1. ITU EC Workshop for Eastern and Southern Africa Brussels March 2006
A Roadmap to Global Connectivity for
African Research and Education Community
Asenath Mpatwa
ITU
EC Workshop for Eastern and Southern Africa
Brussels March 2006
March, 2006
UNU/ITU/CERN

2. AFUNET Open and joint initiative Holistic approach
Collaborative effort by AAU supported by UNU, ITU and CERN
Consolidate efforts and bridge digital divide
AFUNET is an open and joint initiative under a collaborative framework that includes the association of Africa Universities (AAU), United Nations University (UNU), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), and the European Center for Nuclear Research (CERN).
This initiative is based on a holistic approach focusing on addressing both the short term and long term needs of the African Research and ducation community in Africa.
It seeks to consolidate various on-going and future efforts in this domain to avoid any possible fragmentation, overlaps and/or ommisions in adressing this and
It seeks to draw lessons from a wealth of valuable existing international experience in this domain instead of trying to re-invent the wheel .
How did the AAU/UNU/ITU/CERN get involved?? A recap of their missions as continental or UN Agencies
AAU: To add a sentence
UNU: The UNU’s key mission is to contribute through research and capacity-building, to finding original, forward-looking solutions to the most pressing problems that concern the United Nations, its Peoples and Member States. The value of the UNU - as a University, yet within the UN System - is that it not only seeks responses at a theoretical level, but also concerns itself with the down-to-earth need for practical action.
ITU: The ITU is a UN Agency where governments and the private sector coordinate global telecom networks and services. It does this through its three bureaus; Radiocommunication, Standardization and Development Sectors in collaboration and partnership with its members and sector members. To continue fulfilling its mandate, the ITU has evolved and adapted its structure and mandate over the past 140 years. Today there are 189 Member States and 637 Sector Members. There are 53 member states and 81 sector members from Africa.
CERN: The European Organization for Nuclear Research, is the world’s leading laboratory for particle physics with 20 Member States and 8 countries/institutions with Observer status European Organization for Nuclear Research has its headquarters in Geneva.
March, 2006
UNU/ITU/CERN

3. Mission
To support networking for educational and research institutions and programmes on a pan-African, regional and national levels.
The African University Network (AFUNET) is based on the concept of National Research and Education Networks (NRENs) . Its mission is to support networking and availability of affordable ICT services for the research and education communities in Africa in a sustainable manner.
It will support development of joint educational programs and related activities.
March, 2006
UNU/ITU/CERN

4. The Hierarchical Three/Four-tier Model
Campus (LAN)
National (WAN) or NREN
Pan-African or federate network (AFUNET)
Regional networks (RREN) - a possible four-tier model
AFUNET
RREN
RREN
RREN
This model recognizes the needs of the research and education communities in Africa for connectivity, the realities on the ground, and the necessity for unified approach,
Is basically a hybrid approach, or the NREN like model both on a macro (pan-African) and on a micro (national or eventually regional) levels.
A possible revision may result in functional differentiation and separation between network infrastructure and services providers on one side, and coordination, know-how flow and technology innovation on the other side.
In that case, some of the functions and tasks should be delegated to the regional and national networks (NRENs). This process could start as soon as the institutions are up and running on an incremental basis.
This concept re-enforces the distributive character of the operation and leads to wide dissemination of competences.
Under this scenario, AFUNET would primarily concentrate on policies and strategies while NRENs would handle services and networks CN
NREN CN
NREN CN
NREN CN
NREN CN
NREN CN
NREN
March, 2006
UNU/ITU/CERN

5. Organization AFUNET Hosted by AAU Non profit entity
Members: NRENs + other stakeholders
The Association would be independent and without any national or international political affiliations.
Members of the Association would decide official languages to be used
The stakeholders of the Association are its members, which are NRENs in Africa. In an ideal situation, there should be one NREN member per country. The reality is sometimes different, both from historical and cultural reasons. In this case, the Association could require co-ordinated representation among the various institutions within a single country.
The process of NREN creation already under way in some countries in Africa could be a long and tedious exercise involvving many financial and organization issues to be resolved, building consensus and support, overcoming technological differences, and possibly legal hurdles. Therefore, it is expected that in the transitional period, which should not last longer than three years, members of the Association could come from research and educational networks that represent individual universities or an established regional network as a cluster of a number of campus networks.
In addition to ordinary memberships, it is possible to have associate members from international networking organizations, major ICT companies, and donors,
Small working groups could be established to follow up various activities within the mandate of the Association such as research and development, network operation and management, application development and implementation, services, member support and relations, financing, and external relations to funding bodies and the public, etc.
A working name should be adopted for the Association e.g. African University Network (AFUNET) or any other suitable name to be agreed by members.
The Association will be a not-for-profit and legal entity with a registered office in one of the member countries. The geographical scope of the Association is Africa and could be hosted by a pan-African organization (e.g. AAU) which works in the same domain, and targets the same user community.
The actual structure of the Association will depend on the vision and the objectives of its members; however one can easily imagine five regional offices (mirroring the five geographical regions in Africa).
March, 2006
UNU/ITU/CERN

6. Objectives Support activities based on the REN model
Collaborate with other peer organizations
Capacity building
Coordinate and develop projects
Support joint education programmes
Facilitate establishment of infrastructure
Main objectives of the Association
Dissemination of know-how via workshops, conferences, and courses
March, 2006
UNU/ITU/CERN

7. Next steps AAU to finalize the development of the Business Plan
Fundraising
Implementation
March, 2006
UNU/ITU/CERN

8. Thank you for your attention
March, 2006
UNU/ITU/CERN