org.za/

* Catalysing Access to ICT in Africa (CATIA)
The Catalysing Access to ICT in Africa (CATIA) programme aims to enable poor
people in Africa to gain maximum benefit from the opportunities offered by
Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and to act as a strong
catalyst
for reform. It will support a package of strategic activities to improve
affordable access to the full range of ICTs, from Internet to community
radio.
-->http://www.catia.ws/

* LINK Centre
University of the Witwatersrand
The LINK Centre is the leading research and training body in the field of
information and communications technology (ICT) policy, regulation and
management in Southern Africa. LINK focuses on capacity building in the
public
sector and development arenas through quality training, applied research and
consultancy services necessary to maximise the benefits of the Information
Society and the Knowledge Economy.
-->http://link.wits.ac.za/research/research.html

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ICTD Policies in Africa
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*   Information Technology Centre for Africa (ITCA)
UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)
The Information Technology Centre for Africa (ITCA) is an information and
communication technology (ICT) focused exhibition and learning centre to
demonstrate to African policy makers and planners the value of ICT for
development.
-->http://www.uneca.org/itca/

*   Financing ICTs for development with focus on poverty
WSIS Papers
Lishan Adam
Addressing the needs of the poor is an intrinsically decentralized and
contextual exercise that requires innovative and distributed financing. A
systematic effort to understand the needs of poor, their social and
political context and the constraints placed on them due to lack of ICTs
would make ICTs more meaningful to those who need information and knowledge
the most; identify innovative approaches for making provisions for those who
cannot afford access to them and reduce wasteful expenditure, by avoiding
transplanting applications that worked in developed countries to the
contexts of poor regions. PDF document.
-->http://www.choike.org/documentos/financing_icts_poverty.pdf

* Information and Communication Technologies, Poverty and Development
School of Environment and Development
Richard Heeks
The paper investigates the role of ICTs in assisting the development of
small and micro-enterprises in poverty alleviation.
-->http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/idpm/publications/wp/di/di_wp05.htm

* Policy and regulatory challenges of access and affordability
Lirne.net
Alison Gillwald
Affordable access and the skills to utilise increasingly advanced but
essential services remain the central public interest issues for regulators
in the area of information and communication technologies (ICTs). Pdf
document.
-->http://www.lirne.net/resources/netknowledge/gillwald.pdf

* The development divide in a digital age: an issue paper
UNRISD
Cynthia Hewitt de Alcántara
This paper considers the role that ICTs can realistically be expected to
play in improving the level of living and quality of life of people in
different parts of the world. It focuses above all on low-income countries,
where most development assistance efforts are concentrated and where the
challenge of utilizing ICTs effectively is greatest.
http://www.unrisd.org/unrisd/website/document.nsf/d2a23ad2d50cb2a280256eb300
385855/19b0b342a4f1cf5b80256b5e0036d99f/$FILE/hewitt.pdf

*  National ICT policies making in Africa: Implications for CSOs
Social Science Research Council
Lishan Adam
The gap between expectations and realization in e-strategies suggests that
civil society has a key role in stimulating national ICT polices. Pdf
document.
-->http://www.ssrc.org/programs/itic/publications/knowledge_report/memos/ada
mmemo4.pdf

*  Integrating information and communication technologies in development
programmes
OECD
ICTs can play a key role in development and poverty reduction. ICTs can help
promote economic growth, expand economic and social opportunity, make
institutions and markets more efficient and responsive, and make it easier
for the poor to obtain access to resources and services. PDF document.
-->http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/2/57/20611917.pdf

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ICTs as a global pubic good
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*  Financing the information society in the South: A global public goods
perspective
APC
Pablo Accuosto, Niki Johnson
This paper sets out to look at the question of financing the provision of
information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the South, within the
context of the United Nations' World Summit on the Information Society, and
advocates adopting a "global public goods" perspective on the issue. June
2004. PDF document.
-->http://rights.apc.org/documents/financing.pdf

*  Financial mechanisms for the information society from a global public
goods perspective
WSIS Papers
Fernando Prada
The global public googds approach allows to recognize the information
society building blocks according to the vision, aspirations and values that
define it. Identifying its components makes it possible to explore a range
of specific financial options for this public good in particular. PDF
document.
-->http://www.choike.org/documentos/financing_is_gpgs.pdf

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Africa at the WSIS
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* Africa Regional WSIS Preparatory Meeting (Accra, 2-4 February 2005)
The African Regional Preparatory Conference for the WSIS, in Accra, with the
theme "Access: Africa's key to an inclusive Information Society" was aimed
at prepararing Africa for an effective participation in the second phase of
the WSIS and to ensure a strategic and interdependent digital partnership
that would promote economic growth and human development of the continent.
-->http://www.wsisaccra2005.gov.gh/

*  African Participation in WSIS: review and discussion paper
APC
David Souter
This paper presents a review of African participation in the first phase
WSIS process. It is not intended as a comprehensive analysis, but to
stimulate discussion about ways in which African participation -
particularly that of African civil society - can be more effectively
structured during the second phase of the summit. PDF document
-->http://rights.apc.org/documents/africa_wsis_review.pdf

* Financing ICTD in Africa
APC Africa
The Plan of Action adopted at the World Summit on the Information Society in
Geneva 2003 requested the Secretary General of the United Nations to create
a Task Force to study the issue of financial mechanisms for ICT for
Development (ICTD) and present a report to facilitate discussions in the
second phase of WSIS. This is the African perspective of the report.
-->http://africa.rights.apc.org/index.shtml?apc=29740se_1&x=30657

*  Digital Solidarity Fund (DSF)
When the first phase of the WSIS failed to make a firm commitment with
regard to new financial mechanisms for ICT development in the South, the
mayors of Lyon and Geneva joined with Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade
commited 1 million euros to launch the a DSF themselves. This fund is
sustained through the voluntary commitment of public authorities and/or
private entities who decide to implement the "Geneva Principle", which
involves a 1% contribution on public ICT procurement contracts, paid by the
vendor on his profit margin.
-->http://www.dsf-fsn.org/

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Related Choike's in-depth reports
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* World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)
--> http://www.choike.org/nuevo_eng/informes/703.html

* Accessibility
--> http://www.choike.org/nuevo_eng/informes/643.html

* The right to communicate
--> http://www.choike.org/nuevo_eng/informes/1215.html

* Economic, social and cultural rights
--> http://www.choike.org/nuevo_eng/informes/1438.html

* New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD)
--> http://www.choike.org/nuevo_eng/informes/1262.html

* Millennium Development Goals - MDGs
--> http://www.choike.org/nuevo_eng/informes/302.html

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- "WSIS Papers" and "Choike" are projects of the
Instituto del Tercer Mundo (ITeM) -  Third World Institute

- "WSIS Papers" is supported by the
International Development Research Centre (IDRC) / PanAmericas
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