Nairobi — Africa could reap unequalled Information Communication Technology ICT benefits if it identifies and pursues partnership strategies with both the developing and the developed world. The development of ICT in Africa in all facets of its application lags behind in comparison with other world regions. But there are now promising initiatives in Africa towards the development of ICT.

A part from low teledensity - telephone connections per 1,000 people - Africa still lags behind in the development of both hardware and software production capabilities required for the ICT revolution to take root.

Yet the digital divide is threatening to leave the poor countries, most of which are in Africa, more behind in terms of global development. "Promoting knowledge for development is a vast undertaking that cuts across all aspects of development," says Lalla Ben Barka, Deputy Executive Secretary, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa ECA.

"It is far too large for one organisation (or country) to undertake by itself. All aspects of development agenda need multi-stakeholder processes and partnerships. They need a co-ordinated partnership approach to accomplish the tremendous development challenges they represent".

In Africa, the ECA has been at the forefront of not only spearheading development of ICT but also of networking to realise this aim, for instance through the African Information Society Initiative AISI.

This is an action plan to build Africa's information and communication infrastructure rooted in 15 prior years of regional efforts to reduce the information gap between Africa and the rest of the world'

In Africa, as elsewhere in the world, according to Barka, the value of local knowledge and understanding must be recognised while implementing ICT development projects.

"The absence of local understanding and involvement in the design and implementation of development projects has been the source of many failures. Users from the community level on up must be incorporated into project and project design," the ECA official said.

"On the other hand, development agencies must put more emphasis on learning from the projects they support and disseminating results. The prerequisites for this are the sharing of information," Barka said this while addressing Global Knowledge Partnership Summit held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia recently.

Apart from ICT infrastructure, software development technologies are absolutely minimal in Africa. Most of the software in use in Africa has either been developed in India - the current global software production giant- or in the West.

The diversity of the Africa culture and languages dictates that Africans should develop own software that will feature the reality of African diversified applications.

"Software production is a potential entry point for Africa into ICT production. Compared to hardware, it is less capital intensive, more labour intensive and has a longer shelf life," says K.Y. Amoako, the Executive Secretary of the ECA.

Amoako was addressing a conference on India-Africa Co-operation in the Information Age in New Delhi in April this year. "While there is a limited software production expertise in Africa, India software houses face a large- scale migration of human resources".

"Nonetheless, there are opportunities for African Information Technology IT companies to work with India counterparts in gaining skills, resources and new software development culture and quality".

Indeed, India-Africa ICT partnership could be a "godsend" opportunity for Africa as it strives to put itself at the same ICT level with other global regions rather than be bypassed by the ICT itself.

Some facts about India IT revolution give weight to this assertion. The most popular form of Internet based e-mail, the Hotmail was invented by Sabber Bhatia of India before selling it to Microsoft Corp for US$ 400 million.

Over 700 ICT firms in Silicon Valley, the headquarters of the "computer knowledge" are owned by Indians. India has one of the most vibrant, government- led national information technology and communication strategy.

Software production is a mantra to India excellence. India has also been aggressive in the development of language infrastructure through IT- an area of considerable interest to Africa given its multiplicity of languages.

According to Africa Policy Information Centre, APIC based in Maryland USA, both private and public sectors in Africa are striving to build ICT related partnerships with the outside world. These partnerships are proving to be blessings beyond the formerly anticipated levels.

For instance, in Georgia, USA, African-American farmers are developing partnerships with their West African counterparts. Seattle is building a sister- city relationships with Limbe in Cameroon and Mombasa in Kenya.

A publishing company in New Jersey, owned by an African immigrant, prints books on presses both in US and on the African continent using files transmitted electronically. Further, in New York, former anti-apartheid activists are working with Wall Street fund mangers to raise investor funds for South African micro-enterprise activities.

Throughout the US, religious groups and denominations have developed a variety of meaningful partnerships with Africans and African institutions in the areas of education, economic and social development.

"These are just a few ways that individuals, organisations and communities around the US are building new forms of engagement with Africa. These linkages have the potential to help shape US policy toward Africa in a more positive direction," says APIC.

The corporate world has also initiated partnerships in ICT. Last month, the Investment Promotion Network IPAnet, the World Bank Group's Internet portal for international corporate investors entered into partnership with BusinessMap.

BusinessMap is a South Africa based research firm and consultancy service provider. The partnership was to enable IPAnet feature updated investment analyses on Southern Africa. BusinessMap is the first African partner of the IPAnet.

"The partnership is the beginning of an increasing commitment to provide quality information appropriate to supporting foreign direct investment FDI in the Southern Africa region," says Jenny Cargil, the Chief Executive Officer CEO of BusinessMap.

According to Karin Millet, an official of the World Bank, the partnership will add significant new depth to IPAnet's African resource offering.

"BusinessMap's research capabilities and access to business and political leaders in the region will help IPAnet users keep up-to-date on foreign investment in the Southern Africa development Community," he says.

Publication Date: August 28, 2000