Support for the Establishment of Harmonized Policies for the ICT Market in the ACP
 
ICTs offer both challenges and promises for political, social, economic and environmental development. Moreover, ICTs can make a significant contribution to poverty reduction and the achievement of the
Millennium Development Goals. As well, among the outcomes of the
World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), there is a recognition that “governments should take action, in the framework of national policies, in order to support an enabling and competitive environment for the necessary investment in ICT infrastructure and for the development of new services…”
Nevertheless, the decision to embrace these new technologies belongs to developing countries themselves. Ownership by them is indispensable. The international community can play a catalytic role, by pointing to the potential benefits of new policies and assisting interested countries in designing and implementing appropriate policies in line with their situation and priorities.
This Action pleads for a demand-driven bottom-up approach that provides support for ICT capacity development in the ACP countries. It is a replica and scale up pilot that was funded by the
European Commission and the ITU and successfully implemented in West Africa:
ICT
Market Harmonization for ECOWAS/UEMOA.
It will address the regulatory challenges facing the beneficiary countries with the goal of creating an environment conductive to massive investments in ICT infrastructure and ICT-enabled applications which the countries will adopt for day to day use in their economic and social activities. It also fulfils the needs expressed by the beneficiaries concerned in the domain of capacity building on ICT policies and regulations in one hand and of e-readiness in the other hand.
This project is carried out with funding by the European Union set at € 8 million and a complement of USD 500, 000 by the ITU.
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