[UgaBYTES] AFRICA KOWLEDGE NETWORK launched in Dar es salaam | Strategy

Thu Jul 9 13:25:10 GMT 2009

Thanks Sulah for bringing this to members of the telecentre movement in Africa and for inviting me to be part of the list.  I have been part of the telecentre movement since 2000 when I initiated and led a project in Ethiopia to pilot the first telecentres in three rural towns. We learnt a lot on the opportunities and challenges of telecentres and raised a lot of concerns in terms of sustainabily, etc. but above all the role and relevance of telecentres haven't been ruled out. A number of players have tried to scale up telecentres to enhance their services beyond and above mere ICT access points. This initiative also aims to support further development of telecentres and tries to play a role in transforming telecentres (ICT access points) in to knowledge hubs of a regional and/or global knowledge network.

The above network is the result of the UN initiative involving its five Regional Commissions with the UN Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA) as a lead agency under the project 'Knowledge Networks through ICT access points for disadvantaged communities' funded from the UN Development Account. Therefore UNECA is implementing the African regional network involving selected ICT access points (telecentres) and telecentre networks in selected countries. The main goal of the project is to empower poor and disadvantaged communities through the transformation of existing ICT access points in selected countries around the world into knowledge hubs of global knoweldge networks. It intends to increase the involvement and engagement of disadvantaged communities - with an emphasis on women - by encouraging and promoting the dissemination, in existing access points, of knowledge that pertains to key areas of sustainable development such as employment,
 education, gender and health. 

A number of activities have taken place including a regional review and assessment in East African Community comprising of countries - Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, which identified services and best practices in community ICT access points, in selected telecentres. As a result ECA held a stakeholders’ workshop to look at the regional knowledge network strategies, mechanisms and tools. Incorporating inputs from the knowledge network stakeholders, the regional knowledge network strategy was developed and implementation of initial activities has already begun. Work is also in progress to develop the knowledge network portal. Close collaboration with other relevant United Nations agencies as well as representatives of Governments, the private sector, civil society and international organizations, are being maintained throughout the different phases of implementation. This particular activity will ensure building synergies with the various initiatives
 both at regional and international level. For example, Telecentre.org is involved in the implementation activities of this project in the  ESCAP (Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific) and ESCWA regions including during the initial consultation in Africa. This is why the involvement of networks like Ugabytes from the initial days of this project was very important for us. The main players of the activities of this project are primarily the selected telecentres in selected countries and the national telecentre networks in these countries in order for these networks to contribute and coordinate content generation, dissemination, capacity building and in other technical issues. To this end, telecentres and telecentre networks from Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe are currently participating in the implementation. In this context, given the scope and limitations of this project, we will be
 happy to know the roles of other players in Africa that we need to liaise with to enrich the success of this intiative. 

We will be happy to interact with further topics of interest in this regard. Please also see the link www.knowledgenets.net on the knowledge network portal of the ESCWA region knowledge network for more information on this initiative in other regions..

We are very delighted to see such an interesting debate and discussion facilitated through the Ugabytes list. We hope this will help not only this initiative but other initiatives in the region and those at the global level in building synergies and capturing best practices and knowledge already in existence. I believe there is still much to be done in the area despite the several initiatives that are in existence or previously piloted. 

All the very best
Abebe Chekol

________________________________
From: Ndaula Sulah <ndaulasula at ugabytes.org>
To: ugabytes at lists.ugabytes.org
Sent: Thursday, July 9, 2009 11:56:52 AM
Subject: Re: [UgaBYTES] AFRICA KOWLEDGE NETWORK launched in Dar es salaam | Strategy

Dear All,

It is nice reading all the reactions to the AKN. As someone who took
part in the workshop, I'll assure you that I did bring out all these
fears many of us have shared or continues to share - the lessons of
OKN, how telecentre.org unfolded, the difference in the target groups
for both networks, their strategies etc.

But I believe the best way for these answers to get responded and also
for telecentres here to be part of shaping AKN if it make sense to the
movement is to get the Team at UNECA to this list. And thankfully
Francis has already done so.

Please Abebe, join in whenever you have time, Francis will forward you
whatever suggestions you may have missed before join the group.

Important to know: Abebe Chokel, works with UNECA and has been working
on this project for the last 2 years. I would pray that we don't judge
the project but help it to fit within the lessons of the past,
telecentre needs and the broader experiences of the African continent
on the matter.

Best regards,
---
Sulah

On 7/8/09, Kiringai Kamau <kiringai at willpower.co.ke> wrote:
> Dear Paul and All,
> What is coming out of this discussion is that there is need for caution not
> to repeat what has been done by other initiatives, or as Polly put it in her
> post, to reinvent the wheel.
>
> Within the perspective of the telecentre focus, we have done a lot making
> policy shifts within institutions that we have been seeking support to work
> with the telecentre movement. In my view, what needs to be done through AKN
> is to identify the gaps that the existing model of telecentres is not
> addressing and meet those within the purview of AKN.
>
> It is for this reason that the posts that are coming through are asking. Can
> you give us the goals and objectives of the AKN so that we can
> participatorily contribute to its dream and strategic thinking?
>
> It is necessary not to make us dance to so many drum beats. We need to forge
> ahead. Integrate, crate capacity, mobilize utilization. So much has been
> done on the sensitization front-ask the TEAMS team.
>
> Kiringai
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: ugabytes-bounces at lists.ugabytes.org
> [mailto:ugabytes-bounces at lists.ugabytes.org] On Behalf Of Meddie Mayanja
> Sent: Wednesday, July 08, 2009 1:52 AM
> To: ugabytes at lists.ugabytes.org
> Subject: Re: [UgaBYTES] AFRICA KOWLEDGE NETWORK launched in Dar es salaam |
> Strategy
>
> Colleagues,
>
> It's all nice to know about the creation of AKN.
>
> Would someone share the strategy and primary actions or AKN? I think as
> well, that the telecentre community would want to know to participate in
> this initiative.
>
> It's nevertheless critical AKN learns from what has happened before. For
> instance, as Polly said with OKN. There are also several experiences that
> can be drawn from telecentre.org efforts in building/supporting networks
> around the world. Infact telecentre networks in Africa might be a great
> place to start in creating the AKN  - if they buy into the program
> objective.
>
> Best, Meddie
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: ugabytes-bounces at lists.ugabytes.org
> [ugabytes-bounces at lists.ugabytes.org] On Behalf Of Polly Gaster
> [polly.gaster at uem.mz]
> Sent: July 7, 2009 3:44 AM
> To: ugabytes at lists.ugabytes.org
> Subject: Re: [UgaBYTES] AFRICA KOWLEDGE NETWORK launched in Dar es salaam
>
> Dear Paul
>
> This is interesting. I'm wondering if the Africa Knowledge Network has any
> relation to the OPen Knowledge Network, a project that ran for several years
> in countries such as Kenya, Zimbabwe, Uganda, Senegal... Or is it starting
> again re-inventing the wheel? The OKN project did some interesting things,
> but
> was not successful in some of its ambitions. I do think it wd be important
> for
> you to at least be aware of what was done, what worked and what didn't, and
> why, so the AKN can benefit from lessons learned. The Kenyan partner was
> ALIN,
> are you in touch with them?
>
> I wd also be interested in knowing more about the concrete AKN strategy and
> goals.
>
> Polly
>
> ----
>
> Polly Gaster
> TICs para Desenvolvimento/ICT4D
> Centro de Informatica da Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (CIUEM)
> Campus Universitario, Maputo, Mozambique
> e-mail: polly.gaster at uem.mz
> cel: +258-82-3264540
> tel/fax: +258-21-485779
> Skype: polly_gaster
>
>
> --
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-- 
Executive Director
UgaBYTES Initiative
Tel: +256414370163
Mob: +256712314969
Skype: sulah.ndaula
Yahoo: ndaulasula
Email: ndaulasula@
(ugabytes.org,yahoo.co.uk or gmail)

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