Projects in the Africa Region

ITU started working with the Ministry of Communications to implement e-Government infrastructure aimed at delivering e-Administration services to Benin citizens (2003).

ITU provided technical assistance for the implementation of the National IP Network for the Administration in Burkina Faso. This evolving network will eventually cover the whole country. The objective of this project was to assist the Government of Burkina Faso and the local administration in order to develop a cost effective communication infrastructure by Integrating IP-based applications and value-added services and taking into account advances in technologies, the integration of data and voice for good governance purposes. The partners are the Government of Burkina Faso and the UNDP. The network design and the business plan phases were completed in 2003. In order to validate the adopted technology strategy based on voice and data integration and interoperability with existing information technology systems in Burkina Faso, the Pilot phase has been implemented and is now operational in Ouagadougou (2003).

A project to empower female entrepreneurs by using ICTs and e-applications at ASAFE (Association pour le Soutien et L'Appui a La Femme Entrepreneur) has helped to establish a platform for e-commerce applications, which is based on internet protocol. This project involved technical and financial assistance (in collaboration with the government of Japan) to 3,500 members of ASAFE, which represents several countries. The ITU-BDT worked with ASAFE to establish an IP-based platform for e-Commerce. The platform and training is run by ASAFE for its members and the business community, including preparation for international computer systems certificates such as the Microsoft Certified Professional, the CISCO Certified Network Academy and Comptia A+ for maintenance of PCs. The ITU-BDT assisted the association to undertake the feasibility study and provided training. The ITU-BDT also assisted ASAFE to register its domain name (2003).

Project involving the implementation of e-Government infrastructure to enhance government services to citizens, enable cost-efficient and secure communication and exchange of government documents and provide solutions for the electronic payment of government services by citizens. Funded mostly by the European Commission, ITU and the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications of Cameroon, the implementation and coordination of this project is carried out by the ITU. This project is now operational (2002).

ITU provided support in developing a pilot project for telemedicine (2003).

The project "National Strategy for the development of new ICTs" aims to assist Cameroon in the elaboration of the national Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) policy and strategy in the domains of e-applications, Internet, e-Security. Guidance and recommendations were provided to the national team based national priorities. This project contributes towards strengthening Cameroon’s position in the Knowledge-based economy and Information society. National ICT Policy and Strategy for Cameroon has been finalised. This project has impact on the implementation of ICT projects. This project was implemented in 2004.

Project initiated to assess needs, define technical and financial requirements and propose strategy for the implementation of e-Services (2002).

Project involving the strategy, implementation of Internet nodes and development of new information and communication technologies applications in the Republic of Congo. this included in identification of needs for technical assistance within the general framework of IP-based networks and implementation of Internet nodes, bases for the convergence of multimedia networks in the Republic of Congo (2003).

Together with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), ITU established a computer-training centre called at the Adaptive Technology Centre for the Blind to assist the blind and visually impaired to gain access to ICTs (2004). The computers delivered are equipped with adaptive devices such as voice synthesizers, magnifying hardware and software as well as Braille embossers, scanners and printers.

Recognizing the importance of providing healthcare for the inhabitants of the rural areas in Ethiopia, the Government of Ethiopia launched a telemedicine project. The purpose of the pilot project was to reach the medically underserved by efficiently utilizing clinical specialist and public health professionals, who are concentrated in the bigger cities using a Telemedicine system. The applications focused on teleradiology and teledermatology Ten hospitals were connected to the internet, to facilitate the project. Among the institutions were a University medical faculty and medical college hospital.

With the support of ITU, experts were in Addis Ababa to train the personnel on the use of the equipment donated by ITU. This equipment included digital cameras, licensed Telemedicine software, medical scanners a server (2007).

In an effort to combat tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS and malaria in Kenya, ITU assisted a Kenya Task Force on behalf of the Kenyan Government in preparing an innovative mobile telemedicine project document proposal for the Global Fund. The main objective of the project was to make available medical facilities to remote and rural communities where there is no easy accessibility, to detect tuberculosis in very early stage before the infectious stage and to provide affordable access to timely medical services (2005).

BDT provided support to followed-up with project documents on e-health in Lesotho (2006).

The project "Internet for Schools in Mali" aims to access the needs in the technology, equipment and policy for the promotion of e-Learning service in Mali. ITU-D in partnership with Swisscom started the implementation of the IP project "Internet at school in Tombouctou" in Mali in March 2003. The project is now operational (2003).

Société des Télécommunications de Mali SOTELMA: infrastructure for digital certification and e-Applications (2002).

The project involved developing and implementating solutions to enable the use of ICTs for business and facilitate employment for Union Mauritanienne des Femmes Entrepreneurs et Commercantes (UMAFEC). This involved the creation of a multiservice telecenter (web-search, e-mail, telephone, fax etc.) for a community of women. ITU assisted in the elaboration of e-legislation with the collaboration of UNCITRAL. The purpose of the activity was to conduct consultations with government officials in Mauritania on the preparation of legislation to establish a general legal framework for electronic commerce in the country. ITU requested the secretariat of UNCITRAL to review the draft bill and to hold consultations with the responsible officials in Mauritania with a view to developing further the draft bill. The project is operational.

Under the Mauritania e-Health project, ITU will provided assistance to the Government of Mauritania in establishing a telemedicine unit that will extend access to high quality health care to remote areas, improve medical training capabilities for future specialists and increase capacities for medical data communication between networked practitioners. In addition, the project will allow the sharing of some medical equipment among remote sites.

This project by the Secrétariat d'Etat des Postes et Technologies de l'Information aimed to formulate a technology strategy, provide training and project coordination for a national e-Commerce infrastructure, launched in February 2001. The project provided secure solutions to large and small businesses in the region at a cost of more than USD 2.5 million (2002).

Mozambique

 e-Health  

BDT launched its first telemedicine pilot project in 1998 using the existing terrestrial and satellite infrastructure. This connection allows doctors at two central hospitals in the capital of Maputo and Mozambique’s second largest city of Beira to improve collaboration for teleconsulting and –radiology. The project partners included a telecommunication operator, a telemedicine equipment vendor, hospitals and ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau (Press release, 1998).

A hospital telemedicine link was established enabling the transformation of medical images, as well as patient data records and other medical information to remotely located experts for the provision of teleradiology, teledermatology and teleconsultation, which is obtainable by better access to medical knowledge and expertise. Thanks to the pilot telemedicine project in Senegal that links the University Hospital of Dakar- Fann with the regional Hospital in Dioubel, medical images as well as patient data records and other medical information is now possible. Doctors are now able to receive documents and able to give instant opinions on cases, these opinions can now be transmitted back by fax, telephone or e-mail (2006).

Seychelles

The project, a request of the Vice-President of the Republic of Seychelles, was initiated in 2003 involving the implementation of secure electronic transactions infrastructure and e-services for the government and business sectors,  enhancing trade and facilitating the establishment of business relationships between consumers and merchants, mostly in the Tourism sector.  ITU's assistance addressed the requirements and strategies for implementing e-Commerce in an Island State with a small population (80,000).  As part of the mission, ITU conducted an assessment and provided recommendations for the Government's e-Commerce strategy (2003).

South Africa

ITU's first project on electronic commerce for developing countries (ECDC) was launched in March 1998 in Malta, aimed at demonstrating the benefits of appropriate e-commerce strategies and technology to South African micro businesses. The results were demonstrated at Africa TELECOM 1998 and also at the ITU Pavilion at TELECOM Africa 2001. Successful and expanding, it demonstrates how an e-Commerce strategy and appropriate technology can create economic up-liftment for an African micro business.

Zambia

 e-Health  

The ITU sponsored a programme to develop a telecentre in Zambia in order to promote entrepreneurship among the local women. In addition to the other services that the telecentre will offer, ITU will provide an e- Health element to the services to the telecentre, in order to expand the marketing and revenue opportunities. Besides assisting the regulatory authority in defining a strategy on implementing e-signature platform based on Public Key Infrastructure, ITU offered assistance in elaborating a project document for the implementation of a telemedicine application in Zambia (2006).