Report of the 1 st African Follow up Workshop on the WSIS, Tunis+3 Addis Ababa, May 2009 Makane Faye Senior Regional Advisor, ICT for Development ICT, Science & Technology Division, UNECA WSIS Forum 2009 Geneva, May 2009

Workshop objectives The aim of the workshop was to assess actions undertaken by African countries in following up on the recommendations/action lines of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), three years after WSIS Tunis.

Background  ECA conducted a questionnaire-administered survey circulated to NICI focal points in the 53 member States to assess WSIS outcome implementation status. Twenty one member States (Benin, Burundi, Congo Brazzaville, Cote d’Ivoire, DRC, Ethiopia, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Kenya, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sudan, Togo, Uganda and Zambia) and one REC, COMESA responded to the survey.  The responses formed the foundations of a WSIS monitoring database which will be available online in near future.  A publication resulting from the analysis of the responses to this survey was published and was presented at this workshop.

Sub-regional Distribution of Survey Questionnaire Response Sub-regionsCentral Africa East Africa North Africa Southern Africa West Africa Sub-regional response 4.8%28.6 % 9.5%4.8%47.6 %

Survey Questionnaire Response Sub- regions Central Africa East Africa North Africa Souther n Africa West Africa CountriesCongoBurundi DRC Ethiopia Kenya, Madagascar Uganda Egypt, Sudan Mozambi que, Zambia Benin; Cote d’Ivoire; Gambia; Ghana; Guinea- Bissau; Mali; Niger; Nigeria; Senegal; Togo.

The 1st Follow-up Workshop on WSIS  Organized by ECA and GAID on April 2009 at the UN Conference Centre in Ababa.  Attended by over 150 delegates.  Discussed findings and made recommendations on ECA survey on implementation of the 11 WSIS Action Lines.

Findings – Action Lines  90% strongly or simply agrees that ICT is a national priority.  90% have developed and approved their national e-strategies.  75% confirms allocation of public funds.  80% say they have public-private partnerships.  The data confirms the fast growth of the mobile market against fixed lines, which need expanded infrastructure in order to reach a wider audience.  Penetration rate of old ICTs (TV and Radio) is relatively high in most of the countries.  There is positive development with respect to promoting and developing public domain information supported by IPR framework, fostering S&T and research, etc.  Governments promote development of public access internet centres and community centres including promoting content development and digitization initiatives.

Findings – Action Lines  Over 65 % of the countries have identified their capacity-building requirements including integrating ICTs in education and training with special emphasis to ICT skills development of women and youth.  38% of the countries responded have cyber security strategies.  The level of deployment of security systems in both the private and the public sectors to combat cyber-crime including awareness of ICT- related security issues is low.  96% of the respondents confirmed that they have a legislative and regulatory framework that is conducive to a supportive, transparent and pro-competitive ICT market in their countries.  The impact of the legal and regulatory / enabling environment was very positive that it promoted the growth of the ICT industry and creation of better ICT market in most countries.

Findings – Action Lines  80 % of the respondents have e-government strategies  85 % also promote e-business applications.  Nearly half of the respondents confirmed that they have enacted legislations to promote e-business such digital signature, e-currency, etc.  Very few countries offer e-services such as BPOs, ITES and Call centre services.  60 % of the respondents have programmes on building health information systems but most lack ICT-based system to alert, monitor and control communicable diseases and deal with emergency.  55 % of the countries use ICT as instrument for environmental protection, etc.

Findings – Action Lines contd  Deployment of E-agriculture and e-science applications is low  60 % of the respondents confirm that their governments support local content, digitisation, adaptation…  85 % of the respondents indicated that the media play an important role in creating the information society in their respective countries with 90 % confirmation from countries that the media enjoys guarantee of independence and plurality.

Findings – Action Lines 10&11  38 % of the respondents confirmed that their ICT policies promote awareness of the ethical dimension of the use of ICTs or that they have established other mechanisms to that end.  Another 35 % of the respondents asserted that the academic community is engaged in research on the ethical dimensions of ICTs.  35 % of the respondents have in place an institution to assess and measure the impact of information and knowledge economy activities in general and the various plans of their e-strategy in particular  57 % of the respondents have an officially designated institution to manage and monitor implementation of their national e-strategy and the WSIS outcomes.  66 % of the respondents confirmed that their countries have put in place a coordination mechanism between the various ICT actors in order to implement the national e-strategy.  The public-private partnership is the most popular mechanism and it is used by 57 % of respondents.

Challenges and Constraints  The main challenge remains the lack of funds to implement the ICT policies and plans.  Various legislations in enabling e-business such as e- transactions, e-payment, e-currencies, digital signature, etc. are not in place in most countries.  Digital literacy is a challenge for the participation in the information society.  Some of the ICT applications are poorly integrated or unavailable in most countries.

Recommendations to Follow-up on WSIS Action Lines  Incorporate definitions and guidelines in some of the WSIS Action Lines.  Organize coaching/training of focal points and other respondents prior to completion of questionnaire and for validation.  Create a mechanism for coordination at national level among the different stakeholders to fully participate the data gathering process on WSIS follow up indicators.  Include in next survey a follow up on the African Regional Action Plan on the Knowledge Economy (ARAPKE) implementation.  Undertake the survey regularly once every 2 years.  Cooperate with other UN Regional Commissions and other UN and international organizations to share experience and compare results of follow up surveys.

Thank You !