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PartnersOn a trimester basis, iConnect will focus on different partners involved in the iConnect initiative. In the first trimester of 2005 we will focus on United Nations Economic Comission for Africa (UNECA), iConnect's regional partner in Africa. UNECAUNECA is one of five regional commissions under the administrative direction of United Nations (UN) headquarters. As the regional arm of the UN in Africa, it is mandated to support the economic and social development of its 53 member States, foster regional integration, and promote international cooperation for Africa's development. UNECA has taken the lead in helping prepare African countries to overcome the information and technology gap and utilize these new forces to promote social and economic growth in the region. In 1995 it appointed a High-Level Working Group on Information and Communications Technologies in Africa to draft an action framework that would utilize the information and communication technologies in order to accelerate the socio-economic development of Africa and its people. The first result of this working group was the document "Africa's Information Society Initiative (AISI): An Action Framework to Build Africa's Information and Communication Infrastructure". The document was submitted to the 22nd meeting of UNECA Conference of Ministers in May 1996 and adopted by Resolution 812 (XXXI) entitled "Implementation of the African Information Society Initiative". Together with numerous collaborative partners, UNECA is now working on the implementation of the action framework. The framework will be the basis for UNECA's own programme of work in its focus of Harnessing Information for Development. This is one of five focus areas for UNECA's entire programme of work. Most importantly, the AISI action framework will serve as the framework for the priority area of Information Technology under the United Nations System-Wide Special Initiative on Africa. The implementation of this priority area involves several key United Nations agencies, including UNECA as the lead agency, collaborating with UNESCO, ITU, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO), and the World Bank. The implementation of the AISI action plan will take place at country level, starting with the development of National Information and Communication Infrastructure (NICI) plans. These plans will be elaborated through five programmes and pilot projects reflecting national needs and priorities. ECA, with its partners, will work directly with countries to assist in drawing up national action plans, to develop programmes and to draft projects to help support systems for government, business and society. Besides national activities, cooperation between African countries is also needed, and regional activities will be undertaken. Currently all the above-mentioned United Nations agencies and IDRC are in the process of preparing a joint project proposal to seek initial funds to start implementing the AISI action framework. The funds will be used for national policy and sectoral workshops, development of the National Information and Communication Infrastructure plans and for implementation of a few catalytic pilot activities. These latter activities include institution building and human resources development by establishment of national multi-purpose community information and learning centres, the installation of Internet nodes in some countries, and the development of training courses at subregional and regional training institutions. In addition, the project will begin to build African information resources by establishment and operation at UNECA of a metainformation electronic clearing house on African development information. Source: AISI brochure (pdf 800kb) |
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