From Africa Recovery, Vol.11#2 (October 1997), Briefs page

Africa is the subject of first UN Internet 'meeting'

In the last week of June, a group of African experts on financial management systems took part in the first UN "meeting" ever conducted on the Internet. For two hours a day over five days, eight experts in five African countries ­ Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Swaziland and Uganda ­ sat at their computers and talked directly to each other on-line, in real time. They discussed ways to improve accountability and transparency in African financial management, reading background documents and other participants' contributions, and then typing in their own comments. It was "an historic and fabulous experience," said Mr. Singh Gurubacham, the Ugandan government's Audit Director.

Ms. Cheryl Larsen, at the UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs, organized and moderated the session from UN headquarters in New York. Not only did the session help advance the introduction of modern technology into UN practice, she notes, it also demonstrated the cost-savings possible from such technologies, largely by eliminating the need for travel. A meeting of this sort normally requires at least $60,000, but the on-line session cost just $8,000, an 85 per cent saving. Ms. Larsen, as well as the on-line participants, strongly recommended such sessions to other UN departments and agencies. The ease and low-cost of Internet meetings, she points out, "encourages South-South dialogue."

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