In 1995, the BDT was instrumental in establishing the African Networking Initiative (ANI), an informal network of international partners involved in ICT development in Africa. BDT partners in the ANI initiative are BDT, UNESCO, UNECA and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC, Canada).

A number of activities aiming at bringing Africa into the Information Society were jointly implemented by the ANI partners in 1995-1997. Examples of such activities implemented in partnership with the above organizations are:

• Global Connectivity for Africa Conference held in Addis Ababa from 2-4 June, 1998
• the Regional Symposia on Telematics for Development, Addis Ababa, 1995, and in Tunis ("The Arab World and the Information Society", Tunis 1997).
• development of the above-mentioned Africa's Information Society Initiative (AISI).
• Africa's Information Society Initiative is now the framework for the "Harnessing Information for Development" (HITD) component of the United Nations System-wide Special Initiative for Africa (UNSIA). In a coordination meeting in Addis Ababa (October 1996) the ITU was designated as (co-)lead agency for the following components of the HITD/AISI: Internet Connectivity, Democratization of Access to the Information Society, Training and National Information and Communication Infrastructure (NICI) Plans (i.e. for 4 out of 7 components).
• Development of proposals for the Internet Connectivity and the Democratization of Access to the Information Society components. These programmes are proposed to be carried out in partnership with concerned development agencies, NGOs and national organizations (public and private) in 1997 and onwards.