The Millennium Declaration acknowledges the special problems experienced by the vulnerable communities, such as the Least Developed Countries, Small Island Developing States and landlocked countries. It recognises the need to bring Africa into the mainstream of the world economy. Vulnerable communities are even more dependent than others on ICTs because of their physical isolation. While the digital divide has been narrowing for middle-income developing countries, it has actually been widening for the very poorest countries, especially in terms of connectivity to the international Internet backbone. The Summit can help to focus world attention on these problems.

Relevant documents and links:

·   Towards a new information and communication technologies strategy for African Least Developed Countries EN   FR

·        Africa Regional Preparatory Meeting to the World Summit on the Information Society (Bamako, 8-30 May 2002). 

·       “Out of the Labs and Into the Developing World: Using Appropriate Technologies to Promote Truly Global Internet Diffusion” , Geoffrey S. Kirkman, Center for International Development at  Harvard University, March 2001. 

·         Reducing Poverty in Sub-Saharan Africa, UNDP (United Nations Development Programme). 

·         Information and Communication Technologies - A Status Report , September 2002,  paper prepared as a contribution to the Third Meeting of the UN ICT Task Force that taking place in New York from 30 Sept - 1 Oct 2002 - the meeting will focus on ICT for Development in Africa.  See also  Other documents on ICTs in Africa submitted to this meeting of the UN ICT Task Force.

·         Concept Paper for Poverty Reduction in Africa , Fifth Africa Governance Forum, UNDP.

·         Africa Computing, an international partnership for the use of the Internet in Africa.

·         Acacia Initiative of the IDRC (International Development Research Centre): Communities and the Information Society in Africa, an international program to empower sub-saharan communities with the ability to apply ICTs to their own social and economic development.

·         The African Connection (AC), a region-wide African-led and managed initiative to improve telecommunications. 

·         United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, UNECA.

·         UNECA's  African Information Society Initiative.

·         UNECA's Information Technology Centre for Africa (ITCA), an information and communication technology or ICT-focused exhibition and learning centre with the mandate to raise awareness among African policy makers and planners of the value of ICTs for African development.

·         "The Commonwealth Government & Business Guide to Information and Communication Technology", a unique resource of information about ICT in the Commonwealth designed specifically for use by Government Ministers, Regulators, Utility Heads and leaders of the Communications Industry. 

·         Improving Connectivity in LDCs, a project by the ITU (International Telecommunication Union) Strategy and Policy Unit (SPU).

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