Introduction
During the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) held between 10-12 December, 2003 in Geneva the participants made a Declaration of the Principles based on the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This was followed up with a second summit in Tunis, 16-18 November 2005.
Among the many principles adopted and created from various statements of the governments and other actors such as civil society – one can note that areas like development and poverty reduction have been taken into consideration (WSIS). The final declaration states that the WSIS should be development-oriented, aim at fair, balanced and harmonious development of all the people of the world, and help to reduce the disparity between developed and developing countries.
What emerges from the preparatory committees and other committees of Geneva summit is the attempt to define Information Society- as an economic and social system where knowledge and information constitute the fundamental sources of well-being and progress and represent an opportunity for our countries and societies. The development of that society should take place within a global and local context of fundamental principles such as those of respect for human rights, democracy, environmental protection, the advancement of peace, the right to development, fundamental freedoms, economic progress and social equity (WSIS, 2003). In this respect, the key principle envisages where governments, as well as private sector, civil society and the United Nations and other international organizations have an important role and responsibility in the development of the Information Society and, as appropriate, in decision-making processes. Building a people-centred Information Society is a joint effort which requires cooperation and partnership among all stakeholders (WSIS, 2004).
Core Principles and Potentials
Perusing the declaration of the principles, it is evident that the benefits of the Information Society should be extended to all, and most importantly be development oriented. It seeks to address the interests of the developing countries, in a fair, balanced and harmonious development. There should be facilitation of information so as to bring about sharing of social and economic benefits by all, while preserving cultural heritage and diversity.
In order to realize all of these, we should be cognizant of gender issues, where disparities in gender based on unequal power, economic status; social and cultural issues have been constraints in enabling women to benefit equally from ICT developments.
Going through all the documents ever released on declaration of principles, we can be able to debate on the potential benefits of what these hold for developing nations like Africa, and the potential challenges in achieving some of the stated goals and objectives among the following identified key principles.
2.1 Information Society for all
Role of governments and all stakeholders in the promotion of ICTs for development
It is recognized that governments, as well as private sector, civil society and international organizations have an important role and responsibility in the development of the Information Society and in decision making. Building a people centred Information Society is therefore a joint effort that requires cooperation and partnership among all stakeholders.
In Africa, governments and private sector are forging new forms of partnership based on complementary efforts. Examples abound such the ComputersForSchools project where refurbished computers which would otherwise end up being dumped in the Western countries, are shipped to schools in collaboration with ministries of education. There is apparent establishing and strengthening at the local, national, regional and international levels, institutions that create coherence in developing Information Society. Such examples are New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).
Information and communication infrastructure: an essential foundation for an inclusive information society
Connectivity is the key in building an Information Society: universal, equitable and affordable access to ICT infrastructure and services is one of challenges of the Information Society. It involves access to energy and postal services.
A well developed information and communication network infrastructure and applications, making greater use of broadband and other innovative technologies will accelerate the social and economic progress of countries, and well being if all individuals, communities and peoples.
Policies that create a favourable climate stability, predictability and fair competition at all levels should be developed and implemented so as to attract more private investments for ICT infrastructure development. In disadvantaged areas, the establishment of ICT public access points in places such as post offices, schools, libraries and archives which can provide effective means of ensuring universal access to infrastructure and services of the Information Society.
These principles had earlier been adopted by representatives of African governments, civil society and the private sector during the Africa Regional Conference for WSIS, Bamako, 28-30 May 2002. To date, attempts at technology supply have been made by diversifying through:
Removal of regulatory, political and financial obstacles to the development of communication facilities;
Promotion of open source software packages such as Ubuntu;
Promotion of regional and global initiatives in bridging the digital divide from ECA, ATU, ITU, UN ICT Taskforce, UNDP and civil society organizations;
Adopting policies to stimulate the building of ICT infrastructure and providing universal access particularly in rural areas. The Digital Village Projects (DVPs) by the Kenya government has been realized through such formulation of policies;
Removal of duties levied on ICT hardware and software;
2.2 Access to information and knowledge
Access to information and for that matter knowledge for all could as well be said to have been at the centre of the discussions at Geneva and Tunis both for 2003 and 2005 respectively. The topic was well espoused under the key guiding principles. It can be said that information is made a reality when equitable access to users is made possible which goes a long way in building an Information Society in the context of information and knowledge creation and which grows in tandem with the consumers of the information.
For information exclusivity it was noted and indeed agreed that access to contribution of information, ideas and knowledge was quite essential. The digital divide as shall be seen in another section of this report has created barriers to equitable access. Several efforts have been made in the developed world to address the salient issues and reconcile with the existing laws, however it was noted that the developing world faces challenges in addressing issues such as lack of access to requisite infrastructure, differential education in the society and copy right issues. Some countries in the developing countries are addressing a number of the issues through creation of digital villages such as in Kenya, infrastructure rollout, and universal service fund to address disparities in both the rural and marginalized areas. Kenya is making a concerted effort to this end the enactment of the Information Communication Technology (ICT) Bill, Women Fund and the Youth Fund where the concerned groups are playing a vital role in the establishment of rural enterprises that have prompted these groups to gain access to ICT services and hence bridge the digital divide.
Using Kenya as an example within the African context, access to information and knowledge relies on infrastructural investment and development in the energy sector and other related sectors. Kenya has recently established a rural electrification programme, through the Rural Electrification Board (REB) for supply of electricity to the rural areas, which is expected to spur access to information and knowledge; and creation of Information Societies. Both the two conferences noted that use of assistive technology and equitable access is important, and as mentioned earlier initiatives are being made in this direction with the view of improving access to information and knowledge and as well contribute to the pool of existing knowledge without discrimination.
All initiatives towards improving equitable distribution of information and access was noted as the key that could lead to having rich public domains, education, new jobs and innovative business opportunities as mentioned in the Kenyan example. With the new development it was noted that the new Information Society will come with the responsibility of protecting information and knowledge, and this could come in the form of protection of public institutions such as museums, cultural collection and community document preservation. Access to this information could eventually be promoted by increasing awareness among all stakeholders through initiatives like making software licences affordable, though this is debatable depending on the economy in question; putting a check on proprietary issues on software; development of open source software and in some instances radical decision which make provision of free software; and fostering competition among software firms.
Having mentioned all the above, it was agreed that users should be involved in development of solutions and be given diversity of choice. This would ensure users have solutions which best fit their specific requirements and this would ensure affordable access to information and knowledge that is truly inclusive of the emerging Information Society. For the truly marginalized groups a concerted effort has to be put in place by all stakeholders to promote universal access with equal opportunities not only on the basis of Information Society, but also access to scientific knowledge, its creation and dissemination. Finally, several initiatives have to be developed with the aim of equitable access by all to technical information including open access initiatives for scientific publishing; and being cognizant of the challenges based on gender, culture, political, social and health issues that are a constant concern for the developing world with special emphasis on the African continent.
2.3 Capacity building
In order to realize the vision of the Information Society, capacity building for today and future workforce is vital. The young generation and society at large must therefore be empowered as learners, developers, contributors, entrepreneurs and decision-makers. The focus must be especially on young people who have not yet been able to benefit fully from the opportunities provided by ICTs. Policies must be also be committed to ensuring that the development of ICT applications and operation of services respects the rights of children as well as their protection and well-being.
The African world such as Kenya has challenges to ensuring that everyone has the necessary skills to benefit fully from the Information Society. The countries literacy level is still low according to research. ICT literacy is even lower. There is a need to initiate computer education and ICT awareness such as networking schools together and encouraging e-learning ventures. Much is needed from the government and the Ministry of Communications and Information to establish a set of government standard competence criteria which establishes the levels of competence needed from civil servants and which may be used to set standards for ICT competence in other sectors of the economy. Standards are also needed to safeguard quality of education in the wake of mushrooming mediocre colleges. While being seen as entrepreneurial ventures and digital literacy education, these mushrooming colleges can not be guaranteed to offer the much professional expertise needed.
Education and research in the African society is still not well developed and for the future generations to understand the real basis of our digital age, freedom has to be preserved for the knowledge of humankind. Free software, open courseware and free educational software as well as scientific resources empower people to take their life into their own hands. If not, they will become only users and consumers of information technologies, instead of active participants and well informed citizens in the Information Society. This is evident by the upsurge of application systems coming from Asia to Africa (Consumers).
The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) held during 10-12 December, 2003 in Geneva, made the Declaration of the Principles that states capacity building should focus on the following
Each person should have the opportunity to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge in order to understand, participate actively in, and benefit fully from, the Information Society and the knowledge economy. Literacy and universal primary education are key factors for building a fully inclusive information society, paying particular attention to the special needs of girls and women. Given the wide range of ICT and information specialists required at all levels, building institutional capacity deserve special attention.
The use of ICTs in all stages of education, training and human resource development should be promoted, taking into account the special needs of persons with disabilities and disadvantaged and vulnerable groups.
Continuous and adult education, re-training, life-long learning, distance-learning and other special services, such as telemedicine, can make an essential contribution to employability and help people benefit from the new opportunities offered by ICTs for traditional jobs, self-employment and new professions. Awareness and literacy in ICTs are an essential foundation in this regard.
Content creators, publishers, and producers, as well as teachers, trainers, archivists, librarians and learners, should play an active role in promoting the Information Society, particularly in the Least Developed Countries.
To achieve a sustainable development of the Information Society, national capability in ICT research and development should be enhanced. Furthermore, partnerships, in particular between and among developed and African countries, including countries with economies in transition, in research and development, technology transfer, manufacturing and utilization of ICT products and services are crucial for promoting capacity building and global participation in the Information Society. The manufacture of ICTs presents a significant opportunity for creation of wealth.
The attainment of our shared aspirations, in particular for African countries and countries with economies in transition, to become fully-fledged members of the Information Society, and their positive integration into the knowledge economy, depends largely on increased capacity building in the areas of education, technology know-how and access to information, which are major factors in determining development and competitiveness.
African states are grappling with the influx of technology, no control and lack of content for the illiterate masses. Initiatives such as tele-computing are beginning to crop up while in the education sector, we talk of distance learning initiatives like the African Virtual University. The governments are putting in place measures for infrastructure establishment of infrastructure for high-speed research networks, and interconnecting schools. There is minimal ICT professionals and experts growth through scholarships.
Thus special attention must be paid to supporting sustainable capacity building with a specific focus on research and skills development. In order to tackle development issues, training should have a sociological focus too and not be entirely technologically framed.
Similarly, educators at all levels should be empowered to develop curricula that provide or contribute to training for people not only as workers and consumers using ICT, but also in the basic science and engineering of ICT, in the participatory design of ICT by communities with computing professionals, the critical assessment of ICT, the institutional and social contexts of their development and implementation, as well as their creative uses for active citizenship. Young people - given their large numbers, particularly in African countries, and enthusiasm and expertise in the use of ICTs - remain an untapped resource as initiators of peer-to-peer learning projects at the community and school levels. These issues have largely been ignored by WSIS.
Study shows that, majority of ICT practitioners in African counties are men. There is therefore a need to empower women to influence and benefit from the ICT sector through building their technical and soft skills by providing them with cutting-edge IT network training along with market-required soft skills. Equal and active participation of women is essential, especially in decision-making. There is a need for real effort and commitment to transforming the masculinity culture embedded within existing structures and discourses of the Information Society which serves to reinforce gender disparity and inequality. Without full, material and engaged commitment to the principle of gender equality, women's empowerment and nondiscrimination, the vision of a just and equitable Information Society cannot be achieved.
African countries therefore need to formulate national ICT capacity building programme that address development of human resource, building institutional and technological capacity. Given the amount of resources needed to meet these challenges, it is imperative that the countries forge strong partnership with the private sector and international donor agencies. This will provide emphasis to selected focus areas to promote development-oriented applications
in education, health, governance, trade and commerce, and public administration and service delivery.
2.4 Building confidence and security in the use of ICTs
The WSIS Declaration of Principles recognized that "strengthening the trust framework, including information security and network security, authentication, privacy and consumer protection, is a prerequisite for the development of the Information Society and for building confidence among users of ICTs." It is pertinent to note, in the African context, that ICTs approach represent a big departure from the traditional way of doing business. Building confidence and security is therefore critical for successful implementation of ICTs.
Building confidence and security will give the African people confidence in their privacy, whilst taking advantage of ICT developments. However, the greatest hurdle in implementing security is the lack of infrastructure e.g. use of Public Key Infrastructures (PKI), which is yet to be established for most governments.
ICTs will also make it possible to establish a basis for large-scale introduction of electronic signatures which in turn will facilitate the introduction of electronic transactions in public administration. Use of signatures will enhance security of government-owned data. The biggest challenge however, is in building capacity to use the systems. For example, establishing an authority to support the use of electronic signatures in public administrative bodies holding sensitive information; training users and having or developing personnel with the necessary experience.
ICTs may also be used to strengthen countermeasures against cyber crime, which has increased in line with the number of Internet users. African governments can set up departments to handle "Cyber crime", to promote the investigation and prevention of cyber crime. The departments can coordinate investigations by local police forces and strengthen cooperation with industry and foreign countries. It should be noted that cyber crime is becoming more complex, and therefore one major challenge will be to develop systems that are capable of evolving to ensure sophisticated technical support throughout the country in the investigation of cyber crime. According to survey published in Madar Research Journal (2005), widespread growth and increasing reliance on ICTs services places all establishments at risk. The matter is complicated further by secrecy and absence of popular demand for transparency in reporting cyber crimes hence a serious lack in legal frameworks and necessary resources to charge people who commit cybercrimes
With the collaboration of public agencies and professional associations, it should also be possible to develop e-commerce applications that can be used for large scale transactions i.e. e-commerce amongst both small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and the consumers. In order to encourage the development, this will require comprehensive legal framework necessary to conduct e-commerce and e-transactions (digital signature and proof, data privacy, on-line contracts, consumer protection, e-payments, related international issues, etc.). Most African governments are yet to formalize legislation or policies i.e. there is limited legislation related to e-commerce. There will be need for cooperation with other governments and also sensitizing consumers about their rights to avoid misuse of ICTs. This may include introduction of consumer protection bodies.
With regard to incident response, which is critical for availability, integrity, and accountability of systems, countries will have to launch Computer Emergency Response Teams (CERTs), aimed at creating awareness of cyber security, assist the management of risks and ensure the integrity of data.
According to UNESCO plan of Action (2005), confidence and security are among the main pillars of the Information Society that:
Promote cooperation among the governments at the United Nations and with all stakeholders at other appropriate fora to enhance user confidence, build trust, and protect both data and network integrity; consider existing and potential threats to ICTs; and address other information security and network security issues.
Governments, in cooperation with the private sector, should prevent, detect and respond to cyber-crime and misuse of ICTs by: developing guidelines that take into account ongoing efforts in these areas; considering legislation that allows for effective investigation and prosecution of misuse; promoting effective mutual assistance efforts; strengthening institutional support at the international level for preventing, detecting and recovering from such incidents; and encouraging education and raising awareness.
Governments, and other stakeholders, should actively promote user education and awareness about online privacy and the means of protecting privacy.
Take appropriate action on spam at national and international levels.
Encourage the domestic assessment of national law with a view to overcoming any obstacles to the effective use of electronic documents and transactions including electronic means of authentication.
Further strengthen the trust and security framework with complementary and mutually reinforcing initiatives in the fields of security in the use of ICTs, with initiatives or guidelines with respect to rights to privacy, data and consumer protection.
Share good practices in the field of information security and network security and encourage their use by all parties concerned.
Invite interested countries to set up focal points for real-time incident handling and response, and develop a cooperative network between these focal points for sharing information and technologies on incident response.
Encourage further development of secure and reliable applications to facilitate online transactions.
Encourage interested countries to contribute actively to the ongoing United Nations activities to build confidence and security in the use of ICTs.
2.5 Enabling environment
The main challenge was of reconciling the flow of information and the need to preserve cultural and linguistic diversity in a digital world. Based on this the following issues are necessary:
2.5.1 Cultural and Linguistic Diversity
Maintaining cultural heritage and local languages was essential to the development of an Information Society. "Universalizing" access, open access to public domain information, freedom of expression and specific policies to foster distribution of information and knowledge were seen as critical to promoting cultural diversity. The significant role of the family in implementing a digital culture was also noted.
Content that is relevant to the cultures and languages of individuals in the Information Society needed to be provided through access to both traditional and digital media services.
Support by governments, the private sector and civil society in assisting developing and use ICTs for the preservation - both digitization and dissemination - of cultural and natural heritage.
The role of universities and NGOs was seen as important in helping develop local content and preventing focus essentially driven by commercial considerations. It was recommended to make bicultural and multicultural heritage and resources available to schools via the Internet.
Emphasis on the exchange of knowledge, experiences and best practices on policies and tools was important to promote cultural and linguistic diversity at regional and sub regional levels.
2.5.2 Freedom of Expression and Media Ownership
Freedom of expression was recognized as the pre-requisite for diversity. It was widely agreed that governments had a critical role in removing the obstacles to freedom of expression. Strong commitment by democratic and politically legitimate governments was needed to defend that principle.
To ensure democracy and content diversification, major media conglomerates should be prevented from controlling access to information.
The development of domestic legislation that guaranteed media independence, pluralism and freedom of expression should be encouraged. The constitutionalization of freedom of expression had to be accompanied by political will and legal frameworks needed to be enforced in courts.
Governments and the courts are required to ensure ethical media conduct.
Legal frameworks were also needed for community media and private broadcasters to allow them to operate independently. It was stressed that public and private broadcasters needed to work together.
Families and educational institutions were recognized as the building block for a culture of freedom of expression.
The media had a special role to make greater efforts to help the poor and vulnerable exercise their freedom of expression.
2.5.3 Law and Ethics on the Internet
The use of ICTs and content creation should respect human rights and fundamental freedoms of others.
The ethics for the Information Society should foster justice, and the dignity of the human person. Social controls were needed to prevent abusive uses of ICTs, such as hatred, extremism, fundamentalism, violence, racial discrimination and xenophobia.
Specific proposals and recommendations
Sensitize search engines such as Google to the necessity of providing local languages and of enhancing their search capabilities in such languages.
Launch an initiative to promote the development and use of translation engines.
Elaborate an international convention for protection against spam.
Consider developing international conventions to enable users to build on existing content without breaching existing copyright laws.
2.6 ICT application: benefits in all aspects of life
The WSIS Plan of Action identifies eight sectors as examples of those where the application of ICTs can bring wider social and economic benefits especially in African countries. Some of such sectors with examples related to African countries have been outlined as follows
2.6.1 E-government
In Africa a number of different initiatives have been launched in the field of e-government, for instance, in the Republic of Congo Under the supervision of the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications, a dedicated network has been set up for permanent real-time audiovisual communications between the main governmental institutions and parliament. The extension of the network and further applications are planned.
In addition, some organization such as Development Gateway Foundation
created the Aid Management Platform that is a web-based e-government tool that increases transparency in aid processes between developing country governments and their donors, and reduces the transaction costs of aid tracking, reporting and coordination. The first modules have been deployed in May 2005 by the Government of Ethiopia, which also helped define what the system should address. Additional modules are in the pipeline. This has been an international, cooperative effort and the system can now be made available and tailored to the needs of other governments.
The European Community
in collaboration with ITU
is implementing a Global E-Government Project: "Enhancing Government Services through the use of Secure and Trusted Internet Infrastructures and Applications". This project is aimed at assisting and increasing government efficiency in developing countries by providing Internet-based services and applications to citizens and government officials in Cameroon, Kyrgyz Republic and in Rwanda.
2.6.2 E-business
In this sector, developed countries have played a major role in improving the market for the developing countries. For example Switzerland is helping small and medium-sized companies in emerging countries and economies in transition to improve their market access to Switzerland and the European Union, thereby helping Swiss importers to find new products and sourcing markets. In the ICT sector, the Swiss Import Promotion Programme (SIPPO) organizes selling missions, trade fair stands and the online B2B Platform (Trado)
to offer IT companies in developing countries and Swiss importers the opportunity to network and interact in real time to develop business activities and create mutual opportunities.
Amongst other e-business initiatives: The Regional e-Business forums
of ITC (UNCTAD/WTO) concentrate on exploiting emerging e-business opportunities and applying new technologies to promote trade. E-Business Forums establish dialogue between export managers and strategy-makers with responsibilities of promoting international e-business and combining learning, expertise sharing, interactive dialogue, networking and business matching. In Tunisia, WebManagerCentre
is a portal for economic information, finance and management. It is designed to address the needs of industry, SMEs and the wide public in these fields. Bringing the benefits of ICTs to professionals as well as to all citizens, the portal aims to enhance the effective communication among all stakeholders and provide tools for efficient business solutions.
UNCTAD
helps countries to formulate their own e-business policies through technical assistance programmes, the promotion of international debate and by carrying out analytical work. UNCTAD's e-business programme addresses issues such as cyber crime, free and open source software, e-tourism, business process outsourcing, e-finance and e-services, and computerised customs management.
2.6.3 E-learning
This kind of learning is getting roots in Africa. Through e-Education project, the Ministry of Education and Sports (MES) of Uganda
intends to encourage the provision of education to all schools and adults (continuous education) throughout Uganda. It also aims to promote the use of the Internet to provide education to all. In Cameroon, Ethiopia, ICTs are also being used to ensure that the correct data is collected during the registration of students in schools.
Using the Development Gateway Foundation's
interactive web portal, the Hewlett Foundation is funding a new Open Educational Resources (OER) website to equalize access to high-quality educational materials at low or zero cost to learners and practitioners throughout the developing world. The main focus will be on facilitating access to OERs and the creation of OERs, but the project will also enable the formation of online communities for teaching and learning and provide opportunities for professional networking and collaboration.
The ITU e-Learning Centre
has been established as a global platform aimed at strengthening human capacities in the areas of telecommunications and human resource development. Since 2003, more than 100 online courses have been offered annually in the areas of Telecom Policy, Technology Awareness, Regulatory Issues, Strategic Management, e-Services, Spectrum Management and Network Engineering. Each year, more than 1'000 people are trained through the ITU e-Learning Centre.
2.6.4 E-health
For instance, in Tunisia, a regional health portal, Maghrebmed, was created through a public-private partnership. The multi-level website targets a wide public, including health professionals, patients and people interested in health issues in general. The activity provides access to a wealth of digital resources and is intended to stimulate the exchange and the dissemination of information and knowledge through the establishment of virtual communities.
The African Medical & Research Foundation (AMREF) has embarked on the use of ICTs in telemedicine to improve quality and access, and lower the costs of its clinical outreach programme, which currently covers 75 government and mission hospitals. The regional telemedicine pilot project has initially targeted four hospitals in Kenya and Tanzania, with a view to expanding to cover all of them.
Child Helpline International currently has 79 child help lines in 69 countries and is working in a further 14 countries to establish new services. The networks are available to marginalized children through text messaging, email, confidential and open chat rooms, with the aim of ensuring their voices are heard. In the near future, it is planned to extend child help lines to the district level, enabling more children in need of care and protection to gain access to Child Helpline's services.
In collaboration with Cisco Systems, the WHO's "Health Academy" is a novel approach to improving health through information technology. It will provide the general public with the necessary health information and knowledge to help prevent diseases and to follow a healthier lifestyle. The Health Academy's mission is to demystify medical and public health practices and to make the knowledge of health specialists available to all citizens of the world through Internet-based technology. It will promote good health by explaining essential public health functions in a language that users can understand, taking into consideration their individual cultural sensitivities.
ITU is contributing to the development of innovative solutions and options for providing health services to underserved areas and the development of institutional partnerships. ITU's e-health activities include the implementation of telemedicine projects in several countries including Bhutan, Georgia, Malta, Mozambique, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Senegal, Uganda and Ukraine.
2.6.5 E-employment
In this field of e-employment, ITU, and other partners, has started an e-employment project for women and youth in Cameroon
(with possible extension to Chad, Democratic Republic of Congo, Guinea, Rwanda and Tunisia). The objective is to provide women with the knowledge and skills that are needed to support the transition to e-competence and capabilities in the region.
2.6.6 E-environment
The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) is promoting the provision and rapid exchange of information on weather, water and climate between scientific and research centres. In E-environment, WMO is promoting the provision of timely weather, water and climate information, including warnings for mitigating natural disasters, dangerous weather-related phenomena and environmental emergencies.
2.6.7 E-agriculture
The US Agency for International Development runs the Southern Africa Sustainable Tree Crops Programme that uses a portal, consisting of a website and Intranet, to coordinate field activities among partners in coffee, cocoa and other tree crops.
The Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture initiative provides public institutions in developing countries with free or low-cost access to over 400 major scientific journals in agriculture and related sciences. AGORA aims to increase the quality and effectiveness of agricultural research, education and training in low-income countries and, in turn, to improve food security. Researchers, policy-makers, educators, students, technical workers and extension specialists will have access to high quality, relevant and timely agricultural information over the Internet.
The Farmer Information Network (FarmNet) is a conceptual model for using ICTs for agricultural and rural development. It aims to create a network of rural people supported by intermediary organizations through extension services, using ICTs and conventional media to facilitate the gathering and exchange of knowledge and information. Farmnet projects are currently ongoing in Bolivia and Namibia, with others planned for East Africa and Latin America.
2.6.8 E-science
In connection to e-science, a number of initiatives have been launched, for example, Bioline International
(BI). BI is an electronic publishing service committed to providing open access to quality scientific research and literature generated in developing countries. The primary goal of BI is to improve the accessibility, visibility and research impact of research published in developing countries. Using peer-reviewed journals from several developing countries, Bioline provides a unique free service by making bioscience information generated in these countries available to the international research community.
The WSIS Plan of Action recognises that the Information Society should be subject to universally held values and promote the common good and to prevent abusive uses of ICTs. The following section summarises some of the relevant activities in this area.
2.7.1 Promoting respect for peace and fundamental shared values of freedom, equality and solidarity
For example in Uganda they embraced the idea for ICT4peace by organizing some forums. They are aware that by acquiring the ICT skills, students are in a position to share information pertaining to peace with colleagues.
They have embraced a challenge to talk peace using Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Information and Communication Technologies are broad themes which range from having and sharing information to how we share this information with others.
They believe that the use of ICTs and media tools by the youth would make them more informed, more instrumental, productive, and useful to their societies. So the youth use knowledge gained to share their experiences, inform their friends and societies on peace issues, be good agents for peace, create peace awareness generally in places they live and elsewhere.
In some organized forums, one person said that information is needed to beat the current development challenges underscoring the need to share information about causes and management of conflict.
The ICT4Peace was conceived after a civil society workshop in 2006 which unearthed a finding that there existed a wide information and communication gap in the communities especially with regards to peace.
It is believed that youths can be empowered through ICT. They do organize for some peace camp through which the participants acquired skills to use ICT tools like email and use such to keep in touch with others to spread peace messages. In some schools they have started some peace clubs. Members of the clubs open up email accounts to communicate with other people about peace building.
2.7.2 Increasing awareness of the ethical dimensions of ICT use
For instance in Kenya, Digital Village Network kicks off in Nyeri town, an initiative to take Internet technology to the rural areas. It happened on 26th June, 2008. For the first time a team of ICT providers, Government officials and politicians came together to sensitize populations outside Nairobi on the importance of ICTs.
The Digital Village Network (DVN) is a mega-community initiative coordinated by ICTvillage.com that brings together individuals and organizations in the Government, public, private and civil society sector under one umbrella to radically transform Kenya's economy, society and politics using ICT.
The Directorate of e-Government (DeG) will soon shift focus to ICT applications now that substantial progress has been made in the provision of infrastructure, especially at the headquarters of all Government ministries and departments. DeG will in June this year launch the Government Common Core Network (GCCN) project which connects all government offices in Nairobi with high speed fibre optic cabling.
The e-Government Strategy outlines the objectives and processes for the modernization of Government, as a means towards: enhancement of transparency, accountability and good governance; making the Government more result oriented, efficient and citizen centred.
2.7.3 Protecting privacy and personal data and taking preventive measures against abusive uses of ICTs
This is the most important one is stated here in its entirety:
All actors in the Information Society should take appropriate actions and preventive measures, as determined by law, against abusive uses of ICTs, such as illegal and other acts motivated by racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related intolerance, hatred, violence, all forms of child abuse, including paedophilia and child pornography, and trafficking in, and exploitation of, human beings.
The policies that respect this criterion or principle need to have provision for promoting ethical behaviour among all the stakeholders in ICT. This is achieved through legal provisions in the policies or through laws enacted on the basis of the policy contents.
Cameroon's policy indicates the creation of a legal and regulatory framework to guide activity in ICT. This will surely cause all the actors concerned to behave ethically. The same goes for Ethiopia, Benin, Egypt, Cote d'Ivoire, Senegal, Tanzania, Namibia, Rwanda, Zambia, Uganda and Botswana. CAR, Congo, Morocco, Mali and Burkina Faso will create copy right and other laws to ensure ethical behaviour in the new information society. In the Comoros, it is planned to strengthen the ethical behaviour of ICT professionals and the laws to be put in place will further guarantee such behaviour from all stakeholders.
How do the rest of the countries treat this issue? The Gambia and Guinea are silent on it.
Ghana on the other hand intends to develop standards, best practices and guidelines to serve as benchmarks in the deployment, exploitation and development of ICTs to the stakeholders. Such benchmarks will generate the right ethical behaviour. Kenya plans to "Address issues of privacy, e-security, ICT legislation, cyber crimes, ethical and moral conduct, copyrights, intellectual property rights and piracy". This is the first policy to actually group these issues together with the intention of addressing them by setting up an e-security structure. These steps will ensure ethical behaviour in the ICTs.
Mozambique and Nigeria are working in the same light. Malawi plans to promote international standards and best practices in the use of ICTs to aid the development, provision and delivery of goods and services. Such a policy will ensure ethical behaviour in the use of ICTs.
Many of the projects targeting infrastructure development and modernization involve international and regional cooperation. Africa can learn from what has already been achieved in other countries (e.g. in Europe and Asia), towards increasing the use of online technologies in business.
For example establishing telecentres around the globe – African governments can borrow from Brazil which has significant experience in promoting the establishment of telecentres, with the purpose of improving the competitiveness of African enterprises, employment and income. Programmes that encourage NGOs and other non-profit civil society stakeholders to set up telecentres in areas with low IT penetration may also be introduced. Under this programme, interested institutions and organisations fulfilling the necessary criteria may receive a donation of computers. Governments may also encourage the private sector to donate hardware in exchange for becoming partner institution in poverty eradication programmes, thus gaining tax-exempt status and contributing to social mobilization within the business and industrial sectors.
Promoting the creation of telecentres is also an effective way of enlarging the country's Information Society, as the urban and rural population gain access to information. Currently, in Kenya, for example, according to Sammy Burachara, chairman of the Telecommunications Service Providers Association of Kenya (August 2007), a relatively small population (10%) of users have access to ICTs. More conservative estimates by the Internet World Statistics Organization (2007) indicate 3.2% of the total population in Kenya have internet access. The challenge is that governments in Africa have made limited investment towards setting up the required infrastructure, although they recognise the great importance of telecentres in bringing electronic communication services to rural areas.
Examples of individual country experiences, accomplishments and ongoing international, regional cooperation and integration projects that have a bearing on Africa are as follows:
Kenya can borrow from Sudan's experiences on telecentre initiatives that has demonstrated that this can also be driven from the private sector. SUDATEL, Sudan's incumbent telecom company has developed telecentres to provide access to ICTs, particularly in remote and rural areas, in cooperation with many public and private institutions, international donors, and community organisations. Telephony is the main service, but other services are also offered, including fax, Internet, telemedicine, tele-education and photocopying.
There are several other initiatives involving partnerships between stakeholders, helping to make ICT training available to the public. For instance:
The African Virtual University was established in 1997 with original funding from the World Bank. It is intended to provide access to high-quality tertiary education across Africa, fully utilising ICTs (e.g., satellite television, Internet, videoconferencing etc). Following a proof-of-concept phase in 1997-1999, some 33 AVU learning centres were established across the continent in 2000-2001. Since 2002, AVU has been operational in 18 countries, with over 3'000 students enrolled. In addition to the World Bank, other partners include the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the UK Department for International Development, private sector organisations (including Microsoft, H-P and Netsat) and overseas partners universities, such as MIT (USA), Carleton University (Canada) and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (Australia).
The WSIS Plan of Action recognises that international cooperation among all stakeholders is vital in its implementation. Examples of international cooperation are The Ministère des Affaires Etrangères (MAE) of France, which supports the development of information and communication systems for the establishment of higher education and research in Africa. This project aims at promoting durable scientific and technological exchanges of information among twelve countries: Algeria, Benin, Burkina-Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Madagascar, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal and Tunisia.
Aid in the ICT sector used to focus mainly on programmes for the improvement of telecommunications infrastructure, but most efforts nowadays follow a cross sectoral approach and seek to foster ICTs as an enabler of development, such as the Approach to ICT Policy of Germany (Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development). There is a special emphasis on rural areas, where market failures may impede rapid improvements in connectivity. For instance, the KfW Development Bank provides loans and grants to developing countries in all focal areas of Economic co-operation. GTZ (German Technical Co-operation) is conducting a number of ICT programmes in different sectors such as education, health and economic development.
WSIS. (2004). Declaration of Principles-Building the Information Society: a global challenge in the new Millennium. Geneva: WSIS.
WSIS. (2003, February 25). Draft Declaration based on the discussion in the working group of Sub-Committee 2 . Retrieved July 3, 2008, from International Telecommunication Union:
http://www.itu.int/dms_pub/itu-s/md/03/wsispc2/td/030217/S03-WSISPC2-030217-TD-GEN-0002!!MSW-E.doc
WSIS. (n.d.). Summit Outcome. Retrieved July 3, 2008, from World Summit on the Information Society: http://www.itu.int/wsis/documents/doc_multi.asp?lang=en&id=1161|0
Survey published in Madar Research Journal, Volume II, Issue 6, February 2005.
The Kenya Ministry of Information and Communication: infocomm@information.go.ke.
Website: www.unesco.org/wsisdirectory[2005]
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