BuaNews (Tshwane)
Thapelo Sakoana
27 June 2006
Baadplaas — The current generation of young people is not afraid of technology and this should be harnessed for the development of information society in Africa.
This emerged today at the New Partnership for Africa's Development (Nepad) e-Africa youth conference currently underway here.
The conference is attended by delegates from various countries in the continent and seeks to explore means of ensuring youth participation in the development and implementation of the Information and Communication Technology (ITC) programmes.
Addressing delegates, Deputy Chairperson for the Nepad e-Africa Commission Henry Chasia urged young people to take advantage of their curiosity and willingness to experiment by developing a sound information society.
"Youth are full of idealism and we would want to harness that," he said.
Working within the Nepad framework and understanding Africa's potential, Dr Chasia said youth could maker a huge difference.
"ICT is a powerful instrument that we can acquire to make a difference in our continent because it has the power to reach the masses of our people and educate them thereof," he said, adding that ICT could also help improve health systems across Africa.
The five-day conference - which started yesterday - would also discuss the Nepad e-Africa Youth Programme.
The youth programme is aimed at building a cadre of young people to raise awareness on issues of the information society and serve as active participants in building an inclusive information society in their countries.
Dr Chasia said the programme should be designed to also attract the participation of civil society and the private sector.
"When you develop a programme, you need to ensure that it encourages the enthusiasm of various elements in society," he said.
Department of Communications Director General Lyndall Shope-Mafole said youth and ICT could play an important role in halving unemployment and poverty in the world by 2015 in line with the Millennium Development Goals.
"This conference is therefore in the context of bringing these two [youth and ICT] together in pursuit of this goal," she said.
She said Africans should also place themselves as equal competitors in the global world despite the current levels of poverty in the continent.
Ms Shope-Mafole told delegates that every generation of young people had its own challenges and responsibilities.
In this regard, young people should use technology in a modern world to help address variety of challenges that face their respective countries such as education, health and communication, among others.
The e-Africa commission was established in 2001, with the mandate to manage the structured development of the ICT sector on the African continent in the context of Nepad.
It is also required to develop broad strategies and a comprehensive action plan for ICT infrastructure and its use for ICT applications and services.
It is chaired by President Alpha Oumar Konaré
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