Acacia closes the loop in Africa
By Lufuno Mutele
Acacia Reporter
CLOSING the loop between research,
policy and practice in the ICT sector is the main motivation behind the
Acacia Conference, says Maureen O’Neil, the president of the International
Development Research Centre (IDRC).
In an opening address at the conference
this morning, O’Neil said Acacia had conducted intensive research over the
past six years on how ICTs could facilitate social development and fight
poverty in Africa.
O’Neil, co-chairman of the G8 Dot Force,
emphasised the importance of the Acacia initiative to improve
lives of African communities.
She took delegates back to 1996 when the
Acacia initiative began, stressing how there had been such rapid
advancement of technology in a short space of time.
Bridge to Practice
O’Neil said this confirmed the necessity
for a focus on economic and social development in sub-Saharan Africa.
“This should be both sustainable and democratic development, propelled by
technology applications that are solidly based on sound research, and
effectively governed by appropriate policy.”
Reports from researchers brought to the
conference would provide an important bridge to put the findings into
practice.
O’Neil said work being undertaken by
Acacia partners in Senegal, Mozambique, Uganda and South Africa, showed
that the Acacia programme was on course in its vision of “engaging African
communities in exploring and understanding the use of ICTs to promote
their own development”.
She
expressed optimism
about the
prospects of the programme’s success in Africa.
For instance,
farmers
used cellphones to communicate with women in the Dakar markets in Senegal.
This had resulted in an increase in incomes and the emergence of a new
information service company.
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