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Scan
ICT is an initiative that aims to build support for the phased development
of a comprehensive African capability to collect and manage key
information needed to support the growing investment in information
and communication technologies (ICTs) as well as the transition
of Africa to an information society. In addition, Scan ICT describes
an opportunity to build capacity in Africa the capacity for Africa
to influence ICT investments, to extend their impact, and to encourage
the development of made in Africa solutions, applications and content.
The goal is to create a pan African ICT network, connecting all
levels of ICT related issues, which will be co-ordinated and supported
by an observatory/research institute.
Scan
ICT is divided into three phases.
Phase
1
has already been completed with the publication of the document,
Project Proposal and Plan: Information and Communication Technology
Development in Africa (Scan ICT) Status, Trends and Prospects.
Phase
2
is on-going and consists of the implementation of the first Scan
studies as well as the execution of the Scan information network
and system.
Phase
3
details the suggested framework and identifies an exhaustive list
of indicators for undertaking the Scan baseline studies.
What
is Scan ICT?
Scan
ICT is an ambitious and long term proposal to build support for
the phased development of a comprehensive African capability to
collect and manage key information needed to support the growing
investment in information and communication technologies (ICTs)
and the transition of Africa to an information society a pan African
observatory/ research institute to support current initiatives.
Scan ICT describes an opportunity to build capacity in Africa the
capacity for Africa to influence ICT investments, to extend their
impact, and to encourage the development of made in Africa solutions,
applications and content.
Scan ICT supports the goals of the African Information Society Initiative
(AISI), the African mandate to use information and communication
technologies to accelerate economic and social development. In 1996,
African governments launched a 15 year initiative to provide connectivity
and electronic access to information to all citizens of Africa.
The framework to promote this goal is the AISI, which is intended
to achieve co-ordinated and integrated development of communications
infrastructure, information resources and human resource capacity
to deliver information for self development to all Africans by 2010.
The AISI is being implemented with a continuously evolving policy
and institutional framework that encourages partnerships with the
public and private sectors. Scan ICT aims to be the essential information
resource to guide informed planning and implementation of the AISI.
The
Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Conference of Ministers of
Development and Planning in 1996 adopted the AISI through Resolution
812 (XXXI) as the African Information Society Initiative: An Action
Framework to Build Africa's Information and Communication Infrastructure.
The ECA was mandated to work with partners to implement the initiative
throughout Africa. To achieve the goals of the AISI, the ECA is
launching The African Development Forum (ADF), an initiative to
establish an African driven development agenda that reflects a consensus
among major partners and that leads to specific programs for country
implementation. The aim of the ADF is to present to the key stakeholders
in African development (governments, civil society, the private
sector, researchers and academics, intergovernmental organizations
and donors), the results of current research and opinion on key
development issues. This is to be done in order to formulate shared
goals and priorities, draft action programs and define the environment
that will enable African countries to implement these programs.
The first annual Forum will be held in October 1999 and will be
devoted to the AISI agenda.
Why
Scan ICT?
The
rationale for Scan-ICT is based on four inter-related phenomena
and/or events, which are explained in greater detail in the following
sub-sections:
? First the fact that ICTs have taken on a preponderant role in
the globalised economy and that Africa must be able to integrate
the “New Economy or risk being further marginalised;
? Second, there growing evidence that ICTs can play an effective
role in ensuring Africa’s sustainable development;
? Third, if African decision makers are to undertake effective ICT
policies, in order to harness ICTs as effective development tools,
there is a need for relevant data and information to formulate those
policies;
? Fourth, there is a proliferation of ICT activity and investments
in Africa, but with little co-ordination and limited dissemination
of results and best practices in order to ensure useful projects
and reduce duplication
? Fifth, the Maputo declaration, signed by the relevant ministers
of Mozambique, Senegal, Uganda and South Africa, which emphasises
the need for a project such as Scan, is just one example of the
demand by African stakeholders, for such an initiative.
Africa
in the Global Context
The
digital economy is in its infancy world-wide, but already it is
having an impact on productivity and competitiveness. The Internet
and World Wide Web operate without boundaries. Digital satellite
television stations have emerged which view entire continents as
their audience. Electronic commerce world-wide has already reached
US$36 billion a year, with projections of US$1 trillion in transactions
annually by the year 2002. ICT producing industries (hardware, software,
and services) contributed 35 percent of the real economic growth
of the US economy between 1995 and 1998. By the year 2006, almost
half of the workforce in industrialized countries will be employed
by industries that are either major producers or intensive users
of ICT technologies, products and services.
Africa
is lagging dangerously behind in the transition to a global information
economy. Although Africa accounts for approximately 13 percent of
the world's population, only 0.6 percent of Internet users worldwide
are in Africa. Part of the problem is lack of access to telecommunications
and information technologies, where Africa lags not only industrialized
countries, but also the rest of the developing world. While investment
in infrastructure in Africa has increased during recent years, average
tele-density in sub Saharan Africa is only 2 lines per 100 population,
and there are still thousands of rural communities without access
to a telephone. Africa also has fewer personal computers per 100
population than other developing regions.
Yet
to participate in a global economy, Africa must take advantage of
the tools of the Information Age, or risk lagging even farther behind.
What has become the central feature of modern life globally is hardly
felt in Africa, other than in elite circles of some capitals. If
Africa remains on its present course, with the lowest tele-densities
in the world, with the fewest computers, isolated from information
available at people’s fingertips elsewhere, it will have no
chance to compete globally.
ICTs
and Development in Africa
Despite
the limitations noted above, it is encouraging to note that recent
African experiences point to significant potential for the innovative
application of ICTs in the region, especially combined with such
emerging technologies as cellular telephony and the Internet, and
with the incentives provided by government deregulation in the supporting
industry sectors. Regional and sub regional conferences and workshops
on ICTs in Africa reveal innovative applications of ICTs to meet
social and economic development needs in such areas as health, education,
rural accessibility, agriculture, trade, environment and tourism.
Access to information and communication tools in Africa has markedly
improved in those countries that have adopted more open and liberal
policies.
However,
African participation in the information economy is limited by factors
such as inadequate infrastructure, inadequate enabling policies,
lack of awareness, the high price of access and limited skills.
The
Need for Information on ICTs in Africa
To
achieve social and economic development goals, improvements and
expansion are required in the implementation and utilisation of
ICTs. For this to happen, there needs to be a much improved enabling
environment (policy, regulatory, industrial, labour, capital), which
will be accelerated with the availability of timely, accurate and
complete information on ICTs in Africa. Better quality information
and better access to that information will improve decision making
at all levels, will improve the monitoring and evaluation of ICT
activity, and will improve research and development that is appropriate
to the Africa region. This information must cover not only the physical
infrastructure aspects of ICTs, but also the economic, labour and
policy areas. It must also include a global perspective to assess
global ICT trends, their impacts on Africa, the challenges to be
faced and the opportunities to be gained.
To
harness ICTs for development, African decision-makers need timely
and relevant information. There are many demands on limited resources
for development in Africa; thus, there must be clearer evidence
that investments in ICTs have an impact in terms of socio economic
development and sustainable human development. Outside of the telecommunications
sector, information is sparse, diffuse and anecdotal in other areas
such as sectoral applications, investment flows, donor/funding activity,
the ICT industrial or business sector, ICT labour and so on. There
also needs to be more attention paid to the diffusion of innovation,
lessons learned, experiences and other knowledge across the region,
to demonstrate how ICTs are integral to the social and economic
well being of African countries.
Furthermore,
basic indicators on ICT activity, progress and development are lacking.
There is growing understanding that the application of external
indicators within Africa creates distortion and that indicators
need to be developed to reflect the African environment specifically.
International
and Regional Initiatives
The
volume of ICT activity in Africa is increasing dramatically. Various
databases identify numerous ICT projects on telecommunications infrastructure,
Internet connectivity, community telecentres, policy consultancies,
education projects, healthcare and telemedecine projects, women's
networks, youth networks, resource management initiatives, technology
initiatives involving wireless, satellite, Internet, and so on.
Comprehensive
multi sectoral information is critical to realise the full benefit
of these investments, to co-ordinate activities and avoid duplication,
to disseminate results, and to guide future investments. Scan-ICT
would respond to such needs.
Maputo
Declaration
In
addition, the need for a project such as Scan-ICT was further emphasised
in the Maputo Declaration. In September 1999, the Maputo ministerial
meeting on Acacia, which included the Minister for Economic and
Social Affairs of Mozambique; the Minister for Scientific research
and Technology of Senegal, the Minister of Communication of South
Africa and the Minister of State for Finance, Planning and Economic
Development of Uganda, delivered a set a recommendations. Recommendation
9 states that there should be the establishment of and ICT observatory
charged with:
? Promoting the collection and exchange of information pertaining
to ICTs and development in Africa;
? Identifying and sharing best practices;
? Contributing to building indigenous ICT capacity;
? Promoting the implementation of African solutions to African problems;
? Identifying areas requiring co-ordinated international policy
intervention to promote the needs and protect the interests of Africa
The Scan ICT Response
Within
a phased development program, Scan ICT proposes to implement an
African observatory to monitor the penetration, impact and effectiveness
of ICT application in Africa. It will serve as a one stop information
resource for investors, decision makers and practitioners. The purpose
of Scan ICT is to enable African nations to collect, analyze, and
put to use the information they will need to participate in a global
information economy. There are four major components to Scan ICT
activities:
Indicators
and Benchmarks:
To
track movement toward an information society, it is necessary to
establish indicators, set benchmarks, and measure progress in meeting
targets.
Policy
Issues:
Achieving
maximum benefit from ICTs requires policies to facilitate access
and effective utilisation. Scan-ICT will help African nations to
develop, implement and monitor policies that will facilitate access
and utilization
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Human
Resources:
To
participate in the global digital economy, African nations will
also need to educate young people for a variety of ICT related
occupations, and to retrain the existing workforce to enable them
to use information technologies. Scan ICT will monitor the growing
demand for ICT skills in Africa, and will work with educators
and the private sector to develop and share training materials.
Scan-ICT will also work to facilitate the use of ICTs for delivering
courses to teach these skills through distance education.
Applications:
To
contribute to African development, ICTs must not only be available,
but must be used effectively. Scan ICT will document and disseminate
information on effective applications of ICTs in African business,
community development, and social services including education
and health care.
Activities
and Objectives
Functioning
as an observatory/research institute and a network of collaborators,
the principal activities of Scan ICT will be:
•
To determine ICT status and continuously scan basic ICT activity.
•
To develop and continually refine a set of indicators that can
be used to measure ICT activity and progress in Africa and guide
investments.
•
To develop a continuous benchmarking strategy that can be implemented
to improve performance of ICTs in Africa.
•
To develop sets of case studies to demonstrate best practices
and share lessons learned in the innovative application ICTs in
different countries and in high priority sectoral application
areas such as health, education and electronic commerce.
•
To carry out focused ICT research and development in order to
strengthen the strategic management capacities of ICT policy development
and investment in Africa.
•
To maintain a capacity development strategy and plan for the sustainable
collection, maintenance and provision of quality information on
ICT activity in Africa.
•
To maintain an international technology watch and to follow the
evolution of policy and technology to the benefit of Africa.
•
To foster the development of publicly accessible information and
knowledge bases.
•
To develop and maintain regionally distributed data collection
and management nodes in contributing organizations throughout
Africa.
•
To develop linkages with international nodes hosted by organizations
such as Bellanet, World Bank, ITU and l’Agence de coopération
technique de la Francophonie (ACCT).
•
To continuously develop new partnerships.
Implementing Scan ICT
Scan
ICT Framework
The
consultant team has suggested the following framework to guide
the organization of Scan ICT information and knowledge resources.
This framework is a modest starting point and needs to be reviewed
and modified by the Scan ICT partners.
The framework consists of two dimensions: a vertical axis identifying
Lines of Inquiry, and a horizontal axis, listing key AISI Themes.
The vertical axis (Lines of Inquiry) refers to activities to be
followed in the continuous process of maintaining the scan of
African ICT activity:
•“ICT
Status (What is happening?)” refers to the maintenance of
information describing the current status and progress within
the AISI themes. It will reference the key actors and initiatives
for example, the African Connection, AI AIMS, PICTA, UNDP, World
Bank, and the many national programs. This could be via original
studies (e.g: country or region profiles, sectoral scans) or pointers
to databases and Web sites and initiatives.
•“Sources
of ICT Information and Knowledge (Where can I find out more?)”
applies to indexes of reference material, experts, specialized
organizations.
•“ICT
Indicators and Benchmarks (How is progress being measured and
what are the goals?)” refers to the indicators and benchmarks
used to monitor progress within the theme areas.
•“Case
Studies and Best Practice (What are the examples?)” relates
to representative cases under each theme and to appropriate evaluation
materials
•“ICT
Policy Research (What is still to be learned?)” refers to
the evolving national and regional policy frameworks, which are
governing activities under the themes and to the research gaps.
•“Recommendations
and Actions (What is the sectoral strategy and plan?)” relates
to the strategies that are developing for specific theme areas.
The
horizontal axis (AISI Themes) provides the framework for specific
ICT aspects. Each theme has sub elements.
•“Infrastructure”
relates to telecommunications infrastructure, Internet service
providers, etc.
•“Strategic
Planning” refers to national ICT plans.
•“Capacity
Development” relates to skills availability (ICT skills,
planning and management, training availability, etc.).
•“Sectoral
Applications” alludes to ICT penetration in government and
industry sectors (health, manufacturing, education, small business,
government services, etc.)
•“Governance”
stands for complex issues such as equal access, awareness and
transparency, tariffing, institutional capacity building, etc.
•“Information
Economy” addresses economic/industrial structural issues.
Under
each theme, the vertical axis topics apply: What is happening?
How can I find out more? How is progress being measured? What
are the examples? What policies apply? Is there a sectoral plan?
The
consultants suggest that this framework can be used on a country
specific basis or to roll up information on a regional basis for
a specific sector, such as health care, education or agriculture.
Regional roll up is particularly important in establishing critical
mass to attract investment.
Scan
ICT Partnering
Scan
ICT is encouraging a partnership of organizations involved in
social and economic development in Africa and will support and
contribute to the efforts of existing actors. It is meant to be
a shared initiative, which will encourage participation from all
stakeholders in ICTs for development in Africa. This collaboration
will hopefully be balanced between African organizations, international
donors, national agencies and development foundations.
Partners
will design, govern and implement Scan ICT through participation
on an International steering committee to be chaired by the ECA.
The creation of an expert governance council is also anticipated.
Partners are expected to contribute to the data gathering and
analysis effort and to contribute financially to support the African
nodes and the development of African research capability.
Many
of the numerous international donors mentioned above are members
of PICTA (Partners in Information and Communication Technology
in Africa). Bellanet provides through it web site information
on the activities undertaken by PICTA. It is planned that Scan
ICT will be strongly linked to Bellanet and PICTA through its
three phases and beyond.
In
addition, Scan ICT acknowledges and respects the many ongoing
related activities and will contribute to these in order to avoid
the duplication of efforts and “reinventing the wheel”.
For example, Scan ICT will seek to share information on indicators
and methodologies, and to collaborate in data gathering and analysis,
paying particular attention to the need to relate to the African
context and to build African capacity, as outlined above.
Terms
of References of Next Phases
As
it is a continuous process, the terms of reference will reflect
the chosen focus (sectoral, country or regional scan, period coverage,
benchmarks, etc.) The Phase1 document gives an indication of the
expected output. It will be the responsibility of the international
steering committee to approve the final terms of reference for
each component of Scan ICT activity, to award contracts to selected
consultant firms or individuals with respect to the donor contribution
conditions, procedures and rules.
Phase
1:
The
document "Project Proposal and Plan: Information and Communication
Technology Development in Africa (Scan ICT) Status, Trends and
Prospects" which was prepared for the ECA, Acacia and Bellanet
by the consultants, constitutes Phase 1. This was completed in
June 1999.
Phase
1 has also involved preliminary discussions with potential partners
to assist in the development of the first terms of reference.
Phase
2 (on-going):
Phase
2 involves early stage implementation of preliminary Scan ICT
activities and the formalization of partnerships.
Phase
2 activities are focussed on supporting the program for the first
African Development Forum (ADF) in Addis Ababa in October 1999.
These activities included:
1.
The development of partnerships and initial contributing nodes;
2.
The development of initial Scan ICT data for a few representative
countries;
3.
The initiation of planning activity in several countries to complement
ECA National Information and Communications Infrastructure (NICI)
and Acacia National Strategy activities;
4.
The development of representative case studies and demonstrations
for priority application sectors;
5.
The development of a Web enabled knowledge base.
Status
of Phase 2 Operations:
The
first meeting of the Scan-ICT Steering Committee was held in Addis
Ababa during the African Development Forum. The principal partners
present were NORAD, the European Union (DGVIII), ITU (BDT) and
the ECA. Discussions were held on Scan-ICT’s status and
how to operationalize the phase 2 of Scan-ICT. Among the recommendations
of this first steering committee were:
1.
Scan-ICT will only study ICT issues post 1996. It is deemed that
for Scan to be useful and relevant to donors, investors and researchers,
it should limit its area of study to the present.
2.
The pilot studies will be based on a country-focus in order to
facilitate, in the first stages, research homogeneity and data
comparability. Each partner will choose a country he wishes to
do the study in, as well as the research institution he wants
to have undertake the study.
Annex
1 highlights the key implementation issues and the detailed terms
of reference for Phase 2 activities.
Phase
3:
Phase
3, which will commence following the completion of phase 2 activities,
will extend the scanning activity to other countries and sectors.
A pan African observatory/research institute will be initiated
by building capacity through a network of researchers at nodes
distributed within key African organizations. It is anticipated
that 3 or 4 nodes will be established in the first year.
This
phase will involve development of data gathering and management
plans, engagement of resources, development of training programs
to support African researchers and data gathering and analysis
capability. It will also include the development of African indicators,
data bases and data management capacity.
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