A quantum leap in development is required for developing countries to achieve the „Millennium Development Goals – MDGs“. It is widely accepted today that a decisive accelerator for development processes are information and communication technologies – ICTs. In order to achieve, for example, the educational MDG - universal primary education by 2015 - UNESCO estimated that additional fifteen million teachers and hundred of thousands of teacher educators will be needed. This quantum leap in education can only be achieved through the deployment of ICTs.
This is what places ICTs so high on the agendas of many governments in developing countries. ICTs are seen as the key solution that will allow them to meet the needs in rural and under-served areas and bring services to widely distributed citizens rapidly and cost efficiently, be it in health, education or public services.
Europe and the European R&D programmes need a strategic partnership with developing countries.
In Europe the building of Information Societies is at the core of European Commission R&D programmes. The topics addressed by the European programmes such as eLearning, eWork, eGovernance and eHealth are highly relevant for developing countries. In 2005 the European Commission formulated a new strategy for Africa that relates to the MDGs and suggests a new framework for development policy in order to accelerate Africa’s growth.
In this new framework the digital divide is addressed through a proposed „EU-Africa Partnership for Infrastructure“ and a number of „access to knowledge and transfer of know-how“ initiatives. So far the framework offers an important access driven strategy. The new framework should however complement “access” with an explicit ICT based enabling strategy. Such a widening of the perspective can be achieved through building a bridge between the European „Information Society Technologies – IST“ programme and the many and ambitious „ICT for Development“ projects currently being deployed in numerous developing countries.
In a European strategic partnership with Africa the IST programme should therefore play an active role. Creating the framework for an inclusive research and development approach between Europe and developing countries is not only very important from a European perspective, it will also play an important role for the dynamic leapfrogging phenomena one can observe today in many developing countries.
Euro-Africa ICT for Development Pact
Africa and Europe will both gain from joint applied R&D.
For the European Information Society Technologies community the forging of close links with counterparts in developing countries is a highly relevant mission today. From a European perspective collaboration for the advancement of information society technologies with relevant institutions in the South will
For the R&D communities in developing countries partnerships with European projects will
Some European R&D projects have started to include African partners. A specific inclusive approach of European IST projects, directed toward developing countries, is however just in its start-up phase.
The undersigning persons – all engaged in European R&D projects of the Information Society Technology Programme and in „ICT for Development“ programmes in Africa and Asia - pledge to support the inclusion of counterparts in developing countries in forthcoming IST programmes with the following steps:
Dr. Nicolas Balacheff, CNRS, Laboratoire Leibniz-IMAG, Grenoble, France
Prof. Jorn Braa, University of Oslo, Norway
Gilbert Busuulwa, Uganda Media and Research Foundation, Kampala, Uganda
Dr Bernard Comby, QUALILEARNING SA, Vevey, Switzerland
Dr. Günther Cyranek, UNESCO, Montevideo Uruguay
Eng. Amour Golmadingar Djimtangar, Conseil National de la Communication, Conakry, Guinea
Dr. Ulf Ehlers, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
Prof. Andreas Eshete, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
Thiam Coundoul Ndeye Fatou, Governement du Sénégal, MPMEEFMF, Dakar
Julius Gisi-Wisiy, Pan-African Institute for Development West Africa, Buea, Cameroon
Fons Janssen, Solvolution B.V. - House of eLearning, Almere, Netherlands
Tommie Hamaluba, Ministry of Education, Gaborone, Botswana
Dr. Mhiri Sellami Hédia, Institut Supérieur de Gestion de Tunis, Tunesia
Prof. Lachlan MacKinnon, University of Abertay Dundee, Scotland
Dr. Maurizio Molinari, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Brescia, Italy
Jean Louis Tetchueng Fong, Technopôle Iroise, Brest, France
Prof. Mohamed Maiga, Université de Bamako, Mali
Dr. Mitslal Kifleyesus-Matschie, EuroContact, Jena, Germany Mavungu Mavambu, Bruxelles Formation, Gent – Brugge, Belgium
Frank Metschies, CBT+L Training & Learning GmbH, Herrsching, Germany
Martin Minani, University „Light of Bujumbura“, Burundi
Leonard Mware, Maseno University, Kenya
Dr. Speranza M. Ndege, Kenyatta University, Kenya
Dr. Jan Pawlowski, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany
Dr. Christof Peltason, Condat GmbH, Berlin, Germany
Leopold Reif, Hoffmann-Reif Consultants, Berlin, Germany
Sally Reynolds, ATiT & Associates, Leuven, Belgium
Marjariitta Ritanoro, MKFC Stockholms Folkhögskola, Sweden
Dr. Matti Sinko, Helsinki University of Technology, Helsinki, Finland
Rebecca Stromeyer, ICWE, Berlin, Germany
Ethiopia Tadesse, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Alessandra Tagliavini, Amitié, Bologna, Italy
Prof. Tim Unwin, Royal Holloway University of London, England
Mathy Vanbuel, ATiT & Associates, Leuven, Belgium
Prof. Mary Khakoni Walingo, Maseno University, Kenya
Rachel Amidatou Yerima, „Oeil d'Afrique“, Lomé, Togo
BEANISH - Building a Europe Africa collaborative Network for applying Information Society Technologies
in the Health care sector: http://www.ifi.uio.no/beanish/
Kaleidoscope - European research network shaping the scientific evolution of technology enhanced learning
http://www.noe-kaleidoscope.org/?lang=en
Contact: Leopold Reif, Hoffmann&Reif, email: lreif@hoffmann-reif.com