Page 192 - ITU-T Focus Group Digital Financial Services – Executive Summary

1 Introduction

1.1 Background

Pan African e-Network is a unique program, which has been involved in mitigating the challenges of Health
and Education in African 48 countries . It was the brain child of an illustrious son of India, the Former President
of India, Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. It was he who offered this platform to the African Parliament in Johannesburg,
in late 2004. African Union Commission (AUC) accepted the Indian proposal and signed an umbrella MOU
with Govt. of India, through Ministry of External Affairs .This was translated into a practical project by TCIL,
a Government of India enterprise, given its presence in Africa.

The main objectives of capacity building and technology flow has been achieved by virtue of this program in
48 nations of Africa. This Program 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 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. Smartness of a city or country for that matter
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 development of any nation, limited educational
infrastructure poses a big challenge. With a large number developing countries spread across the Africa and
Asia, resources to bring education to the desired standards pose a big challenge.

The Solution is about enabling people to obtaining formal education in terms of graduation and post
graduation programs which helps people in meeting their aspirations, and also making them smart. Also, it
is about providing support and expertise for handling the Super Specialty health care facility to the local
citizens at the international level.

2 The Project(s)

2.1 Vision and content
Vision behind this project was Connect all 53 African Union Commission member countries with Indian
institutions for share India’s expertise in the fields of Education and Health care with the objective of
accelerated socio-economic development and equal access to these services in Africa.
When the people in 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
 Scope of this project:

 Tele-education
 Tele-medicine
 VVIP Connectivity
(video-conferencing and VoIP among the Heads of African States).

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