Weekly News roundup - Africa 12 March 2008

Country: Uganda
Created By: Esther on 12-Mar-2008 12:02 AM

Developing Technology and Innovation in Africa: Focus on Agriculture and Food Industry
Technology development, adaptation, acquisition, and application are among the key factors that determine a country’s economic and social well-being, prospects for poverty reduction, and competitiveness in the global economy. Within a knowledge economy framework where the pillars of education, innovation, and information and communication technologies (ICT) occupy a central place, technology development is a cross-cutting factor that has profound impact on how a country is able to best fulfill its potential. Many African countries are historically associated with natural resources and raw materials. Most of the economies have either stagnated or grown slowly. A few have prospered but their lessons are often not easy to extend to others. There is now a growing recognition that Africa can only strengthen its economic performance through considerable investment and use and development of technology.

Identifying 'Killer' e-Governance Applications for Telecentres

This APDIP e-Note describes a methodology to identify ‘killer’ applications and models of e-governance that may be suitable for deployment and wide-scale replication in telecentres throughout the Philippines. The same methodology can be used to guide other telecentres around the world.

Killer e-governance applications are applications and/or use of the telecentres that create a significant impact on a community, and are likely to have similar benefits when replicated in other similar communities.
This APDIP e-Note describes a methodology to identify ‘killer’ applications and models of e-governance that may be suitable for deployment and wide-scale replication in telecentres throughout the Philippines. The same methodology can be used to guide other telecentres around the world.

East Africa: Eassy Project Kicks Off On Friday
The construction of the East African Submarine Cable System, EASSy, will start on March 14, according to a statement issued by the cable's development secretariat in Nairobi.
Commencement of the civil works, the most critical stage of the project, has been made possible after the project's developers secured all the necessary financing.
EASSy is the most advanced of all the sea cables proposed for the East and Southern African region and it will cost $248 million. Upon completion, projected in the last quarter of 2009, it will, for the first time, bring faster and affordable internet to about 250 million people in the region.

Rwanda: Country in the ICT Revolution
The ICT revolution has been a result of many waves of technology revolution. From its early use as mainframe computers for scientific research, ICT was applied to the automation of complex business processes.
There is no doubt that a country's socio-economic growth is positively linked to its ICT development, adoption and adaptation. It is obvious that ICT reduces cost, enhances productivity and adds economic value.
ICT also enables new and improved business processes to deliver products and services with greater effectiveness and efficiency.



UNESCO ICT in Education Innovation Awards, 2007-2008
We asked two questions when we launched the UNESCO ICT in Education Innovation Awards in 2007:

    * "Do you use ICT in your teaching or in your education work?"
    * "Are you using it in an innovative way?"

The responses we received were a resounding "Yes" and "Yes" to both questions.
With funding from the Japanese Funds-in-Trust, the Innovative Practices in ICT in Education project aims to identify, document and share innovative ICT in Education

Mobile phone website creation tool: easy and free
The mobile company Proteus has created a free tool, Swift, that allows people to create websites for mobile phones. This would be very useful for companies (& development practitioners) to get important information immediately to people in the field via their phone. Swift has: RSS feed support, real-time reporting, a site creation wizard & more. Why are mobile phones important in developing countries? Where to begin...how about here:


Broadband & ISPs: Five weird ways to bridge the digital divide
The UN's comms agency, the International Telecommunications Union, is touting the importance of satellite technology in bridging the world's communications divide - as it can offer high-capacity transmission capabilities over wide areas, and bypasses the need to lay cabling and install other fixed infrastructure.
Another connectivity contender for getting to out-of-the-way places is long-range wireless IP-based tech WiMax, which can beam connectivity over distances of tens of kilometres. It could therefore be used to snugly blanket whole cities with wireless broadband coverage.

Uganda's NGOs Asked to Automate Systems
A Microsoft Service providing company has asked Non Government Organisations (NGOs) to automate their systems in a move to enhance efficiency in their respective organizations.
Ms Kihuha-Mbesa Wambui, the Country Director of Akiliafrica said the use of Information Communication and Technology (ICT) systems would relieve NGO staff of the heavy workloads during report preparations as well as operations.

Managers in ICT Sector to Meet
A WORKSHOP on challenges faced by information and communications technology (ICT) managers is to take place on March 14. The workshop will specifically focus on enterprise settings.
The workshop is organised by Africa Leo, an ICT company. Experts like Fred Dungu from the US, who works with the IT Department of Budweiser, a world renown alcoholic beverage firm, will be among the speakers.
The technical manager of AFSAT Communications, Godfrey Sserwamukoko, and the managing director of Digital Options and systems directorate of Makerere University, Robert Ssebunya, will also present papers.

 



 

Contact Name: Esther Nasikye

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