IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

A meeting on ICT Best Practices held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and which was co-sponsored by the ADB says lack of support for implementation and maintenance if a proper skill in ICT is hindering the development of ICT on the continent.

ICT Africa has announced the creation of an ICT in Africa events page on their website.

With the booming ICT industry in Africa, comes an increasing need for industry players to get together and share developments, challenges and lessons learnt by others within Africa and elsewhere in the world. In order to successfully connect African countries to one another and to the rest of the world, it is imperative that governments, international institutions and national operators deploying ICT networks throughout Africa collaborate on how to connect their individual networks to one another. There is no better place to foster such collaborations than through ICT events that take place throughout the African continent.

Speaking at this year’s AGRIC showcase in Accra, Mr Davis said Africa still has about 600 million hectares of potentially suitable land which hasn`t been put to use yet”, adding that this undeveloped land if appropriately utilized with the use of technological applications by farmers in the sub region could go a long way to solve some of the world`s challenges.

He also said the agricultural sector which was the main driver of the economy could exploit the full potential of information (ICT) by Encouraging and putting in to full use by farmers to improve their value chains thereby reducing the risk of supply to its minimal level.

Dr Osei Darkwa, President of the Ghana Technology University (GTUC), who made the statement during the Second GTUC Conference in Accra recently, asked the experts to explore opportunities in the mobile communications sector to speed up development.

The conference was on the theme: “Applications of Mobile Communications in Africa: Prospects and Challenges”.

The Nigerian born scientist who has spend not less 20 years experience in software research and product development related to human-computer interaction stated this yesterday while speaking to Nigerian IT Journalists in Nairobi, Kenya shortly after a tour of IBM research lab situated at the Catholic Univeristy, Estern Africa.

That was the message from the head of the Wits School of Education, Professor Frances Faller, at the graduation ceremony for 27 educators from across Africa who successfully completed the Certificate in ICT in Education for Policy Implementers.

In a bid to make sure that the African continent becomes connected via ICT, the intergovernmental commercial organisation-Rascom has said it would partner with other international institutes to implement the project.

“With the second satellite launched recently, we are looking to partner with NEPAD in an e-learning project aiming at providing internet connectivity to more than 600,000 in Africa,” Mr Jones Killimbe, the director general of the Regional African Satellite Communications Organisation (Rascom) said at a news conference in Dar es Salaam yesterday.

According to International Data Corporation's (IDC) newly released predictions for the year ahead, with the global advisory services firm also expecting ICT's influence on economic development and social progress throughout Africa to be particularly pronounced in the next 12 months.

Leaders in ICT and government representatives gathered at the e-Governance Forum to find solutions to the various challenges facing African governments.

Many of these pilots show promise, but their rapid growth also poses challenges: At an eHealth conference held in Nairobi in May and co-organized by the World Bank, health professionals and development partners discussed how to identify the best of these evolving tools and bring them to scale.

Uganda is one example of a country where eHealth start-ups have developed quickly.

Addressing the ICT Indaba at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC) on Tuesday, Motlanthe said only 5.7% of Africans had access to the internet and while the continent made up 14% of the world's population, only 3.6% of the world's internet subscribers were from Africa.

"We believe that strategic investment in ICT will allow Africa to increasingly play a role in the development of new applications and technological innovations that are relevant for the needs of our continent and that this will ensure a continued multiplier effect on economic growth," he said.

Promoting faster telephone and internet connectivity for rural communities in the 18 Commonwealth African countries – that is the aim of a Commonwealth Connects project known as the Commonwealth African Rural Connectivity Initiative (COMARCI).

The £1.2 million project was launched in Kampala, Uganda, on 22 November 2007 on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, with a £50,000 seed funding from the Government of Malta through the Commonwealth Connects programme. It involves collaboration with the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) and the International Telecommunications Union.

A delegation of 42 officials participating in the mid-career training programme for mid-level civil servants from multiple countries in the African region visited Chandigarh's Integrated Command Control Centre (ICCC).

The delegation was given an insightful tour of the ICCC, which serves as the nerve centre for various Smart City initiatives in Chandigarh. During the visit, they witnessed live demonstrations of several citizen-centric services.

An India-Africa conference on e-governance is being planned here in March to ensure that benefits of digital platforms are made available for the empowerment of African citizens, a senior official said on Monday.

The conference ‘Digital Africa: Empowered Citizens’ will witness participation of policy makers and government officials from India and 54 African countries.

The Indian government is moving to connect African Union countries with a satellite and fiber-optic network to enable the sharing of India's expertise in education and health care.

The 125 million-dollar support project would also facilitate the sharing of Indian’s expertise in the fields of education and healthcare with members states of the African Union (AU).

Union Minister for External Affairs S.M. Krishna, while talking to senior ministers of 12 African countries via videoconference, spoke about the significance India attaches to developing multi-faceted and enduring partnership with the African continent. Speaking after the launch of the e-network in front of African ambassadors, Mr. Krishna said the pan-African e-Network project is one of the finest examples of the growing partnership between India and Africa “I understand that this is the biggest project of distance education and tele-medicine ever undertaken in Africa,” said Mr. Krishna. “Under this Project we have made available the facilities and expertise of some of the best universities and super-specialty hospitals in India to the people of Africa.”

The installation was notable not only for its speed, but also because it marked the beginning of Africa’s largest information and communications technology-based development project to be funded entirely by a developing country – India.

'During my visit to Africa, I addressed the inaugural session of the Pan-African Parliament on Sep 16, 2004. During my address, I made an offer to set up a Pan-African e-network,' Kalam said.