Friday, February 04, 2005
There’ll be life after Tunis - we’ll make sure of it
By Haru Mutasa
ACCRA- While others wonder what’s next after Tunis, young people at the Accra conference have taken matters into their own hands and won’t see their hard work die prematurely.
“We are moving further than just discussing and talking about ICTs and development,” said Gbenga Sesan a coordinator of the African Youth Initiative a voluntary youth organisation set up in 2002 to promote active use of ICTs in Africa, “We have an action plan for Tunis and will keep working on it after WSIS II. In fact we plan to continue the process for at least another five years.”
An estimated 200 youths from across the continent participated at the eYouth Summit held three days before the start of the WSIS Africa Regional Conference.
“For many of the youth it was the first time they got to fully understand the WSIS process and see for themselves how they can influence policies,” said Sesan, “It gave them a sense of responsibility. It was also an opportunity for the youth of Africa to come together, hear what each local initiative is doing and get ideas from each other. This could help stop replicate projects – something we see a lot in our communities. In some areas you get two projects in the same states using different resources. Why not get them to work together?”
Another task is to involve the whole continent in promoting and using ICTs in their communities.
He noted that Central Africa is still untapped terrain. “That region is a problem and participation is very thin but we have thought ahead by inviting two representatives to participate in discussions here in Accra,” said Sesan, “They will take what they have learnt back to their communities and start the process there. We are planning to have a meeting there in April this year to promote partnerships in that area.”
The meetings looked at issues related to cybercrime, the use of ICTs in addressing the HIV/Aids pandemic, ICT in education, the role of NEPAD in the whole process and how ICTs can achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
Plans are underway to set up the African Regional Youth ICT4D network which will create a platform for African youth organisations to implement and engage fully in ICTs-for-development projects within their regions.
ACCRA- While others wonder what’s next after Tunis, young people at the Accra conference have taken matters into their own hands and won’t see their hard work die prematurely.
“We are moving further than just discussing and talking about ICTs and development,” said Gbenga Sesan a coordinator of the African Youth Initiative a voluntary youth organisation set up in 2002 to promote active use of ICTs in Africa, “We have an action plan for Tunis and will keep working on it after WSIS II. In fact we plan to continue the process for at least another five years.”
An estimated 200 youths from across the continent participated at the eYouth Summit held three days before the start of the WSIS Africa Regional Conference.
“For many of the youth it was the first time they got to fully understand the WSIS process and see for themselves how they can influence policies,” said Sesan, “It gave them a sense of responsibility. It was also an opportunity for the youth of Africa to come together, hear what each local initiative is doing and get ideas from each other. This could help stop replicate projects – something we see a lot in our communities. In some areas you get two projects in the same states using different resources. Why not get them to work together?”
Another task is to involve the whole continent in promoting and using ICTs in their communities.
He noted that Central Africa is still untapped terrain. “That region is a problem and participation is very thin but we have thought ahead by inviting two representatives to participate in discussions here in Accra,” said Sesan, “They will take what they have learnt back to their communities and start the process there. We are planning to have a meeting there in April this year to promote partnerships in that area.”
The meetings looked at issues related to cybercrime, the use of ICTs in addressing the HIV/Aids pandemic, ICT in education, the role of NEPAD in the whole process and how ICTs can achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
Plans are underway to set up the African Regional Youth ICT4D network which will create a platform for African youth organisations to implement and engage fully in ICTs-for-development projects within their regions.
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