ICT Policy And Civil Society Workshop in Africa

16 October 2002
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United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (Addis Ababa)
press release

Addis Ababa — The Association for Progressive Communications (APC), ARTICLE 19 and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) will be holding a five-day information and communications technologies (ICT) policy and civil society workshop from November 6th to 10th, 2002 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Civil society groups have been at the forefront in advancing ICT applications in various sectors, however the purpose of this workshop is to build knowledge and expertise of civil society organizations to engage ICT policy processes in Africa.

According to Emmanuel Njenga Njuguna, APC's project coordinator, few civil society organizations are aware of the policy developments taking place at the global, regional and national levels that can impact on their ability and potential to use ICTs as a tool in their work, let alone own or control the production and application of these technologies locally. This workshop will help build people awareness and capacity to understand ICT policy concepts, issues, and how these impact on their work and their communities.

The workshop, which will bring together approximately seventy representatives from civil society organizations from all regions of Africa, is particularly timely, closely following a month-long discussion on the African Information Society Initiative (AISI)forum on the role of civil society in promoting the use of ICTs to strengthen and stimulate participatory approaches to policy issues especially governance in Africa. The forum discussions will provide the basis for a strong African civil society input to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in December 2003 in Geneva, and then again in Tunis in 2005.

Says Karima Bounemra Ben Soltane of ECA, "increasing the participation of civil society in harnessing ICT for development in general and ICT policies in particular is one of the key objectives of the AISI and is considered a priority for ECA". Ms Bounemra further adds,

ECA is working with some thirty-two countries in Africa, assisting them develop national ICT policies. It is hoped that civil society in these countries will work with these governments in this regard

The workshop has been made possible thanks to the generous support of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), HIVOS and the Open Society Institute (OSI).

The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) is an international network of civil society organizations dedicated to empowering and supporting groups and individuals through the strategic use of information and communication technologies (ICTs), especially Internet-related technologies. APC and its members pioneer practical and relevant uses of ICTs for civil society, especially in developing countries. APC is an international facilitator of civil society's engagement with ICTs and related concerns, in both policy and practice.

Our network of members and partners spans the globe, with presence in Western, Central and Eastern Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America and North America.

APC POLICY WORK IN AFRICA

The Africa ICT Policy monitor website, launched in May 2002, is a user-friendly resource which aims at demystifying the concepts of ICT policy-making. APC hopes that the Website content will stimulate discussion between users from around the continent about the use and relevance of ICTs for development in Africa, and facilitate the development of a network of civil society organisations promoting African Internet rights issues

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