The African Information Society Initiative (AISI) and Local Governance

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The African Information SocietyInitiative
(AISI)andLocal Governance
UNITED NATIONS
UNITED NATIONS
Aida Opoku-Mensah, Development Information
Services Division Economic Commission for
Africa Innovative Application of ICTs in Local
Governance in Developing Countries 7-9 June
2004 UNCC, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
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ECA Conference of Ministers

• Resolution 795 (XXX) of 1995
• High Level Working Group on
• Information and Communication
• Technologies (ICT) in Africa
• Action plan on using ICT to accelerate socio-
• economic development in Africa

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ECA Conference of Ministers

• Resolution 812 (XXXI) of 1996
• Africa's Information Society Initiative (AISI)
• An Action Framework to Build Africa's Information
  
• and Communication Infrastructure

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AISI Vision

• To support and accelerate socio-economic
  development across the region
• By the year 2010, the AISI is intended to realize
  a sustainable information society in Africa where

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AISI Vision

• Information and decision support systems are
  used to support decision making in all the major
  sectors of the economy
• Every man and woman, school child, village,
  government office and business can access
  information and knowledge resources
• Access is available to international, regional
  and national information highways
• All stakeholders have access to information and
  exercise their rights to communicate

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Support to AISI

• adopted by the OAU Heads of State summit held in
  Yaounde in July 1996
• endorsed by the African Regional
  Telecommunication Development Conference in
  Abidjan in May 1996
• supported by the then G71 as Africas major ICT
  initiative in its 1997 Summit in Denver

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AISI and governance

• the use of Information and Communication
  Technologies (ICTs) in central government and in
  local administration
• a priority sector for the entry of Africa into
  the information era
• a means to support governments administration
  and decentralization process
• part of the National Information and
  Communication Infrastructure (NICI) plans and
  policies or e-strategies of African countries.

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AISI and governance The African Development
Forum (ADF 99)

• The Challenge to Africa of Globalization and the
  Information Age
• 24 - 28 October 1999 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
• Theme 1 Globalization and the Information
  Economy Challenges and Opportunities for Africa
• Theme 2 Information and Communication
  Technologies for Improved Governance
• Theme 3 Strengthening Africas Information
  Infrastructure
• Theme 4 Democratizing Access to the Information
  Society

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The African Development Forum (ADF 99)ICTs for
Improved Governance Outcomes

• Develop applications that fit priority areas for
  development including job creation, agricultural
  information systems, human resource development
  and health
• Establish good communication channels between
  decision makers and professionals
• Design systems for capturing indigenous knowledge
• Promote information and resources sharing among
  African countries through joint pilot projects,
  replications of best practices and the
  establishment of regional and sub-regional
  frameworks

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The Third Meeting of the Committee on Development
Information (CODI III)

• Information and Governance
• 10 17 May 2003, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
• Sessions
• Decentralization, community empowerment, and the
  role of the Civil Society
• Facilitating transparent public financial
  management and accountability
• Involving the private sector

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Outcomes of the theme Decentralization,
community empowerment, and the role of the Civil
Society

• Develop codes, standards and indicators of good
  governance at the local, national, sub regional
  and continental levels based on a bottom-up,
  participatory and multidisciplinary process.
• Building capacity for the incumbents and other
  stakeholders of traditional governance so that
  they fit into the modern governance
• Networking and connectivity for the purpose of
  monitoring, sharing experiences, information and
  knowledge and expertise

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The African Development Forum (ADF IV)

• Governance for a Progressing Africa
• 11 15 October 2004 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
• Focus Group ICTs in the Governance Process

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AISI Programme Areas

• ICT Policies
• Information and Knowledge (IK) Development
• Partnership and Networking
• Outreach

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AISI and Local Governance Information Policy
Development and Implementation

• national, sectoral, regional and village
  information infrastructure policies, plans and
  strategies
• Implementation instruments
• Enabling policy environment with cross-cutting
  issues
• Harmonization and evaluation

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Measuring impact of ICTs in Local Governance -
Scan ICT

• Contain a set of indicators that reflect the
  specific status and use of ICTs in Africa
• Make information available for analysis of
  specific issues of interest, progress monitoring
  in ICT Strategies Plans, investment policy
  decision-making, etc. - including ICTs in local
  governance
• Indicators on Governance and the information
  society

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Examples Ghana, GambiaThe Ghana ICT for
Accelerated Development ICT4AD Policy, 2003.

• Acknowledging the crucial role that ICTs can
  play in the delivery of Government services
  bringing government closer to the people and in
  facilitating the implementing of the Governments
  decentralization policy to support the activities
  of regional and district administrative units,
  the Government is committed to the deployment and
  exploitation of ICTs to support the operations
  and activities of the Civil and Public Service as
  part of its commitment to the modernization of
  the Civil and Public Services to facilitate
  administrative cost reduction and the promotion
  of effectiveness and efficiency in the delivery
  of government services to the people of Ghana.

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The Republic of The Gambia an AISI e-government
model

• (A recommendation of CODI III)
• One of the six components of the good governance
  programme of the Gambia
• Decentralisation and local government reform are
  interdem with the introduction of an e-Government
  program.
• Local governance one of the major findings and
  recommendations of the report.
• Availability of Internet access in local
  government offices in provinces said to go a long
  way to provide Gambians with information, and
  services essential for any successful
  e-government.

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Information Policy Development and Implementation

• Facilitating Government Administration and
  Service Delivery a component of the policies

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A survey of local government web sites

• Identified 99 sites in 26 countries

Nigeria Rwanda Sao Tome and Principe Senegal Sierr
a Leone South Africa Sudan Tanzania Togo Uganda
Algeria Angola Botswana Burkina
Faso Cameroon Cape Verde Egypt Ethiopia Ghana Keny
a
Madagascar Mali Mauritius Morocco
Mozambique Namibia
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AISI Information and Knowledge (IK) activities

• Aimed at building the capacity of member States
  to organize and use information for development
• IK activities on local governance
• Designing a web based, multilingual and
  multi-alphabet, customized document exchange
  platform that could be used by the government
  AAU/VarsityNet
• Determining Information and Communication Needs
  of Woredas in Ethiopia - An e-Government Pilot
  Study
• ITCA training of Parliamentarians Ethiopia,
  Tanzania

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AISI Networking and Partnership activities

• Joint ICT programs with development and funding
  agencies working in Africa in the area of ICT for
  Development and voicing Africas position in
  global fora like WSIS
• ePol-NET Supporting e-government strategies
  including local governance
• Workshop on ICTs and Local Communities during
  Bamako 2002

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AISI Networking and Partnership activities

• Bamako 2002 Workshop on ICTs and Local
  Communities
• Regional Forum of African Local Authorities on
  the Information Society, NOUAKCHOTT
• World Summit of Cities and Local Authorities on
  the Information Society, Lyon

W S I S 1 2

• Adf 99
• CODI III

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AISI Networking and Partnership activities

• PICTA Action Plans (Annual Meeting of PICTA, 16 -
  17 October 2003, Tunis)
• Local Government Capacity Building for ICT
• fostering improved use of ICTs at local
  government level
• creating more transparency and accountability
  mechanisms for communities at the local level
• Creating awareness of ICTs in Africa
• Supporting knowledge sharing communities
• Scoping ICT needs and priorities in Africa
• Achieving better co-ordination
• Bandwidth for Higher Education in Africa

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AISI Outreach activities

• Information dissemination on ICT4D activities
  AISI radio series, e-discussions, involvement of
  media, academia, Civil Society Organizations,
  etc.
• Online discussion on E-governance and the
  participation of Civil Society in ICT governance
  in 2002
• On the Role of ICTs in Governance
• E-government also provides an ideal
  framework for dialogue between the principal
  actors of development the State,
  private/business sectors, NGOs, civil society,
  political parties and local communities.

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Conclusions

• Develop stronger outreach programme for ICTs and
  Local Governance
• Programme to build capacity
• Explore appropriate technology for use at local
  levels
• Introduce Scan into Local Governance Sector
• Build PICTA coalition on Local Governance and
  ICTs
• Explore a common approach to RD on applications
• Infrastructure

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Thank You!
http//www.uneca.org/aisi
aisi_at_uneca.org