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












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