Africas Participation in the World Summit on the Information Society WSIS

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Africas Participation in the World Summit on the
Information Society (WSIS)
http//www.uneca.org/aisi/wsis2005
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ECA
The Process
Governments
Civil Society
Private Sector
The African Regional Preparatory Conference on
the Information Society (BAMAKO 2002)
National consultations
Civil Society consultations
Bamako 2002 Bureau ECA secretariat
Bamako Declaration
Thematic consultations (Nouakchott, Tunis)
PrepComs
G E N E V A S U M M I T
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The Bamako 2002 Conference on the WSIS, 26-30
May 2002
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Bamako 2002 attendance 26-30 May 2002
The overall technical coordination was done by ECA

• Attended by

• Two heads of state (Mali and Senegal)

• representatives from All African countries

• delegates from many other countries

• heads/representatives of African and global
  organizations

• the private sector
• the civil society

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Bamako 2002 events

• 14 Pre-conference workshops and other activities
  on
• Local initiatives, NICI Strategies, African
  Languages, Media, Gender, Cultural diversity,
  African NGO consultation, SCAN ICT, Private
  Sector and Financing, Open Source and Free
  Software, Law, Local Communities, LDCs, NICI Mali

• 4 workshops on
• What the Information Society brings to Africa,
  What Africa brings to the Information Society,
  What Africa wants to preserve in the Information
  Society, How Africa can benefit from the
  Information Society Round Table on the digital
  divide

• Round Table on
• Africas image in the media

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Selected Outreach activities

• Discussion lists for
• Civil Society
• African Governments
• Academia
• Media
• Diaspora
• Youth
• Internet Governance

• Publications on
• AISI Briefing Papers
• E-Strategies
• AISI radio series, WSIS Video
• Posters on ICT4D

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ECA
The Geneva Summit
ECA supported over 20 African participants
ICT4D Platform exhibitions
AISI Stand
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ECA
The Geneva Summit
E-Policy Resource Network G8
Launch of the Global E-Polnet
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ECA
The Geneva Summit
Launch of the African Media Report
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ECA
Main contentious issues

• Internet Governance
• Funding mechanisms
• Intellectual Property
• Follow up for the Second Phase

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ECA
Participation in the Summit

• Africa was well represented
• High level of participation (HOS, PM, Senior
  Ministers)
• Commitments of all stakeholders
• ECAs facilitation and brokering role confirmed

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The African participation in Geneva

• 48 African countries represented by over 900
  participants
• 16 Head of States and Governments
• 79 Ministers, Deputy Ministers and Permanent
  Secretaries
• 51 Ambassadors

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ECA
After Geneva

• Discussion lists for Youth and Academia
• Setting up African MP4ICT4D network
• Informal consultations (Tunis, March 2004)
• Civil Society Consultations (Tunis, April 2004)
• Internet Governance (New York, March 2004)
• African Ministerial Follow up Meeting for the
  WSIS (Dakar, April 2004)
• Launch of Academia Network (Addis, 9-11 June
  2004)
• PrepCom 1 (Tunis, June 24-26 2004)

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The African Regional Preparatory Conference for
the WSIS Accra, 28 January 4 February 2005
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• Host The Government of Ghana
• Two Head of States attended
• Coordinator The Economic Commission for Africa
  (ECA) in the framework of NEPAD and the auspices
  of AU
• Partners Swiss Agency for Development and
  Cooperation, Canada Fund for Africa, Government
  of Finland, ITU, OIF, GKP, ICANN, IICD, UNICT TF,
  WGIG

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Theme of the ConferenceAccess Africas key to
an inclusive Information Society
6 sub-themes (plenary and parallel sessions)

• Financing the information society
• Indicators and benchmarking
• ICTs for socio-economic development
• Access and Infrastructure
• Industrialization
• Internet Governance

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List of Accra Pre-Conference Workshops

• Civil Society Organisations (CSO) Forum
• Internet Governance
• ICT and Poverty Reduction
• National, Regional, Local and Sectoral
  e-Strategies
• African languages and Open Source Software
  Creativity in the service of African renaissance
• Information Society and Regulation Access and
  Infrastructure

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List of Pre-Conference Workshops (ctd.)

• GKP Africa Day on Multi-Stakeholder Partnership
  in building the Information Society
• Media Forum
• Financing the information society
• Evaluation of the implementation of the Geneva
  Plan of Action Information Society Indicators
• Meeting of the Ministerial Committee on ICT
• E-Ghana Workshop
• Private Sector Forum
• ICANN At Large Meeting

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Major Contentious Issues and work done to reach a
consensus in Africa

• Financing the Information Society
• Digital Solidarity Fund (Adopted by the AU)
• Round Table, Workshop and Panel on Financing the
  Information Society organized in Accra
• DSF adopted at Prepcom2 in Geneva
• Internet Governance
• Study on Internet Governance by ECA in
  cooperation with the UN ICT TF
• Workshop and Panel on Internet Governance
  organized in Accra

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Online discussions prior to the Accra Conference
on the six themes

• Launched on 15 December 2004 moderated by members
  Bamako Bureau and African Technical Advisory
  Committee (ATAC) on the African Information
  Society Initiative (AISI)
• Ended on 25 January 2005
• 298 participants with 356 postings exchanged

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Outcomes of Accra

• Input to the second meeting of the WSIS Phase II
  PrepCom-2, 17 25 February 2005, Geneva,
  Switzerland through the ACCRA COMMITMENTS FOR
  TUNIS 2005
• Strengthening of Africas participation in the
  second (Tunis) phase of the WSIS
• Preparedness of delegations on major issues
• Meeting of the Ministerial Committee on ICT and
  expansion of its members to 15, with clear
  mandate for the Tunis phase
• Strengthened Bamako Bureau to coordinate (Bureau
  was expanded)
• Evaluation of the progress made in the
  implementation of the Geneva Action Plan and
  recommendations for the way forward

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The Accra Commitments for Tunis 2005 and the
African Regional Action Plan on the Knowledge
Economy

• Enabling environment
• Infrastructure and access
• e-Strategies and Policies
• Information Society Indicators
• Capacity building
• Research Development
• Internet Governance

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The Accra Commitments for Tunis 2005 and the
African Regional Action Plan on the Knowledge
Economy (ctd.)

• Women and the Information Society
• Parliamentarians
• Youth
• Media
• Harnessing the Digital Diaspora
• Persons with disability
• Resource Mobilization partnership

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ECA
Towards Tunis
Bamako Bureau
Ministerial C.
Geneva Ambassadors
The African Regional Preparatory Conference on
the Information Society (Accra 2005)
Thematic consultations (IG, DSF, Indicators)
National consultations
PrepComs
T U N I S S U M M I T
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ICT for All in Tunis

• Workshop on the African Regional Action Plan
  (with member States and partners)
• Youth Forum (with GKP)
• Round Table on the regional dimensions of the
  Information Society (with UN Regional
  Commissions)
• Measuring the Impact of the Information Society
  (with the International Partnership on IS)
• Negotiation on partnerships between African
  countries, Africa and the rest of the world
• Exhibition with partners and member States

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The African participation in Tunis

• 1,562 African participants
• 16 Presidents
• 3 Vice Presidents
• 10 Prime Ministers
• 1 Deputy Prime Minister
• 71 Ministers
• 14 State Ministers, 6 Vice Ministers
• 2 Permanent Secretaries
• Over 40 Ambassadors

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Wishing you fruitful training
aisi_at_uneca.org
http//www.uneca.org/aisi/bamako2002