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POLICY challenges confronting delegates to the Acacia
conference were highlighted at the “Birds of a Feather” policy group meeting
chaired by Alison Gillwald of the LINK Centre, Wits University. The aim of
the meeting was to elicit from the larger conference some of the outstanding
ICT policy and research issues.
While there was consensus that the rolling
out of ICT infrastructure in many countries is happening, many delegates
said governments lack commitment, while human capacity to handle the
technologies and resulting new markets requiring sophisticated regulation,
is limited.
There is widespread agreement on the need
to harmonise ICT policies in Africa as well as on reviewing the role of
governments. Capacity building remains a thorny issue.
Salmao Manhica of Mozambique commented on
language and content problems in his country, where comparatively little
information is available in Portuguese. Marie Helene? Mottin Sylla of
Senegal concurred, adding that the language problem hampered accessibility,
and suggested that more research be done on the problem.
The role of civil society in ICTs
was also identified as a topic that needs further research. Marie Beebe of
USAID said the research impact of policy could not be measured in the
absence of the involvement of civil society.
Florence Etta of the Economic Empowerment
of Women Project in Uganda said policy should seek an increased role for
women in ICTs.
Overall, the meeting highlighted the role
of the conference as a springboard to launch more policy research
initiatives.
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