1. WACREN Regional network for sharing knowledge
Prof Tiemoman Kone
WACREN Board President

2. WACREN “World-class” infrastructure and services for the West and Central African Research and Education community for development
Target: Membership of 22 countries
More than 150 institutions
About 2.2 million users
Promotion and development of interconnection among NRENs in the region;  
Fostering collaboration between research and education institutions in the region and with their peers at continental and international levels.

3. WACREN's Genesis
2006: - Incubated in AfNOG and AAU workshop on R&E Networks (Nairobi, April 2006);
- Regional worshop on RREN (Accra, Nov 2006);
2007: AfREN worhshop (Rabat, Nov 2007);
2009: Task force to set up WACREN (Accra, Nov 2009)
 2010: Registration as not for profit association in August 2010
2011: First Board installed in March 2011

4. NREN'S in WACREN 8 Established NREN members : Ongoing initiatives in:
GARNET - Ghana (operational)
SnRER - Senegal (operational)
MaliREN - Mali
RITER - Côte d’Ivoire (operational)
NigerREN - Niger
GabonREN - Gabon
TogoREN- Togo (operational)
NgREN- Nigeria
Ongoing initiatives in:
Cameroun, Bénin, Burkina, Gambia.

5. SINCE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF BOARD
 WACREN’s Network Operations Center : SnRER
 3 Technical Committees
Connectivity and infrastructure.
  Capacity building, applications and services.
  Strategy, partnership and resource mobilization.
 International partnership with RENATER
 Definition of a strategic development plan
 Establishment of 6 new NRENs

6. Challenges for NREN'S in WACREN
Poor national Telcom and power infrastructures
High cost of Bandwidth and ICT services
Lack of institutional structure and human capacity for ICT;
Unsustanaible funding
Conservative Regulatory framework

7. WACREN’s Main fields for action
Administrative structure, Governance & Financing
Connectivity/Infrastructures & Regulatory issues including interconnection
Implementation strategy & Partnerships
Capacity building
Content/Applications
Three types of challenges:
1. Physical infrasstructure and technology challenges
2. Human resources and instituional challenges
3. Policy and regulatory challenges
Wacren members have to focus on the following domains for the next years :

8. Thank you for your kind attention
Thank you for your kind attention
WACREN,
11 Aviation Road Extension, P O Box 5744, Accra, Ghana
Board Chairman :
Tiémoman KONE