1. AISI – NICI - RICI
Alain Nkoyock,
Addis Ababa, 1st October 2005
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2. ICT, ECA & AISI: Historical Steps
• PADIS (Pan African Development Information System):
1979 -> Objective: Establishment of a centralized
development information Db at ECA (AA) with national
development information Dbs at national participating
centres in Africa countries
• CABECA (Capacity Building for Electronic
Communication in Africa: 1992 -> Objective:
Establishment of electronic communication nodes in 24
African countries.
• AISI (African Information Society Initiative): 1996 ->
Development of National Information and
Communications Infrastructure (NICI) in Africa (among
others).
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3. What is AISI?
– An Action Framework to Build Africa's
Information and Communication Infrastructure
– Aims at supporting and accelerating socio-
economic development imperatives of African
countries
– Focuses on priority strategies, programmes
and projects (information networks, regional
databases, etc)
– Main e-strategies: NICI, RICI, SICI and VICI
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4. What is an NICI Plan?
• An instrument to implement the global AISI visions
of developing the information infrastructure, human
resources and content at national level;
• An African response to facilitate the digital
inclusion of Africa and integration of the continent
into the globalization process;
• An exercise aiming at developing national ICT
policies, strategies and plans which serve as
roadmap for the countries participation in the
knowledge economy.
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5. Aims of a NICI Plan
• Improve the nations Information and
communication infrastructure;
• Improve the nations ICT policies and regulatory
frameworks;
• Improve the nations Human resources;
• Improve the nations Infostructure.
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9. Lessons learnt
• Long-term Vision
• - is absolutely Essential
• Short-term prioritization
• -(start small, scale fast)
• Human resource development
• - for all sectors of society
• Private-sector funding model
• -is not yet mature
• Donors need to fund
• -beyond “pilots”
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10. Lessons Learnt
• Incoherence between NICI Plans - UNDAF &
PRSP
• ICT- led Development Vision Vs. MDG
• Projects identified in NEPAD STAP are those
identified by RECs
• Implementation phase awaited
• Many initiatives with mitigated results
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11. AISI: ECA’s Subsidiary Bodies
• ATAC:
• PICTA:
• CODI:
• African Stakeholders Network (ASN) of the UN ICT Task
Force:
• African regional EPolNet Node:
– Launched in 2003 (CODI III);
– Mission: channel demand from African institutions and
individuals, such as policy experts, programme
managers and legislative drafters seeking e-strategy
expertise;
• GKP: Network of networks
– 2002: GKP annual meeting held in ECA
– Mission: develop GKP strategy for 2005: global and
regional networks and partnership mechanisms in Africa
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12. What is RICI?
• A facility for harmonizing national strategies at the sub-
regional levels by RECs for consistency in regional
economic integration goals in the area of ICTs
• Allows for harmonization of national regulatory frameworks
as countries deregulate and liberalize their
telecommunication markets
• Provides a framework for the development of information
and communication infrastructure that can facilitate regional
economic integration goals of the African continent.
• Provides an impetus for strengthening capacity at the sub-
regional level in ICT for development and building a critical
mass to facilitate regional integration through ICTs
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13. Benefits of RICI
• Policy and Regulatory Integration:
– The creation of regional strategies would enable Africa to build economy of scale for
developing its infrastructure and content and increase Africa's ability to negotiate
globally.
• Regulatory integration at the regional level:
– would create and strengthen the community/associations of regulators to facilitate
cross-boarder interaction, market enlargement and harmonization policies at the sub-
regional and regional levels.
• Strengthen regional institutions:
– to participate effectively in global ICT, as well as of decision-making bodies such as
ICANN, WTO, WIPO, ISOC etc.
• Infrastructure Development:
– This will include the setting up of sub-regional backbones, exchange and
interconnection points, with human resource development requirements.
• Mechanisms for sharing bandwidth within the sub-regions:
– should be looked into as part of the facilitation of sub-regional and regional
interconnectivity.
• Economic Policies:
– Establishing common tariffs for ICT products and services across borders as a key
component of the harmonization process at sub-regional and regional levels.
• Potential for cost sharing in executing joint projects at sub-regional and regional
levels:
– particularly the financing and strengthening of sub-regional and regional backbones
to enhance connectivity in the region.
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