Africa came to the WSIS Summits with a big bang, with representation from government officials, Civil Society Organisations, Media, the Private Sector and even Parliamentarians! To prove how seriously these stakeholders took the events networks were created, such as the Africa Civil Society for the Information Society (ACSIS – www.acsis-africa.org). An exhibition, the Africa Civil Society Village, located in the ICT4All area provided a focal point for the African civil society members present in Tunis. The village was the place for networking where the foundations for future activities were discussed and hatched, especially with respect to how civil society would operate in Africa post-WSIS. African stakeholders really had a stake in the Information Society in Tunisia and it showed! In a publication, African CSOs share the basic knowledge that they have acquired in the WSIS process and present capital issues, fundamental questions in building a people-centered, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society.

The Traveling Media

The African media, profiled by some committed Information Society enthusiasts reported on various issues evolving out of the Geneva phase, the Accra Africa regional conference (Ghana in 2005) as well as the Tunis phase. During the Tunis phase of WSIS, the International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD), for instance launched in partnership with the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) a joint publication, iConnect Collected, at the ICT4All exhibition area, which featured articles by local journalists on the impact and use of ICT4D in their countries.

Empowering the future generation along the way

The Youth were given a platform, and this included the GKP/UNECA panel on empowering African youth as social entrepreneurs in the Information Society. This was in collaboration with the Fantsuam Foundation, Nigeria, SchoolNet Africa, Protégé QV-Cameroon, the WSIS Youth Caucus, and the African Youth Network on the Information Society. This event also had a strong south-south cooperation dimension. It brought together more than 20 young people from Africa and Asia to share views and experiences in promoting youth social enterprises in Africa through ICTs. This idea has not been lost. In the next UNECA-led African Development Forum (ADF), which is focusing on Africa’s youth, the ideas explored in Tunis will be further explored by bringing these young people together in Addis Ababa in November 2006.

Is the journey over?

Not really. As far as the UNECA is concerned the journey has only just began. The work that began with the various stakeholders needs to continue and must continue as a critical mass has been formed. The journey therefore takes us to the doorstep of countries, especially where the ideals, goals and objectives of the WSIS has to be translated. This translation has in turn to be reflected in society – in the education, health, and governance sectors for instance. It also has to be evident the economy, in sectors such as trade, commerce, industry and in the lives of ordinary people. It is only then that we can consider the journey beginning to end.

It is for this reason that the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa will be working to broaden issues around the knowledge economy from 2006, through the African Regional Action Plan on the Knowledge Economy. Already a resource mobilization agenda is being planned with the Egyptian Government in mid-December bringing various partners together to consider projects that can be supported to promote the knowledge economy in Africa by CSOs, private sector, youth, governments and the media.