Page 100 - Connecting cities and communities with the Sustainable Development Goals

United for Smart Sustainable Cities
Connecting cities and communities with the Sustainable Development Goals

3 Conclusions

Main lessons learnt from this case study
It is possible to implement complex projects, which involve making people smarter with limited resources,
even across continents, provided there is a will to do so. It is also possible to implement projects and
programmes as a South-South cooperation.

There were also some unintended benefits accrued from the implementation of this project, which were not
initially thought of. One such key advantage observed was that people no longer had to return to India for a
follow-up with their doctors and hospitals as they could make use of the benefits bestowed by India’s position
as a major tourist destination through the Pan-African e-Network. Hence, as most of the leading hospitals of
India are a part of the Pan-African e-Network, the patients can now directly follow up with these doctors
from their home countries without spending their precious resources and time for travelling.
Critical success factors

Similar projects, on a smaller scale that had been previously started elsewhere for smaller nations did not
succeed. The critical success factors in this case, apart from the commitment of various stakeholders, has
been the knowledge of the mutual difficulties and challenges which developing nations on both sides were
able to understand.
Challenges ahead

The project is under expansion to reach larger sections of the populations in these countries. The
Government of India has committed another USD 160 million for this programme over the next five years.
Involving private stakeholders and also the other cities from the African side is imperative. Success of this
programme will depend upon how much the governments in these nations are willing to commit.

Transferability to other cities
So far in most of the 48 countries of Africa, it is the capital cities that have benefitted. It is possible to transfer
this concept to the other cities in Africa, where a majority of the people reside, and that would be the real
success of this programme in Africa.

Scalability of the project
The programme is scalable, both upwards and downwards. It was implemented on a smaller scale in the
SAARC nations as well. With ICT being at the core of this project, it is easily possible to scale it up for extending
it to other cities of these nations in Africa, with a substantial increase in the cost of the project, which some
of the African nations are willing to bear themselves.
Based on the success of this programme, and at the request of the African Union Commission, the
Government of India has decided to extend the services under this programme by another five years to July
2021, at an additional cost of USD 160 million.

A References

Pan-African Network. http://pan-africanetwork.com/ (Accessed 7 January 2017)

Africa: Pan African e- Network: a model of “South- South cooperation” (2009).
http://www.pambazuka.org/pan-africanism/africa-pan-african-e-network-model-%E2%80%9Csouth-south-
cooperation%E2%80%9D (Accessed 31 January 2017)
Connecting Hearts. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73LMVBnPacg (Accessed 7 January 2017)

B List of discussion partners/interviews

https://www.telegraphindia.com/1151027/jsp/nation/story_49860.jsp#.WIXVL1N96po
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5UBZV1u9bg

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