FINAL REPORT OF THE AFRICA-ASIA WORKSHOP

Promoting Co-operation in Information and Communication Technologies Development
Kuala Lumpur and Penang, 25-29 March, 2002

Sponsored by the Tokyo International Conference for African Development, Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme of the United Nations Development Programme, and the Economic Planning Unit of the Government of Malaysia

Organized and Supported by the National Institute of Public Administration, Public Service Department, Malaysia and the Penang Development Corporation

CONTENTS

1.0 SUMMARY
1.1 Overview and Objective
1.2 The African Experience
1.3 The Asian Experience
1.4 The Way Forward

2.0 WORKSHOP DETAILS
2.1 Overview
2.2 Objectives and Scope
2.3 African Participants
2.4 Asian Resource Speakers
2.5 Workshop Agenda and Themes
2.6 Field Trips and Study Visits
2.7 Workshop Newsletter and Articles
2.8 Workshop Collaborating Agencies
2.9 Secretariat

3.0 WORKSHOP WEBSITE
3.1 Overview
3.2 Resource Materials

4.0 WORKSHOP PROCEEDINGS
4.1 Overview
4.2 Scope of Workshop Proceedings
4.3 ICT, Development, and Stakeholder Involvement
4.3.1 National Political Leaders
4.3.2 External Partnerships and Collaborations
4.3.3 Community / Rural Area Involvement
4.3.4 Academia and Human Resource Capacity Building
4.4 Guiding Principles of Development
4.4.1 Research and Survey
4.4.2 Strategic Policy Formulation
4.4.3 National ICT Agenda/ Policy
4.4.4 Resource Allocation and Mobilization
4.4.5 Technical Considerations and Acquisitions
4.4.6 Funding Approaches
4.4.7 E-Government and Change Management
4.4.8 Regulatory Framework
4.4.9 Telecommunications Industry and Infrastructure Development

5.0 CONCLUSIONS: THE WAY FORWARD
5.1 Recommendations and Future Developments
5.2 Questionnaire Feedback
Postscript

Annex 1:

• ICT4D Newsletter Produced during the Workshop
• Articles Published During the Workshop

Annex 2:
Workshop Agenda

Annex 3:
Resource Materials

Annex 4:
Questionnaire

1.0 SUMMARY

1.1 Overview and Objective

The objective of the workshop was to sensitise high-level African policy advisors/policy-makers and private sector representatives on the use of information and communication technologies for the development and transformation of their economies. This was facilitated via the following:

• Exploring areas of collaboration between Asia and Africa in Information and Communication Technologies and private sector development
• Presenting the TICAD approach to the Asia/Africa workshop on Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D).

1.2 The African Experience

The African country presentations during the workshop have shown a large diversity in their approaches and prioritizing of issues. Many countries are at different levels of advancement and use a variety of institutional arrangements that differ from one country to another in the formulation and implementation of ICT4D policies.

It appears that the success and achievements in implementing ICT4D policies in Africa has depended largely on a certain number of critical factors such as:

• The ability to clearly determine areas of priority use for ICT4D;
• The choice of technologies in line with human and technical existing capacities;
• The progressive improvement of telecommunication infrastructure to support the development of ICT4D;
• The efficient partnership with the private sector to ensure cost effective service to customers, affordable access to the Internet, reducing the cost of owning a computer by assembling them locally and/or reduce tariffs on ICT equipment;
• The involvement of the private sector as a spearheading partner in the promotion of ICT4D, using its flexibility to adapt to the fast changes in the ICT industry;
• Create added value by using ICT to improve the quality of life of customers in their most basic daily activities;
• Sub-regional cooperation and partnerships.

From the presentations, the most important constraints to ICT4D identified by African participants are the following:

• Lack of trained human resources;
• Limited financial resources;
• Poor quality and high-cost of telecommunication infrastructure;
• Uneven government awareness and interest;
• Limited awareness of the role of ITC in addressing their day-to-day problems and issues;
• Unclear definition of the role of the private sector;
• Poor computer literacy and access to ICT.

Regardless of their objectives and results achieved so far, all the African presentations showed three main points of convergence:

• Donor driven approaches,
• Governments have a monopoly control over policy formulation and implementation, without consideration of the private sector and civil society;
• Lack of a focused approach, most policies cover more than five priorities.

1.3 The Asian Experience

The Asian presentations provided their diverse experiences, and demonstrated innovative perspectives in addressing constraints identified by the African participants. The solutions presented various approaches, from the Malaysian experience of leapfrogging to the state-of-the art technology through investment in R&D and experimentation of innovative solutions in centers of excellence and incubators, to the approach of Pakistan, which aimed at extending full connectivity to the whole country in a short period of time.

In addition, participants also benefited from the Indian experience of developing affordable access with open source software development and the Philippines experience of using the cell phone boom to improve e-services. But in all those approaches, common factors were present:

• Limited donor involvement in the formulation and implementation of ICT4D policies, designed by the countries to address their own development priorities;
• An in depth needs assessment led by the government with high involvement of the private sector and civil society, translating ICT4D in the improvement of everyday life for people;,
• A long-term vision (think big), short-term prioritization (start small) and efficient implementation (scale fast) through effective role distribution among government, private sector, academia, and civil society;
• The government playing a key facilitation role through progressive improvement of infrastructure, a fruitful public-private dialogue to set priorities and review them over time and incentives to private sector to lead implementation,
• An active human resource development programme extended to all components of the society, adjusted to specific needs of each group and strongly implemented from top- to-bottom to create the impetus and build basis for the change to the e-society
• The strategic choice of English rather than local languages for the development of ICT4D has increased the outreach of national policies.

In general, the successes of ICT4D policies have been depending on government focusing on infrastructure and access while; private sector and civil society use their flexibility to manage content.

1.4 The Way Forward

At the end of the workshop, the African participants made the following recommendations:

• African countries should take advantage of the Asian experience, not to copy it, but to inspire themselves to develop and implement their own policies;
• Education and human resource development are a critical to any successful ICT4D policy;
• Involving the private sector in the formulation of policies and providing the appropriate incentives for investment and innovation;
• Cooperation and exchange of ideas with Asians and sharing of resources and experiences among Africans as promoted by TICAD should continue;
• The second workshop planned in Benin for another group of African countries should try to complement on the aspects discussed in Malaysia;
• A high level meeting on ICT4D bringing together policy and decision-makers from Asia and Africa should be considered, as a follow up to the TICAD ICT4D policy workshop. This would help to strengthen the ICT strategies for development in Africa and establish concrete Asia/Africa cooperation

2.0 WORKSHOP DETAILS

2.1 Overview

The Africa-Asia ICT4D workshop with its theme of "Promoting Co-operation in Information and Communication Technologies Development" was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia from 25-29 March 2002.

2.2 Objectives and Scope

In line with the objective of the workshop, the workshop successfully provided an opportunity for discussion on issues relating to ICT capacity building and infrastructure development, Internet connectivity, e-governance, e-commerce, e-learning, networking, and knowledge management, public-private sector partnerships, gender perspectives, and many more.

African policy-makers were informed on critical policy issues that affect the formulation and implementation of ICT policies and strategies. The workshop also examined policy options and shared lessons learned that could be adapted and applied to situations in participating countries.

2.3 African Participants

The workshop hosted 16 participants from eight African countries (Cameroon, Gambia, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia) with two participants per country; one high-level policy advisor/policy maker representing the government and the other representing the private sector. The workshop successfully demonstrated UNDP's capacity to support high level dialogue on policies between Asia and Africa in the TICAD framework, putting to contribution its multidimensional network of expertise.

2.4 Asian Resource Speakers

A select group of Asian speakers from Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, India, and Pakistan shared their relevant experiences, initiatives, case studies, national policies, etc with the intent of highlighting relevant experiences and to discuss the possible relevant adaptations to the African context. Discussions were generated on the experiences, outcomes and pitfalls learned in the process of implementation over the past several years, i.e. improving telecommunications regulations, fostering open and fair competition in the ICT sector, and developing content and systems that would form the foundation of connectivity, e-commerce and improved governance.

2.5 Workshop Agenda and Themes

The agenda of the workshop developed by the Asia Pacific Development Information Programme (APDIP) of the UNDP provided the opportunity to the African participants to present their experience with regard to ICT4D policies. The workshop also benefited from the experiences of the Asian Resource Speakers on various aspects of ICT4D and private sector policies. These presentations led to a discussion on possible areas of exchange of information and partnership in the area of ICT and private sector cooperation.

• ICT Policy and Governance
• E-governance and e-government
• ICT regulations
• E-networking
• Gender gap in the digital divide
• Infrastructure Development and Internet Connectivity
• Content development and knowledge management
• Capacity Building
• ICT capacity building
• Gender and capacity building
• E-learning
• Partnership building with the private sector
• E-commerce
• Increased private sector participation in ICT, and investment opportunities in Africa

2.6 Field Trips and Study Visits

The field trips and study visits were structured to provide an "on the ground" exposure to the actual practitioners of technology in the appropriate context, thus enabling the African participants an avenue to exchange ideas while discussing ways to improve their local ICT environment with the management of these establishments.

Participants went on two tours that provided them the opportunity to actually see the achievement and results of the Malaysia vision. The tour in Kuala Lumpur's Cyberjaya included visits to the MIMOS, Skali Internet Data Centre, Technology Park and Multimedia Development Cooperation (MDC) headquarters in the Multimedia Super Corridor. The second tour was a field visit to the free trade zone of Penang, which gave participants an opportunity to see the effectiveness of the free-trade zone in attracting and keeping major high-tech companies in Malaysia.

2.7 Workshop Newsletter and Articles

A daily newsletter was produced during the workshop incorporating best practices and exclusive interviews with the different participants and Asian resource speakers. The newsletter was written and produced by a celebrated Asian journalist, Fred Noronha, who also contributed 6 articles, which were circulated globally via the web. All newsletters and articles are available on the official webpage of the workshop (http://www.apdip.net/projects/2002/aai/).

2.8 Workshop Collaborating Agencies

The workshop in Malaysia benefited from strong support and continuous assistance of the UNDP country office and APDIP. The workshop also benefited from the collaboration of the UNDP Dakar SURF (Sub-regional Facility) through the active participation of their advisor on ICT4D and from UNDP Benin through the contribution of the SDNP (Sustainable Development Networking Programme) Benin coordinator.

The support of the Government of Malaysia has been instrumental in the success of the workshop through the high level commitment of EPU (Economic Planning Unit) and the logistical support of INTAN (Institute of Public Management), the mobilization of panelists from public institutions and the private sector, and the facilitation of tours and visits to research and industrial facilities in Kuala Lumpur and Penang.

2.9 Secretariat

A fulltime team from APDIP was employed before the workshop to facilitate the operational and logistical needs, website development, technical assistance, and the organization of the entire workshop.

3.0 WORKSHOP WEBSITE AND RESOURCE MATERIALS

3.1 Overview

As noted above, a dedicated website for the workshop was conceptualised and developed by APDIP staff incorporating relevant facts of the ICT4D landscape in Africa, details of the workshop, presentations made by African participants and resource persons, case studies, contact emails and the African Nations Fact Sheet based on a questionnaire (completed by the African countries participating in the workshop) that were submitted to TICAD prior to the actual workshop. This permanent website is hosted at http://www.apdip.net/projects/2002/aai/ and was available prior to, during and after the workshop.

3.2 Resource Materials

The complete list of presentation by the African participants, Resource Speakers, Case Studies and the African Nations Fact Sheet are available via the world wide web at http://www.apdip.net/projects/2002/aai/resources and the complete list is also available in Annex 3.

It is hoped that the website will continue to serve as a reservoir of rich and pertinent information for future references towards the development of ICT in Africa and Asia. It is also hoped that the network of participants during the workshop would share their knowledge and progress with the world via this dedicated website.

4.0 WORKSHOP PROCEEDINGS

4.1 Overview

The presentations, case studies, field visits, brainstorming sessions, question and answer sessions received active response from all participants. Due to the dynamic and inter-related nature of the subject matter, it is only possible to highlight only the gist of the issues and the subsequent recommendations. This report is not meant as a blueprint of suggestions of how and what should be done by the African nations in entirety but seeks to outline the salient points of discussions.

4.2 Scope of Workshop Proceedings

Participants emphasised several issues including:
a) Stakeholder Involvement

• National Political Leaders
• External Partnerships and Collaborations
• Local Community
• Academia

b) Guiding Principles of Development

• Research and Survey
• Strategic Policy Formulation
• National ICT Agenda/ Policy
• Resource Allocation and Mobilization
• Technical Considerations and Acquisitions
• Funding Approaches
• E-Government and Change Management
• Regulatory Framework
• Telecommunications Industry and Infrastructure Development

4.3 ICT, Development, and Stakeholder Involvement
4.3.1 National Political Leaders
4.3.1.1 Africa-Asia Comparisons

The African participants raised the point that much of the Asian success stories have been driven with a top-down approach, e.g. Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Pakistan. They noted that to replicate Asia's ICT capital investments and capacity building initiatives in Africa, it would require gargantuan resources and financial allocations from the Federal Government that are not easily or adequately available. In this vein, it is clear that such federal expenditure and support would require the full and comprehensive support of national leaders.

The added dimension to government support includes the involvement of the private sector, academia, and local communities in the formulation of national ICT agenda and strategies. This has been undertaken as follows:

• An in depth needs assessment led by government with high involvement of the private sector and civil society, translating ICT4D in the improvement of everyday life for people
• A long-term vision (think big), short-term prioritization (start small) and efficient implementation (scale fast) through effective role distribution among government, private sector, academia, and civil society
• The strategic choice of English rather than local languages for the development of ICT4D has increased the outreach of national policies.

4.3.1.2 National Development Issues

Most African nations are currently grappling with allocation of funds, as ICT is constantly seen as a "non-necessity" or "luxurious" investment. Detractors of ICT insist that the cost justification and the applicability of ICT is not a priority when other national areas such as poverty, health, unemployment, inadequate physical infrastructure, are demanding immediate attention.

4.3.1.3 Political Will

Most African participants were of the view that political will should be one of the primary driving forces in order to address ICT adoption in their respective nations. Projects in the pipeline can only take place after national leaders have decided to place emphasis on ICT for the development of the nation and the respective communities.

4.3.1.4 Vision and Sustainability

In addition to the lack of political will, is the lack of a long term vision of the ruling national parties to ensure sustainability of ICT strategies and policies that have already been undertaken. As some nations tackle the need to invest and participate, the necessary fundamentals such as adequate funding and the lack of National ICT Agenda aggravate the situation.

Participants expressed that though it must be noted that several groups of national leaders and African policy makers have strong ICT awareness, it is still insufficient, as they lack long term vision, action plans, awareness campaigns, and are devoid of community participation, which are critical in guiding the development and implementation of proposed national ICT strategy plans and policies.

4.3.1.5 International Political-Economy Intervention

Alongside this, the other problem faced by national leaders is the allocation of funds as pre-determined and advised by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB). The African participants raised the issue that ICT expenditure is most often than not, considered a reversal of policies by the IMF. As such, expenditures or investments would not be endorsed by the respective international bodies. The problem stems from the view that ICT investment does not add to the national economic growth and neither is it viewed as a tool or medium to promote sustainable human development and poverty alleviation.

4.3.1.6 Guiding Principles of Proposed Strategies

The local African governments must undertake both the role of an enabler of ICT development among the general population and facilitator to encourage the active involvement of the private sector. National level partnerships with the private sector will certainly assist in supporting, encouraging, and developing the participation of the private sector, thus ensuring the necessary positive growth of ICT adoption. It has been stated that the support of political leaders is critical to ensure legitimacy of policy frameworks, federal budget allocations and forging regional and possible South-South cooperation.

All these developments require strong political will and support as demonstrated by the example of deregulation of telecommunications, implementation of legislative cyber laws on intellectual property, and wide spread internet connectivity infrastructure in Asian countries. There needs to be a clear and definitive break from the past, orthodox ways of doing things. Research and active discussions must be undertaken with local communities, NGOs, academics, private sector, and the media to examine the nation's future needs and competitiveness in the global arena. The best strategies and solutions can be put forth but are left impotent if there is a political vacuum or lack of interest to encourage the development of ICT in Africa.

However, it is interesting to note that not all of Asian success stories have been top down and/or with government intervention. Clear Asian examples are undoubtedly India and Pakistan where private sector and NGO-led initiatives at the rural and community level have borne tremendous results in educating the general population with the necessary ICT skills and knowledge.

4.3.1.7 Strategies Proposed
Regional Fora

It was proposed that the ICT agenda be discussed at international and regional leaders and Ministerial fora. These forums should be utilized to discuss the importance of ICT for development in Africa and help mobilise regional ICT initiatives. The proposed avenues are during the Commonwealth Heads of Governments Meeting (CHOGM), G-15, and G-77 meetings. It was concluded that if the push was given at the head of states level (resulting in agreements and understanding), resolutions might be achieved to impress the importance of ICT for development in African nations.

It was hoped that by having regional level fora that endorse ICT for development initiatives, positive interventions can take place and move policy from national level leaders to actual public policy formulators.

International Organisation Involvement

As several African nations depend on donor organizations and endorsements of the IMF and the World Bank on capital expenditure for ICT, it is proposed that the United Nations (UN) aid agencies undertake to highlight ICT for poverty alleviation strongly in all of its international forums, especially with other international bodies. It was also proposed that the UN agencies look into suitable operational mechanisms on how best to facilitate donor aid in the area of ICT development, without constantly premised on "spoon feeding" paradigms. The re-examination of these aid measures should involve participation of local leaders, community members, private sector, and academics.

Policy Seminars

To ensure that the policy makers and leaders in the private sector and academia are constantly aware of the trends and developments that are taking place on the global platform, it is proposed that workshops such as the Africa-Asia workshop should be held more often. It was also proposed that such workshops should include the participation of prominent individuals, which would in turn encourage the participation of African leaders. There were also proposals that future workshops should concentrate on specific issues such as change management, investment portfolios, technopreneur development, local content creation, etc.

4.3.2 External Partnerships and Collaborations
4.3.2.1 Africa-Asia Comparisons

A great deal of discussion were held on the role and the approaches taken by both Pakistan and Malaysia to involve the private sector and international organisations to participate and assist in the ICT development process in their respective nations. Examples were provided of incentives, tax rebates, subsidies, research and development grants, etc. It was noted by several African participants that in Africa, there were unclear definitions on the role of the private sector in Africa. In addition, the private sector has largely been left untapped in partnerships with the government. It was also pointed out that several African governments have a monopoly control over policy formulation and implementation and have in many instances formulated policies without consultation with the private sector and civil society.

In Asia, the experiences shared reflected that there was limited donor involvement in the formulation and implementation of ICT4D policies designed by the countries to address their own development priorities. In addition, the government plays a key facilitation role through progressive improvement of infrastructure, a fruitful public-private dialogue to set priorities, periodic reviews, and providing incentives to the private sector to lead the implementation of national initiatives.

For example, Asia has begun work on regional Internet exchanges and bilateral peering to reduce the amount of Internet traffic, which gets routed to the United States. This telecommunications arrangement for Internet, results in either exorbitant Internet access charges for the general public or a huge telecommunications tab that is picked up by the national telecommunication provider as a subsidy required by the government as part of the licensing agreements.

The involvement of the private sector has been crucial to the success of Asian success stories, especially in the rural area. The government encourages the involvement of the private sector to ensure success in marginalized areas by providing rebates and grants to the private sector.
It must be noted that though Asian governments have been the key drivers of the development of ICT, they work in close partnership and collaborations with the local private sector. Incentives such as tax exemptions, subsidies, benefits, are provided for compliance by local telecommunication players to pre-determined set goals of increasing awareness, access, facilities, and services, etc. For example, the governments of Malaysia and Singapore play an active role as a facilitator and encourage the private sector to meet the needs of citizens in an open competitive market environment.

4.3.2.2 Guiding Principles of Proposed Strategies

• Internet traffic is predominantly routed towards the United States, resulting in high costs for African telecommunication operators;
• The fine balance of private and public partnerships must be examined carefully to ensure that the profitability of the private firms are not compromised in the process. It serves to work in reverse if the partnerships benefit any one party;
• The United Nations Development Programme collaborates with other international organisations to support selected ICT endeavours undertaken by national governments and the private sector, but most important, is the need to demonstrate that the partnerships were forged based on analysis, feasibility studies and concrete business plans that incorporate sustainability measures;
• Governments are best served in the long term, if they provide incentives to assist the development of the private sector, e.g. tax incentives, subsidies, research and development grants, freedom to hire foreign knowledge workers, collaboration with international and regional telecommunication firms, and universities;
  
• A need to have regional partnerships among African nations in the sharing and mobilising of resources in a win-win partnership that benefits all nations involved.
  
• The perspective raised by the donor organisation is that it is easier for international organisations to operate in a nation where such policies and strategies are readily available as it is difficult to strategise operations in a vacuum (void of a National ICT Agenda);
  
• Tap and leverage on African diaspora around the world to contribute to the development of ICT in Africa.

4.3.2.3 Strategies Proposed
Private-Public Partnerships

• Public-Private partnerships should ensure all parties are involved at the conceptualisation and strategizing stage. This input of ideas will enable the transfer of technology and project ownership to be retained within the nation. This is particularly important when partnerships are developed with foreign firms;
  
• Develop Small Medium Enterprises (SME) to participate in the development of components of the ICT development services and facilities, e.g. content development, technical expertise, etc;
  
• Invite Venture Capitalist to invest in the SME's and or the creation of technology incubators where technopreneurs could be home grown.

Regional Collaboration

• Set up training centres at the national, sub regional, and regional levels. Cross border partnerships such as these would help reduce the cost of training skilled knowledge workers on a national basis;
  
• In view of the lack of infrastructure and connectivity in Africa, it is proposed that each nation start small and then as resources become available, scale up appropriately;
  
• As African markets are small, it was proposed that the African nations use the sub-region to market themselves to the world, especially Asia, and use themselves as the gateway to the African continent;
  
• An example of regional facilities available is the Sustainable Development Networking Programme (SDNP) Regional Server Programme, which is capable of addressing the needs of the African nations;
  
• Develop a web portal for Africa-Asia especially focussed on technical collaboration. The web portal could also function as a link to existing websites in Africa.

United Nations Development Programme Partnerships

• It was proposed that the UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa call for a forum in Africa, and thus provide the necessary impetus and strategic directions. This includes technical advice and assistance to the Country Office and inform them of the services and facilities currently available that could be leveraged by the respective nation.
  
• It was proposed that national policy leaders undertake discussions with the UNDP country office, as each UNDP office has its own ICT policies in line with the UNDP service line.

Global Collaborations

• It was proposed that African nations strongly consider partnerships with Asian governments and/or the private sector in the development of ICT in their countries, especially in the areas of development of national ICT policies, development strategies, technical partnership models, and networking contacts.
  
• One example of collaboration could be government partnerships to learn and develop suitable National ICT policies. It is best to learn from the experiences and challenges that other governments have faced, bearing in mind the need to develop and modify, in view of the varying socio-political-economic environments;
  
• Encourage private-private partnerships between Asian and African in the area of technical collaborations;
  
• Address the African diaspora by creating global knowledge incubators and linking up with Africans from around the world through collaborative programs and via the proposed dedicated African website.
  
  Example of Government-to-Government Partnership: "Malaysia's Technical Cooperation Programme (MTCP) and Efforts Towards Promoting South-South Cooperation with Africa"
• Type of assistance that is provided includes training, study visits, attachments and advisory services;
• Funding types are either full funding by the Malaysian government, 3rd party funding (e.g. UNDP, JICA), or cost sharing with the respective participating countries;
• Training opportunities include 3 - 8 weeks programmes in 22 civil and academic institutions and centres;
• Consultancy services, e.g. experts, project management, and technical expertise;
• Government to government partnerships, which include, smart partnership, private sector initiatives, partnership with agencies, tri-sectoral cooperation, and private sector initiatives.

4.3.3 Community / Rural Area Involvement
4.3.3.1 Africa-Asia Comparison

In Africa, three major areas are of utmost concern; poor quality and high-cost of telecommunication infrastructure; low computer literacy and access to ICT, and a limited awareness of the role of ITC in addressing their day-to-day problems and issues.

Asian countries have clearly demonstrated that community development has enabled a stronger knowledge worker pool to be established alongside mainstream educational centres. These developments taking place in rural areas have two primary contributions to the national ICT landscape, i.e. they address the need to bridge the digital divide and they supplement the pool of ICT literate workforce in the nation.

The Asian examples shared with workshop participants, indicate an active human resource development programme extended to all components of the society, adjusted to specific needs of each group and strongly implemented from top- to-bottom, which creates the necessary impetus and builds the basis for the change to an e-society.

This is clearly evident in community projects in India and Pakistan. The important factor here is that the needs of the rural communities must be addressed in order to avoid a digital divide to take place right from the beginning of any national ICT policies. An oversight will result in disastrous and long-drawn solutions to be undertaken in the future, to facilitate catching up by marginalized communities.

4.3.3.2 Guiding Principles of Proposed Strategies

• It is critical to ensure participation by all stakeholders in all ICT development for communities and rural areas - this includes participation at the level of policy formulation, project implementation, management, ownership, and evaluation. This process should ideally involve the government, private operators, and community members;
  
• Civil society partnerships are critical to ensure continuous community participation after the project period is over;
  
• Identify champions at both community and government levels for all pilot projects;
  
• Partner with relevant and experienced Non Governmental Organisations (NGO's) as these organisations have a wealth of experience and are closer to the ground and agile and flexible in adapting to the needs of the community;
  
• Community projects with government funds should indicate community support and participation as a pre-requisite for any approval of projects. Local champions have to be identified and guided to drive and own the project after the period of pilot implementation;
  
• Each project ideally should be premised to include tri-party involvement, i.e. technology providers, content aggregators, and community members;
  
• Solutions should be only proposed based on the anticipated needs of the community. Challenges should then be identified and the appropriate solutions proposed;
  
• Governments might consider either the carrot or stick approach where applicable in partnerships with the private sector for the development of rural communities.
  

4.3.3.3 Strategies Proposed
Allocation of Federal Budget

The government allocates a federal budget to ensure rural areas are built with community centres equipped with ICT facilities The success of these projects has to include the participation and support of local communities as the funds are allocated for a short term period (e.g. 2 years) to ensure the start up of the facilities. Sustainability plans must be submitted by the local project owners, to ensure the business feasibility of the project is undertaken after the government involvement is phased out.

Research and Development Grants

The federal government could allocate up to a 100% research and development grant for projects that are for the betterment of the community. Each R&D grant must be based on a tri-party involving the government, private sector, and local community before budgets are approved.

Private Sector

1) Direct Intervention
A certain percentage of the licensing fee of telecommunication corporations could be allocated to build the necessary ICT infrastructure.

2) Indirect Intervention
Utilise the telecommunication monopolies to connect the rural areas in return for tax breaks, incentives, and subsidies to ensure marginalisation is minimised.

Women

It is the view of some of the participants that in Africa, development of ICT in rural areas should focus on women, as they are likely to play an active role in a child's education and the community. As such, efforts to educate women would play a strong role of ensuring the adoption of ICT reaches a large population.

4.3.4 Academia and Human Resource Capacity Building
4.3.4.1 Africa Asia Comparison

Human resource and capacity building has been given high priority by the successful Asian economies with direct or indirect intervention by the government, i.e. determining courses offered, entrance requirements, international recognition etc. Several government and independent institutions and agencies are actively involved in coordinating, promoting and keeping with the trends and developments in the ICT arena.

To begin with, there are very few African universities focused on ICT and added to this situation, there is barely adequate access to the Internet available in these academic institutions. The ICT landscape in Africa for tertiary and graduate degrees in ICT is scarce thus hindering the requirement of involvement of Africans in the building of Internet backbones and networks.

4.3.4.2 Guiding Principles of Proposed Strategies

• Human Resource development in academic institutions must be done in close collaboration with international industry standards and needs;
  
• Centres of excellence need to be established focused on evolving developments in the ICT arena;
  
• There is a need to emphasize that ICT literacy does not necessarily mean hard programming skills but ICT literacy, as there are various levels of positions in with different scope and requirements of ICT skills;
  
• Need to re-strategise what is required in the future and prepare according to ICT competency needs analysis developed in consultancy with global partners from various ICT fields. These conclusions should be translated into course modules offered at local universities;
  
• Development of ICT literacy from primary to tertiary education levels. This has to be undertaken to ensure the work pool is developed to cater to all levels of ICT adoption in the nation.
  

4.3.4.3 Strategies Proposed
Centres of Excellence

There is a strong need to build centres of excellence in Africa. The centres of excellence should focus on the developments that are taking place in the ICT arena and focus on certain core areas. This endeavour should be undertaken on a sub-regional basis to reduce the initial capital investments. The courses developed should include distance learning, graduate degree, undergraduate, and professional training.

Grassroots Development

Ensure development of human resource skills also takes place at primary schools where ICT literacy is emphasised. While youths are still in primary schools, awareness campaigns and initiatives such as computer clubs funded by the private sector funds should be undertaken.

International Recognition and Collaboration

Local universities should consider tie-ups with established foreign universities to strengthen the local education system. It is useful to collaborate with international universities to establish the name and reputation of the African centres.

Strengthening Networking Academies

Efforts must be undertaken to strengthen Internet Academies, e.g. CISCO Networking academies. They should receive the full support of the government as they provide knowledge workers that are critical for technological development of their respective countries.

Human Resource Plan

A comprehensive needs assessment of manpower needs and ICT requirements has to be undertaken. This will enable the streamlining of educational course modules as determined by the industry. This needs assessment must be undertaken by the government to ensure the appropriate critical areas of development of the nation are addressed.

Potential of Marginalised Populations

Attract the participation and develop the skills of marginalized communities such as rural youths, women who are not in the workforce, and senior citizens. Address their needs by creating community centres in community centres and post offices.

Develop Local Content

The first step towards independence of becoming a technology creator and not a consumer is to encourage the development of local content in the local languages.

4.4 Guiding Principles of Development

In the course of discussions among the participants and Asian resource persons, there were constant reminders and deliberations on guiding principles to be undertaken while implementing ICT for Development policies. The principles can be summarised as follows:

4.4.1 Research and Survey

• Before any strategies or policies are formed, its best to undertake comprehensive research, studies, and surveys on what is required and the ability of the nation to deliver the necessary deliverables to ensure the success of the ICT agenda;
  
• Work within structured frameworks incorporating the needs and input of all stakeholders within the research process;
  
• Undertake both Priority Research (identifying immediate needs) and Strategic Research (to be implemented over time);
  
• Identify issues, trends, and developments and prioritise needs;
  
• Aware of constraints that are evident in each country to avoid making similar mistakes.

4.4.2 Strategic Policy Formulation

• Nations need a pre-emptive strategy to ensure that long term planning is taken into consideration;
  
• Applicability and practical applications - need to ensure that implementation programmes encompass practical applications of ICT in efficient operations in their respective countries;
  
• The ability to clearly determine areas of priority use for ICT4D. Simplify the needs. Identify key areas. Prioritise approach. Strategise possible solutions. There is strong evidence that most African nations lack a focused approach and most policies cover more than five priorities;
  
• ICT adoption is not based on a specific country model but each nation has to learn, evaluate and apply according to specific needs;
  
• Create added value by using ICT to improve the quality of life of customers in their most basic daily activities. Work together with all stakeholders to define scope and implementation process;
  
• Identify champions to pilot projects.

4.4.3 National ICT Agenda/ Policy

• National ICT Agendas are an enabler and as such it has the potential to weave technology into the fabric of society. ICT national policy requires coordination of several relevant ministries to avoid duplication and a waste of resources. This requires efficient governance and transparency in the implementation of its agenda;
  
• There are no exact models that can be exported from one nation to the other. All recommendations need to be customised and developed within individual landscapes of socio-economic and political environments. As there is no one model that can be adapted, what is important is to understand the needs and requirements and translate these opportunities into concrete programmes;
  
• Policy response requires that the formulated national policy must be translated into programmes, activities, and strategic plans;
  
• National ICT agendas must recognise that solutions proposed should provide practical applications of technology at the ground level.
  
• Formulation of policies must recognise that re-engineering of society, education systems, government processes and industry expectations will take place. There is a need to formalize the plans and projects through policies as they will have a legal position and ensure implementation is undertaken by civil servants;
  
• Collaborate and exchange ideas with other governments in either Africa or Asia to learn of the challenges faced in the implementation of such national ICT agendas;
  
• UNDP's participation in assisting country's ICT agenda is easily facilitated if the country has a clear IT agenda with strategies that include participation of all stakeholders. It is up to the country to provide the direction, vision and commitment before the UNDP can assist.

4.4.4 Resource Allocation and Mobilization

• Bridging the digital divide requires people, management, resources, technology, and an appropriate enabling environment;
  
• The choice of technologies must be in line with human and technical existing capacities. Coordination of resources has to be planned and strategised prior to any major investments in ICT deployment is to be undertaken;
  
• Resource allocation should be executed in reference to needs analysis, human resource analysis, trends and developments in the ICT arena, and in line with the National ICT agendas;
  
• To avoid duplication and a waste of resources, separate scope of work have to be drawn out between Ministries and economic planning advisors with regards to co-ordinators of ICT implementation in respective industries;
  
• Federal budgets have to take into consideration the allocation of resources as ICT development cannot take place based on donor aid completely.

4.4.5 Technical Considerations and Acquisitions

In the adoption of ICT solutions, careful consideration should be given to the proposed technology and its applicability in the government sector;

• Ensure that the proposed technology is capable of operating across existing legal systems and databases. If incapable, provide for development to bridge across the systems or discard the proposed system. It is ineffective to have isolated and separate databases for various departments. Seamless integration must be a pre-requisite in the development of the network architecture;
  
• Ensure open standards and open source as much as possible;
  
• Adoption of ICT solutions should not be based on specific models as practiced in certain countries. There is a need to learn and evaluate prior to actual implementation;
  
• It has been the experience of Asian countries that ICT solutions for the public sector require a large degree of customisation and the need to build the systems from ground up due to specific needs;
  
• Some nations might need to buy off-the-shelf products (if they are not in a position to develop their own products) to ensure that they are not left behind. It is at times, faster, cheaper, and far more effective to outsource certain parts of the ICT adoption rather than developing such solutions in-house;
  
• Issues such as licensing and cost of ownership should be a pre-determining factor before the adoption of ICT solutions;
  
• The development of a local pool of talent to manage and create the necessary support mechanism should be factored in the decision on the selection of the proposed systems.

4.4.6 Funding Approaches

Funding, as in all development projects, has always been the cause of disagreement of how fast and how effective a project can be undertaken or sustained. Efficient partnerships with the private sector will ensure cost effective services to customers, affordable access to the Internet, reduce the cost of owning a computer by assembling them locally, and/or reduce tariffs on ICT equipment;

• The involvement of the private sector as a spearheading partner in the promotion of ICT4D, using its flexibility to adapt to the fast changes in the ICT industry;
• Creative financing approaches by utilising the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) or Build Transfer-Operate (BTO) models;
• Public-Private partnerships via government incentives, tax rebates, grants, and subsidies;
• Encourage and develop SME's to partner in government ICT projects by providing opportunities for different parcel's of the government's ICT roll-out projects. However, ensure that the selection of companies goes through a tender process and that the selection and negotiations are transparent.
• Invite venture capitalist to invest in SME and technology incubation centres;
• Percentage of licensing fee can be used as an incentive to telecommunication to go into marginalized rural areas;
• Regional capacity building efforts (including UNDP) focussed on the development of SME's in Africa. This also includes micro-financing opportunities for SME's.

4.4.7 E-Government and Change Management

• The implementation of e-government services requires the re-engineering of the government in terms of operating processes, bureaucracies, infrastructure, and human resources development;
• Implementation of e-government services should always be based on the priorities and front line services, rather than a complete overhaul of the bureaucratic services;
• It is important to impress upon civil servants that through e-government procedures, it would be easier to do their job faster and more efficient;
• Change management courses for civil servants are crucial for the development of any e-government initiatives;
• E-Government strategies often depict a scenario where civil servants would be left redundant or retrenched; however, the emphasis should be on re-skilling and re-training as knowledge workers are the key to e-governments and not solely based on adoption of technology and automation of services;
• There are various levels of competency that are required in the implementation of e-government services; hence, not all positions require hard core programming skills. There is a need to emphasize ICT literacy requirements of the government;
• ICT assessment could be incorporated as a basis for promotion.

4.4.8 Regulatory Framework

• Regulatory frameworks are critical to ensure the development of ICT in the nation is safeguarded, especially in areas of intellectual property rights, copyright developments, and regulating industry players while ensuring a fine balance of market impetus and growth;
• Adequate legislation on intellectual property rights would be the first step in encouraging software development to be undertaken in the country without fear of infringement of copyrights;
• ICT laws need to be benchmarked against international standards. Consideration must also be given towards the need to harmonise existing laws with technological advancements;
• African nations need to gain access to existing legislation, as there is no need to reinvent the wheel. Adopt and adapt based on individual national needs;
• A possible regulator model to be emulated is the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission, an independent body formed by an act of parliament, which works towards regulating the industry players while balancing the need to instil self-regulation within the marketplace. The Commission is financed from licensing fees of industry players.

4.4.9 Telecommunications Industry and Infrastructure Development

• Different levels of ownership of the telecommunication industry (corporatisation, privatisation, or government monopolies) require different strategies to ensure the low cost of access and network sustainability;
• In Asia, the role of the government has been crucial, especially when it comes to infrastructure and cost of access. Some African nations have taken an approach to de-regulate and allow the private sector to undertake the necessary infrastructure capital investments;
• Government intervention could happen by ensuring preferential tariffs for schools and rural areas. This enables efforts to encourage ICT and Internet adoption among groups that most often than not are marginalized in the wave of development;
• Reforms in the telecommunication's industry are difficult in most African nations as it is traditionally seen as a "cash cow", and opening it up to the private sector most often than not is construed as a loss of revenue to the federal government. The Malaysian approach is that the national telecommunication monopolies are corporatised before they are privatised. The government still maintains a majority stake and representation at the Board of Director's level. This allows the government to ensure rural areas are not marginalized in the name of profitability and business plans;
• Cybercafe's and tele-boutiques are the best approach to help bridge the digital divide in Africa in view of the lack of Internet connectivity in rural areas and the low income level of the general population.

5.0 CONCLUSIONS: THE WAY FORWARD

5.1 Recommendations and Future Developments

At the end of the workshop, the African participants made the following recommendations:

• African countries should take advantage of the Asian experience, not to copy it, but to inspire themselves to develop and implement their own policies;
• Education and human resource development are a critical to any successful ICT4D policy;
• Involving the private sector in the formulation of policies and providing the appropriate incentives for investment and innovation;
• Cooperation and exchange of ideas with Asians and sharing of resources and experiences among Africans as promoted by TICAD should continue;
• The second workshop planned in Benin for another group of African countries should try to complement on the aspects discussed in Malaysia;
• A high level meeting on ICT4D bringing together policy and decision-makers from Asia and Africa should be considered, as a follow up to the TICAD ICT4D policy workshop. This would help to strengthen the ICT strategies for development in Africa and establish concrete Asia/Africa cooperation

5.2 Questionnaire Feedback

It was decided that APDIP would design a questionnaire specifically for the African participants, which will be fielded 6-8 weeks after the Africa-Asia workshop ended. The questionnaire is aimed at gathering in-depth information and assessment on the lessons learned from the workshop. More importantly, the questionnaire will provide an insight on the follow up actions and steps taken by the African participants after the workshop.

It was also decided that the questionnaire will be fielded via the official workshop website and facilitated by the TICAD office in New York. The questionnaire is available via the World Wide Web and is attached in this report in Annex 4 .

Postscript
The Cooperation with UNIDO in the framework of TICAD

After the workshop, Mr. Philippe Tokpanou , Programme Specialist, Special Unit for the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (SU/TICAD), continued on to Vienna, to explore possible areas of synergy and cooperation between UNIDO and TICAD on ICT4D and private sector activities implemented in the framework of TICAD. The objective was to capitalize on UNIDO's expertise, tools, and resource centers in Asia, to contribute to the development of trade and investment in Africa. More specifically, the discussion focused on the linkages that should be developed between UNDP-sponsored TICAD regional server initiative located in Benin and UNIDO's Hippalos (Asia Africa Investment and Trade Promotion Center).

One main conclusion was reached as a way forward. TICAD and UNIDO will work together an IT platform to be located in the Benin server as part of the TICAD IT Initiative for Africa. UNIDO will customize their Exchange platform to meet the specific needs of Asia and Africa trade and investment information.

Report prepared by:
James George Chacko,
Programme Specialist,
Asia Pacific Development Information Programme (APDIP),
15 May 2002