Hello,

 

Let me first of all thank you for contributing to my thorough enjoyment at the atelier. It was great to meet. Having returned safely and rested a bit, I thought I should now say hello to you and thank you, as well as follow-up some lines of enquiry and seek your help!

 

The Atelier

Being the first in what might be a series, the atelier was quite rightly issue packed, following the lucidity of the Louder Voices report. It focused on the inter-related problems of access, regulation and finance for ICT in Africa, but did not quite address their significance in the continent’s economy and security. The near absence of security considerations and rigorous assessments of ICT economy (micro and macro) linkages in the Louder Voices report could partly explain this, together with participants’ apparent overwhelming interest in improving access to ICT!

 

However, noble as these desires are, they are unlikely to cut much ice in the fiercely competitive ICT entrepreneurial, industrial and technological development world for Africa! I guess we all know how, despite the odds, ICT penetrates Africa, even in the last decade alone. Yet, the digital divide continues to grow internationally and within the continent, and the continent’s share of world trade and foreign direct investment is dwindling, while its population that lives on less than $1 a day increases! Especially in sub-Saharan Africa, up to 48% of the population lives in extreme poverty.

 

At the end of day 1 of the atelier, I met up with M. Alex CORENTHIN (INTIF/Francophonie – Senegal) and he agreed to lead me into the nearby village of Mbour. We took the footpath and shortcut from the hotel to the village. The scenery was lovely, serene and mostly green – I was told it was the time of the year when they have about three months of rain. The village appeared well connected with fixed telephone cables and mobile phone masks. Some of the people could be spotted with mobile telephones. People went about their activities, tending cattle and donkeys in the fields, sitting in and out of their homes, selling in the shop we went to, attending an evening Roman Catholic service and playing football. We then boarded a taxi to Joal and back! In Joal, we were taken to the fish port, went by the house where Senghor grew up (now a museum), and stopped at the bridge to the tourist island. All through, I kept asking where all the many people we saw work. Apart from agriculture and petty trading, Alex told me, the number one industry in Senegal is fishery followed by tourism. And I wondered how integrated ICT is with these industries in Senegal.

 

Back at the hotel, to the ‘atelier politiques NTIC’. I wanted to catch-up with cyber space happenings and check my mailbox. There was a cyber café at the hotel, organisers had arranged for us to use. When I turned up at the café, there were only two machines and one had actually broken down! There was a long queue of fellow atelier participants waiting to gain access. And I knew we were at an atelier politiques NTIC! So I tried very hard to see how the discussions at the atelier related with all these realities I was experiencing. It was clear, there was ICT and we were talking about them. But, the paradox was that, participants at the atelier, like the people of Senegal, had little access to ICT and its integration in the economy of their activities was poor, vulnerable and insecure.

 

Proposed line of enquiry

In view of all these, I think the forthcoming African position preparatory summit scheduled for Accra, Ghana, in February 2005, provides great opportunity to address these issues prior to the November 2005 world ICT summit in Tunis.

 

For this, I would like to come up with an issue paper on the theme “ICT in Africa’s Economy and Security – Which way forward for Investment and other Expenditure?” and have it thoroughly discussed prior to and during the Accra summit. Second, I would want to analyse the outcome of Accra vis-à-vis my issue paper and also have it thoroughly discussed prior to and during Tunis. And I would also want to follow Tunis up along these lines of reasoning.

 

Please help!

1)      I need any information or sources you may have on the above issue theme.

2)      Because a vital component of this venture is lobbying, I need help to organise it. Here, contacts with key stakeholders (government, non-government, industry and especially the media) in the different countries is vital. This will permit the venture to gain information, pass-on its issue paper and follow-up its discussion with and amongst the various stakeholders.

3)      It will also be necessary to organise a side meeting in Accra during the African preparatory position summit, and do the same in Tunis, as well as evaluate progress.

4)      All these need money! I would like to have contacts with those who have funds in these areas.

5)      Because of the fluid nature and speed of the policymaking environment within the continent and internationally, fast response is crucial!

 

About EITD Research

Research for Enterprise, Industries, Technology and Development (EITD Research) is an independent dynamic research and policy education institution founded in 1992. We work on development issues related to technology, enterprise and industries.

 

Our task is to seek solutions to pressing development concerns and assist society to take, with responsibility, opportunities offered by science in the use of technology for development via enterprise and industries. In addition to providing field services and technical support, we develop and circulate information on a wide range of issues, advocating strategies and making public policy recommendations.

 

I am looking forward to hearing from you soon.

 

Sincerely,

 

Mbwoge Daniel Mbong

Director, EITD Research

P.O. Box 168, Kumba.

South West Province, Cameroon.

Tel: (237) 3335-4623/7766-2395

Fax: (237) 3335-4623

E-mail: info@eitdr.org