Africa: Development Forum
Date distributed (ymd): 991026
Document reposted by APIC

+++++++++++++++++++++Document Profile+++++++++++++++++++++

Region: Continent-Wide
Issue Areas: +economy/development+
Summary Contents:
This posting contains several press releases from the first
African Development Forum taking place in Addis Ababa from
October 24 through October 28, under the auspices of the
Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).

The full text of all the speeches and statements delivered at
the Forum are being made available on the ADF Home Page
(http://www.un.org/depts/eca/adf). They will be supported by
video and audio clips of keynote addresses and other major
moments. This site also includes the programme, list of
participants, theme papers and other relevant background
documents. Press releases and summaries of key ADF goings-on
will be sent out daily during the Forum, and will also be
available on the Web.

+++++++++++++++++end profile++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

African Development Forum

For more information on the Forum, to interview participants,
or to be added to the list for future ECA press releases,
please contact:

Peter da Costa, Senior Communication Adviser
Economic Commission for Africa
P.O. Box 3001 Addis Ababa Ethiopia
Tel: +251-1-51 58 26 Fax: +251-1-51 03 65
Cell: +251-9-20 17 94
E-mail: [log in to unmask] or [log in to unmask]
Web: http://www.un.org/depts/eca

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ECA Press Release No. 89/1999

AFRICA NEEDS A NEW PARADIGM FOR
DEVELOPMENT IN THE 21ST CENTURY

Speakers set the scene for the first African Development Forum
by highlighting domestic private sector, science and
technology, good governance and key requirements for a
progressing Africa

Addis Ababa, 24 October 1999 (ECA) Speakers at the opening of
the first African Development Forum (ADF) have emphasized the
need for a new paradigm for the continent's development based
on a vibrant domestic private sector, a strong state, cutting
edge policy analysis, and good governance.

Delivering the opening statement at the Forum, Ethiopian Prime
Minister Meles Zenawi noted that the ongoing process of
globalization would be a major determinant of the destinies of
African countries. In that context, he warned: "If present
conditions remain unaltered and the trend we see were to
continue, then being more enmeshed within the globalized
economy would only mean that by force of circumstances, Africa
would be made to stay on the margins of the global economy."
Adding that such an eventuality would lead to the growth of
such extra-legal business activities as drug trafficking, he
said the challenge of Africa should also be viewed as the
challenge of members of the global village in general.

More than 600 experts from governments, the private sector,
civil society, bilateral and multilateral organizations from
both within and outside the continent are meeting here from 24
-- 28 October under the theme "The Challenge to Africa of
Globalization and the Information Age".

The ADF marks the beginning of a process-oriented initiative
led by the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) to position an
African-driven development agenda that reflects a consensus
among major partners and that leads to specific programmes for
implementation at the country level. ADF is born out of the
conviction that Africa cannot achieve sustainable development
unless the policies, strategies and actions are designed,
managed and owned by Africans themselves.

Prime Minister Meles offered two proposals that would enable
Africa to benefit from the globalized economy. First, it had
to develop a vibrant domestic private sector as a practical
necessity. It appeared obvious, he stated, that "unless the
domestic private sector leads the way with enthusiasm and
confidence, it is unlikely for foreign investment to take part
in our economies with any degree of effectiveness." Second,
political stability and the rule of law could not be fostered
without a clear role for a strong, robust state -- a role
which is not incompatible with the need for states to be
legitimate and democratic.

The Ethiopian leader then criticized the orthodoxy of the
economic prescriptions of the international financial
institutions, whose economic models had the effect of
"weakening the state and of ensuring its emasculation". A
radical change in Africa's development paradigm was needed as
a condition for meaningful growth and development in the
continent. This would necessitate "an overhaul of relations
between the international financial institutions and the donor
community on the one hand and Africa on the other".

In his opening remarks, UN Under-Secretary-General and ECA
Executive Secretary K.Y, Amoako stressed that the most
important issues facing Africa required a more ambitious
approach to the policy process. Stressing the need for
enhanced policy analysis and application in Africa, Mr. Amoako
called for alliances and networking, as "no policy centre is
big enough to know the whole picture" Policy experience must
be shared, across sectors and across the boundaries of
academia and policy circles. Successful experience must be
marketed. And Africa must have "its own answers, its own
policy dynamics -- just as is the case of every other region".

Policy analysis, noted Mr. Amoako, was a "growing business",
involving leaders in all sectors. As such, the ADF represented
"the diverse, rapidly growing policy community of Africa". The
ADF, a mechanism with distinct style and operations, was
"...an [ambitious] attempt to organize the African policy
community, working in alliance, starting with the national
experience and ending with national actions, and, over time,
covering some of the most fundamental challenges facing
Africa's policy makers."

Dr. Salim Ahmed Salim, Secretary-General of the Organization
for African Unity (OAU), emphasized the linkage between
governance and sustainable economic development. "Good
governance and democracy or the respect for human rights
cannot thrive on empty stomachs," he stressed. "Democracy must
deliver on bread and butter issues, otherwise democratic
transitions will be reversed and the continent will slide back
into situations where the politics of poverty gives rise to
the poverty of politics". While linkages between good
governance and sustainable economic development might not
necessarily be perfect guarantees for sustaining democracy and
a culture of political tolerance, they were nevertheless
"important thresholds in creating acceptable African norms and
behaviour".

Ahmed Bahgat, Vice President (Finance and Planning) of the
African Development Bank (ADB) delivered a statement on behalf
of ADB President Omar Kabbaj, which focused on the prospects
that information technology afforded African development, and
the role of the Bank in enabling Africa's entry into the
global information society.

Also attending the Forum was Ms. Louise Frechette, Deputy
Secretary-General of the United Nations. In her brief remarks,
and speaking on the last UN Day of the 20th century, Ms.
Frechette noted that at a time when the world's population was
about to reach 6 billion, nearly half of that number would
enter the new millennium in abject poverty. Violence,
brutality and discrimination as well as negative climactic
change were also threats to survival. In this context, the
challenge was to make the next century "more secure, more
equitable and more human". Towards this end, the process of
strengthening the United Nations needed to continue.

Ms. Frechette is due to deliver a keynote address on the theme
of the conference at the first plenary of the Forum tomorrow
morning (Monday 24 October). Also scheduled to speak at the
plenary are Mr. Amoako, Noah Samara, CEO of WorldSpace
Corporation, Leonard Robinson, President of the National
Summit on Africa.

The issue of globalization and the information age has been
chosen for the inaugural ADF because of the importance of
defining African-owned and African-led strategies to engage
with the global information economy. ECA has long advocated a
development-serving information superhighway in the context of
the African Information Society Initiative (AISI), which it is
implementing along with a wide range of partners.

The Forum will address four substantive themes:

- Strengthening Africa's information infrastructure

- Africa and the information economy

- Information and communication technologies for improved
governance

- Democratizing access to the information society

Expected concrete outcomes from the Forum include:

- Up-to-date National Information and Communication
Infrastructure (NICI) plans

- Enhanced synergy among the stakeholders who design and/or
implement country work programmes;

- Development of concrete follow-up action plans for the
Post-Forum Summit Dialogue, NICI and regional levels, for ICT
partners, and for ECA;

- Preparation of the African position for major global
decision-making forums, including the GK II conference
(Malaysia, March 2000) and the ITU World conference on the
Information Society.

(END)

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ADF Panel Summary No. 1 --
"Progress towards the African Information Age"

11:00 -- 13:00 hrs, Monday 25 October 1999

Chair: Zephirin Diabre, Associate Administrator, UNDP

Presenter: Karima Bounemra Ben Soltane,
Director, Development Information Services Division, ECA

Panel:
H.E. Justin Malewezi, Vice President of Malawi; Ingo Fehrmann,
Vice President, Middle East and Africa, Siemens AG; Robert
Valantin, Senior Advisor, International Development Research
Centre, Canada; M. Yaovi Hounkponou, Director, Benin Press
Agency;

Objective:

This presentation aimed to set the scene for the rest of the
work of the conference by:

- briefing participants on the African Information Society
Initiative (AISI);

- stressing the importance of national information and
communication policy processes;

- introducing the four themes

Summary:

Panel chair Zephirin Diabre of UNDP, endorsed the goals of the
Forum and affirmed that UNDP was committed and ready to
participate actively in bringing about an African Information
Age. In her presentation, Karima Bounemra Ben Soltane of ECA
summarized the activities of the African Information Society
Initiative (AISI) over the past three years and detailed
plans and strategies for the future. She underscored the need
to move from the global vision and universal model to
designing and implementing flexible and workable plans at the
national level. National Information and Communications
Infrastructure plans (NICIs) would vary from country to
country but faced similar variables in terms of lead
organizations, the participatory involvement of all
stakeholders, compatibility with national development agendas
and needs and clear sector applications. She also urged
sensitivity to the gender dimension, full participation of the
youth, a strong role for the media and the academic community,
involvement of the African Diaspora and of African
"think-tank" intellectual elites, as well as public/private
sector partnerships.

H.E. Justin Malewezi of Malawi agreed that Government had an
important, enabling role to play in building a national IT
policy framework and infrastructure, and in extending popular
access, especially in public and academic institutions. He
acknowledged the role that ICTs were playing in Southern
Africa in fostering regional integration, public policy
development and public interaction, and he supported the
establishment of telecentres and other types of shared
computer and expertise pools. He urged that tariffs on
telecommunications equipment be removed, as in the case of
Ghana, and noted that, since levels of Internet access in
Africa were as low as 2 per cent, traditional communications
such as radio, television, telephone, print media in local
languages and even all-weather roads should not be neglected.

Ingo Fehrmann of Siemens pointed out that Internet access in
Africa cost 7 times more than in the U.S. Despite this, and
in light of the fact that costs were coming down, access
offered unlimited opportunities to public and private sectors
for revenues and profits, besides such sectoral benefits
as distance learning and telemedicine. As a starting point,
customer groups and centres of competence needed to be
identified and expanded.

IDRC's Robert Valentin noted that technology capability was
even more unequally distributed globally than capital. Africa
needed reduced transmission costs but much capital could come
from the private sector, given incentives and a positive
regulatory environment. He said that ICT access and use was
not just a matter of efficiency gains but of an information
technology revolution that was demanding attitudinal and
technological transformation to face the new millennium.

Yaovi Hounkponou of Benin said Africa's information gap could
be utilized positively in terms of utilizing research
findings, appropriate content development and accessing
resources. The late arrival on the scene should carry a
positive force to create new attitudes and perspectives,
overcome obstacles and create new markets and employment
opportunities.

In the floor discussion that followed, the need to train and
retain human resources was noted, given the shortage of
trained personnel and the brain drain problem in Africa. It
was suggested that the brain drain could become a "brain gain"
if the expertise and other resources among Africans abroad,
including Diaspora Africans, could be tapped.
Government/private sector/civil society partnerships were
advanced as a means to solve the financial constraints.
Another key recommendation was that the World Bank and other
aid institutions should change existing policies and help
Africa to gain ICT infrastructural capacity. The monopolistic
control of many African Governments over IT policy,
infrastructure and services was seen as a virtual stranglehold
on the industry. Tariffs in Africa were some of the highest in
the world and liberalization and privatization were urged.

(END)

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ADF Panel Summary No. 5 -
Democratizing Access to the Information Society (Theme 4)

16:30 - 18:00, Monday 25 October 1999

Chair: Shuller Habeenzu, Director, Zamnet, Zambia;
Presenter: Aida Opoku-Mensah, Ford Foundation, Nigeria;

Panel: H.E. Arnaldo Valenti Nhavato, Minister of Education,
Mozambique; Anriette Esterhuysen, Sangonet, South Africa;
Ernest Wilson, Director, Centre for International Development
and Conflict Resolution, University of Maryland, USA; Lalla
Ben Barka, Deputy Executive Secretary, ECA, Ethiopia.

Objective: This presentation aimed to:

- provide an overview of how Africa is meeting ICT needs of
different social sector: women, youth, rural and urban poor;

- present opportunities for expanding access through
applications that meet social needs: food, health, education,
access to income, and governance;

- bring out challenges for access, use and content;

- point out successes in extending access, in Africa and
elsewhere

Summary:

The discussions focused on the right to communicate as the
very heart of the issue of access to the information society.
There was consensus on the need for visionary governments to
drive and lead the quantum leap into the information age as
well as visionary leadership in civil society and the private
sector.

It was pointed out that policies are still being developed
behind closed doors, with little or no popular participation
in the formulation of policies and that increased effective
access to policy making institutions such as WTO (as opposed
to simple formal access) is imperative.

Despite the political will in many African countries to
increase universal access toward benefiting the social sector,
the requisite resources necessary to make it a reality remain
a fundamental challenge.

There was consensus around the following:

- Access to the information society is increasingly
bottom-up, demand-driven;

- The information revolution is not primarily about
technology, but one that is political and institutional;

- Reducing the increasing technological and knowledge gap
is only possible by opening the rules of the game, and
increasing democracy to enable civil society participation in
defining the policies;

- There is need to move toward increased access to the
institutions that determine the rules.

- The expertise being developed by the youth needs to be
harnessed;

- Money or technology will not lead Africa into the future,
it is visionary leadership with constituencies that support
that vision, leadership at all levels of government, civil
society and the private sector that will make access possible;

- There is need to look at democratic best practices that
have resulted in increased access;

- It is largely a matter of choice to democratize or not to
democratize access.

The issue of profiling failures as learning experiences across
the board was raised, particularly in light of mushrooming
telecentres. Democratizing access must be based on a
combination of different types of technologies.

(END)

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