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Opening session Acacia Workshop, 29 August 2002 A day to review experience While negotiators were sitting in Sandton at the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) hammering out a deal over subsidies and trade, renewable energy goals and other global policy issues to address poverty, the Acacia research partners had gathered to talk about their findings of ICTs in communities. Welcoming the participants from Mozambique and South Africa, Heloise Emdon, Senior Programme Officer for the Acacia Programme in Southern Africa said the notion of ICTs was not yet centre-stage on the global development agenda. The workshop was an official side-event to the WSSD, held at the Development Bank of Southern Africa. “Our chance at a global summit is coming,” she said, “ the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva in December 2003 is where we will be able to raise our concerns over ICTs and sustainable development. This is for us a small trial run of that, an opportunity to get together and to talk about our research so far. “This is an official project of the Acacia programme; it is research about our research in order for us to prepare an understanding of the effects of ICTs on poverty reduction and moreover to understand the effects of policies on ICTs. “We are here to talk about
And to create a webpage of the day’s events.” She said this sector could itself be preparing for negotiations around trade with the North, as the cost of telecommunications in the South was directly related to the termination costs that the Federal Communications Commission in the United States of America sets. African governments have “protected” themselves from the uneven trade agreements in international settlements between telecommunications providers. These global and national responses were part of the reason that the internet remains too expensive for most of the Acacia development partners to use. These were issues that researchers and communities in the field of ICTs for Development needed to appraise themselves of if they were going to be empowered to participate meaningfully in the WSIS. Research had already shown that in the telecommunications sector the voices of the developing countries were uncoordinated and ill-informed of these debates, and Africa in particular does not harness sufficient support to drive negotiations. A clear purpose of the workshop was for the Acacia partners to develop common positions in preparation for the global conference of April 2003. Facilitator for the day was Clive Emdon, who said the workshop provided an opportunity to present actual experiences and to tell the stories of the people in the projects. He said the building an account of these on the web was an important goal of the workshop. He said that in going through the IDRC’s documentation and workshop reports he had found the material ponderous and and not always directly relevant or practical for people on the ground in Africa. “How do people who are seeking scarce resources behave? he asked. “Researchers from an educated background are used to standards:as part of our lifestyle. While in the field you come up against situations that dash your expectations. People in rural situations confront very basic needs. “For example in eGoli (Johannesburg), the City of Gold, people dieg of exposure in the streets in winter. Some of the real questions about sustainability and survival are articulated out there.” About 50 participants attended the workshop from a wide variety of backgrounds and involving a range of very diverse projects. They included researchers, trainers, educators, co-ordinators of telecentres, womenactivists and youth groups, telecoms representatives, rural community developers, academics and senior office bearers in universities, conservationists, consultants and business analysts, technologists and investment officers.
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