Information technology

Special Feature — December 1999
"The challenge to Africa of globalization and the information age" was the theme of the first African Development Forum in Addis Ababa on 24-28 October by the UN Economic Commission for Africa. It tied neatly together some core issues of the UN Special Initiative on Africa. This report covers aspects of the main debates and discussions, the state of Africa's communication networks and how countries can plan their expansion (see Section 2), and interviews with a range of participants (see Section 3).
Harnessing information technology for development: Cool heads and new technology
[Box 1: Forward steps at the African Development Forum]
[Box 2: Connecting with the African diaspora]
(Section 2): Building blocks for communications
[Box 1: No phone, no computer for most Africans]
[Box 2: Privatization under way in Africa's telecommunications]
Computers are few, the issues many
Africa defines its electronic agenda
(Section 3) Interviews: [Lalla Ben Barka] [Karima Bouemra Ben Soltane on technology] [Nancy Hafkin on information] [Oliver Sagna on unity] [Ibrahima Diagne on traders] [Rose Bampo on multimedia] [Maria Musoke on telemedicine] [Venancio Massingue on software]