Geneva — The Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) comes prepared to make Africa's voice heard at the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), to take place in Geneva from 10-12 December 2003. Thousands of delegates from around the world will attend the Summit, which is intended to adopt a Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action.
Over the last 18 months, ECA has been spearheading a number of activities to ensure that an African perspective is taken into account in the emergence of the Information Society.
In collaboration with the Government of Mali, ECA organized a regional Preparatory Conference, known as Bamako 2002, to kick-start Africa's participation in the WSIS process in May 2002. As a result, a Bamako 2002 Bureau was formed to coordinate Africa's participation in WSIS with ECA as the Secretariat.
Subsequently, ECA has been supporting countries to prepare WSIS positions through on-line discussions with stakeholders. There have also been targeted activities for various stakeholders including workshops for civil society organizations (CSOs) and Parliamentarians, a Media Forum and a retreat for African Academia.
According to ECA Executive Secretary, Mr. K Y Amoako, "in many ways, Africa is very much prepared for WSIS. This is the first region of the world to have a regional framework, namely the African Information Society Initiative (AISI), adopted by ECA's Conference of Ministers of Planning and Economic Development in 1996 and subsequently endorsed by African Heads of State in that same year. The continent therefore goes to Geneva with a lot of optimism to meet the challenges of the Information Society". Mr. Amoako is a member of the High-Level Summit Organizing Committee (HLSOC) established under the patronage of the UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan to coordinate the efforts of the international United Nations family in the preparation, organization and holding of WSIS.
Ms. Karima Bounemra Ben Soltane, Director of the Development Information Services Division (DISD) and coordinator of ECA's participation in WSIS says, "consultations with members of the civil society, academia, Africans in the Diaspora, public and private sectors, and the media, has provided a platform for interaction, dialogue and information sharing between ECA and the constituencies it serves. These perceptions have been transformed into a special publication for WSIS entitled 'Africa Speaks; Perspectives on the Information Society', to be distributed in Geneva".
In addition, there will be a launch of 'African Media and ICT4D: Documentary Evidence' a baseline study on the state of media reporting on ICT and information society issues in Africa. The study, commissioned by ECA with support from the Open Society Initiative for West Africa, covers nine countries: Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Morocco, Mozambique, Rwanda and Senegal.
Under the framework of the Partnership for ICTs in Africa (PICTA), ECA will launch a WSIS African Academia Research Network at the AISI exhibition area with support from the Ford Foundation Office for Southern Africa. The objectives of the Network includes building research capacity of Academia on key policy issues with respect to African needs and strengthening scholarship in various areas that are of significant importance to countries.
