AFRO-NETS> NGONet Africa

[Lola Dare <chestrad@yahoo.com>]

NGONet Africa
-------------

(Advocacy and Support for Information and Communications Technology for 
African Development)

Innovations and advances in information and communication technology 
(ICT) appears to have left the Africa continent behind with only a few 
African countries participating in ICT based economic and national de-
velopment efforts. This imbalance in access to information and technol-
ogy can only at best increase the gap between wealthy nations in the 
North and their poorer Southern counterparts, and will impede the move 
towards democratic governance as well as economic and sustainable de-
velopment in Sub Sahara Africa. 

NGONet Africa is an African-led information sharing and dissemination 
initiative for African civil society organizations. The initiative 
seeks to engage civil society organizations in Africa i.e. non-
governmental organizations (NGOs) and community based organizations 
(CBOs) in advocacy and the promotion of awareness towards broad based 
stakeholder (public, private and civil society organizations) engage-
ment in the promotion of ICT for African development. 

This initiative seeks to:

i. Improve the capacity of non-profit organizations in Africa to share, 
access and use information available on the Internet and ICT for their 
own growth, planning, project development and collaboration with other 
stakeholders in the development community in Africa. 

ii. Provide a global electronic forum for the dissemination of the ac-
tivities of African NGOs to the wider society of partners in African 
development. 

iii. Build the capacity of, and engage African NGOs/CBOs in advocacy 
towards effective deregulation, marketisation and liberalisation of in-
formation and telecommunications in support of African development. Ad-
vocacy would target decision makers in African public and private sec-
tor, international private sector partners in the region and other de-
velopment partners in the promotion of the use of ICT for African de-
velopment. 

iv. Promote integration and cooperation among civil society organiza-
tions in Africa for effective use of ICTs for African development.

Emphasis will be placed on the role of NGOs in the promotion of the use 
of ICT in support of democracy and good governance, health and popula-
tion, education, environment, community development and private sector 
participation in the development of ICT based enterprise in Africa. 

Members and Partners NGONet Africa is a network of organizations and 
research institutions/groups involved in ICT and African development. 
Members of NGONet Africa are civil society organizations i.e. NGOs, 
CBOs, research groups/units and educational institutions in Africa. 
Members may be individual NGOs/CBOs or sub-regional network of 
NGOs/CBOs engaged in advocacy and operations for African development. 
International and other NGOs working in or for Africa may also be mem-
bers of the network. 

For broad based stakeholder engagement in the process of advocacy and 
participatory dialogue on ICT for African development, private and pub-
lic sector actors, including development and multilateral agencies, in 
ICT in Africa will participate in the activities of NGONet Africa as 
Partners. 

Activities of NGONet Africa NGONet Africa will undertake the following:

i. Identify and address regulatory/legal issues in the development of 
ICT as a tool for African development.

ii. Provide subsidized Internet access to participating NGOs by the es-
tablishment of strategically located multi-purpose tele-centers in par-
ticipating countries.

iii. Represent NGO/CBO concerns and issues in ICT for African develop-
ment at regional and international fora.

iv. Harness, disseminate the capacity building potential, and build ca-
pacity when required (education, access to development information and 
ICT infrastructure, quality web content design etc.) of NGOs to effec-
tively advocate to African governments, and their private sector part-
ners, the benefits of innovations in ICT for their own development. 

v. Publication of a compendium of African civil society organizations 
and groups, including a web based African Regional directory of these 
organizations. This publication will include an abstract of reports, 
papers and presentations at various African regional and global meet-
ings on African development. 

Operations NGONet Africa will be operated as a virtual network. Country 
level activities of the network will be based on a regional structure. 
Focal persons/organizations will be identified in each participating 
country in the region and a coordinating organization identified for 
each region. Management of the network and operational structures will 
evolve from membership, and will recognize existing regional and na-
tional networks of NGOs/CBOs. It will also explore partnership with 
global initiatives to network NGOs/CBOs for development.

A number of persons in various countries have expressed an interest in 
serving as focal persons for the consultative process of country level 
identification of NGOs/CBOs. Sub-regional coordinators would be identi-
fied through consultation, as the programs and activities of NGONet Af-
rica evolve.

West African Region: NGO Net-Africa (Western)
Ghana, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Mali, Benin, Senegal 

Southern African Region: NGONet African (Southern)
South Africa, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zanzibar, Zambia 

Eastern African Region: NGONet Africa (Eastern)
Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania

Central African region: NGONet Africa (Central)
Yet to be identified

Northern African Region: NGONet Africa (North)
Yet to be identified

NGONet Africa will seek partnership with, and support from, the private 
sector and development agencies in Africa. 

Commencement

NGONet Africa was conceived at the African Computing and Telecommunica-
tions Summit (25th - 27th August,1999) organized by the African Infor-
mation Technology, Exhibitions and Conferences (AITEC) in Cambridge, 
United Kingdom. 

A planning group of Africans involved in ICT development was consti-
tuted for NGONet Africa at the First African Development Forum (ADF) 99 
organized by the Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in Addis Ababa 
Ethiopia (24th - 28th October 1999). Members of this group include Dr. 
Lola Dare (Nigeria), Noel Yavo (Ivory Coast), Shola Taylor (Nigeria), 
Eric Yankah (Ghana), Felleng Molusi (South Africa), and Prof. Adebayo 
Sanni (Nigeria). 

A more formal Steering Committee would be elected to reflect broad rep-
resentation of member NGOs. The inaugural meeting of the planning group 
was held on the 26th of October 1999. Members of the planning committee 
were present at this meeting. Also present at this meeting were the 
Minister of Communications of Malawi, His Excellency Clement Stanbuli 
and his Deputy Post Master General Mr. E.E. Mahuka.

At this meeting, the planning group identified CHESTRAD International 
(Nigeria) as the interim Coordinating Secretariat of NGONet Africa. The 
group also accepted the offer from WoYaa to provide technical support. 
WoYaa will support NGONet-Africa by the provision of suitable elec-
tronic media to promote and disseminate activities of NGONet-Africa and 
its member organizations. 

The Minister of Communications from Malawi offered to provide a fully 
functional secretariat for NGONet-Africa. This offer will be considered 
when more formal structures are in place for NGONet-Africa. Interest 

The following organizations have indicated desire to be members of, 
and/or partner with NGONet Africa:

Members (Civil Society Organizations)
1. CHESTRAD International - Nigeria 
2. African Telecom Think Tank - United Kingdom 
3. Information Technology and Communication Unit, Obafemi Awolowo Uni-
   versity - Nigeria 
4. SANGONet - South Africa 
5. WANGONet - West Africa 
6. Partners for Internet in Education - Ghana 
7. National Center for Technology Management - Nigeria 
8. Development Policy Center - Nigeria 
8. Groupe Afrique Conscience et Solidarite - Benin 
9. African Foundation for Development - United Kingdom 
10. 2 BI-SN - Senegal 
11. Zanzibar International Film Festival - Zanzibar 
12. NGO Coordinating Committee - Zambia
13. Computer Literacy Project (CLP)

At the recently concluded African Development Forum (ADF 99) organized 
and hosted by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa 
(UNECA), over 40 participating non-governmental and community based or-
ganizations made a firm commitment to set up a civil society network in 
ICT for African development.

Partners (Public Sector, Private Sector, Other Actors in African Devel-
opment) 

1. WoYaa/Digital Africa 
2. GIIC-Africa 
3. Alliance for African Business 
4. Ministry of Communications, Malawi 

Contact Information

If you desire to be a member of, partner with, support or require more 
information on NGONet-Africa please contact:

Dr. Lola Dare
CHESTRAD International
29, Aare Avenue, New Bodija Estate, UIPO 
Box 21633, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria 
Tel: +234-2-810-2401
Fax: +234-2-810-2405
mailto:chestrad@yahoo.com

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