The African Regional Preparatory Conference for the WSIS

Access: Africa’s key to an inclusive Information Society

28 January – 4 February 2005Accra, Ghana

ByMakane Faye

Senior Regional Advisor

African Development Forum (ADF IV)11 – 15 October 2004

The African Regional Preparatory Conference of the WSISWSIS

2003

GENEVA

WSIS

PREPCOMS

Bamako2002

(First AfricanRegional

Preparatory Conference

to theWSIS)

PREPCOM

I

Accra2005

(AfricanRegional

Preparatory Conference

to theWSIS)

WSIS

PREPCOMS

WSIS

2005

TUNIS

Regional Conference for the second phase of the WSIS

• Host: The Government of Ghana• Coordinator: The Economic Commission for

Africa (ECA) • Date: 28 January – 4 February 2005

– Preconference workshops: 28 January – 1 February

– Conference: 2-4 February• Venue:

– Accra International Convention Centre– Koffi Anan Centre of Excellence

Meeting of the African Ministerial Committee in Charge of Information and Communication Technologies

Dakar, Senegal, 19 – 20 April 2004

• Established the African Ministerial Committee Responsible for ICT

• Made recommendations in relation to WSIS:– States to commit themselves to the Digital Solidarity

Fund– Support to the WSIS 2005 in Tunisia– Support to the African Regional Preparatory

Conference of the WSIS, 2 - 4 February 2005, Accra, Ghana

5th Ordinary Session of the Executive Council of the African Union (AU),

30 June – 3 July 2004, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

• Welcomed the offer of the Government of Ghana to host the next Regional WSIS Preparatory Conference meeting

• Urged all Member States to actively participate in the WSIS preparatory process

• Adopted Decisions on the Report of the Chairperson of the Commission on the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and on the Digital Solidarity Fund

Preparations for the African Regional Preparatory Conference

for the WSIS• Planning Committee with 7 Sub-committees

on:– Programme/Documentation– Fundraising/Sponsorship– Logistics/Secretariat/Accreditation– Publicity/Media Relations– Hospitality/Protocol/Transportation– Events/Projects– Security

List of Pre-Conference Workshops (28 January – 1

February 2005)• Evaluation of the implementation of the Geneva Plan of

Action • E-strategies (National, Sub-Regional, Sectoral)• Access and Infrastructure• Enabling environment and Regulation• Free and Open-Source Software• Cultural Diversity and Multilingualism in the

Cyberspace• Indicators for the Information Society • Private Public Partnership: techno parks and incubation• SNA workshop on e-Schools

List of Pre-Conference Workshops (28 January – 1 February 2005) –

ctd.• The Digital Solidarity Fund• Internet Governance• Youth and the Information Society• Gender mainstreaming in the information society:

Access, opportunities and applications• Law and Intellectual Property• ICT & Poverty Reduction• Academia Forum• Parliamentarian Forum• Media Forum• Civil Society Forum• Multi stakeholder Forum

Theme of the ConferenceAccess: Africa’s key to an inclusive

Information Society

• Financing the information society• Indicators and benchmarking• ICTs for socio-economic development• Access and Infrastructure• Industrialization• Internet Governance

5 sub-themes (plenary and parallel sessions)

Expected Results of the Conference

• Input to the second meeting of the WSIS Phase II PrepCom-2, 17 – 25 February 2005, Geneva, Switzerland

• Strengthening of Africa’s participation in the second (Tunis) phase of the WSIS:– Preparedness of delegations on major issues– Strengthened Bamako Bureau to coordinate

• Evaluation of the progress made in the implementation of the Geneva Action Plan and recommendations for the way forward

Thank You!mfaye@uneca.org

www.uneca.org/aisi

We invite you to support the Accra Conference and Pre-Conference workshops and participate actively in both

events