Page 94 - Connecting cities and communities with the Sustainable Development Goals

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

1 Introduction

1.1 Background
Pan-African e-Network is a unique programme, which has been involved in mitigating the challenges of health
and education in 48 African countries. The Former President of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, offered this
platform to the African Parliament in Johannesburg in late 2004. The African Union Commission (AUC)
accepted the Indian proposal and signed an umbrella MoU with the Government of India, through the
Ministry of External Affairs .This was translated into a practical project by TCIL, a Government of India
enterprise, which has a presence in Africa.
The main objectives of capacity building and technology flow have been achieved by virtue of this programme
being in 48 nations of Africa. The programme is an outstanding example of South-South cooperation, India
and Africa both being developing territories. This case study forms an excellent example of striving to attain
the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) SDG 10 to “reduce inequality within and among countries”.

1.2 Challenge and response
In any society, city or country, people play an important role. How ‘smart’ a city or country is depends upon
the smartness of its people. For people to be smart, the most important aspect is good quality education.
While educated people are a prerequisite for the development of any nation, limited educational
infrastructure poses a big challenge. With a large number of developing countries spread across Africa and
Asia, resources to bring education to the desired standards pose a big challenge.
The solution is about enabling people to obtain formal education in terms of graduate and postgraduate
programmes which help people to meet their aspirations, and make them smart. Also, it is about providing
support and expertise for handling the Super Specialty healthcare facilities to the local citizens at the
international level.

2 The project(s)

2.1 Vision and content

The vision behind this project was to connect all 53 African Union Commission member countries with Indian
institutions to share India’s expertise in the fields of education and healthcare, with the objective of
accelerated socioeconomic development and equal access to these services in Africa.

When the people of a major city are able to get themselves educated, overcoming the challenges of having
to leave their city/ country and also invest resources beyond their means, more and more young citizens
would be able to contribute to the development of the city and towards its competitiveness.

Key features and design
ƒ Scope of this project:
tele-education
tele-medicine
VVIP connectivity

(Video-conferencing and VoIP among the Heads of African states).

88 U4SSC series