International Partners Pledge Support for Community Multimedia Centre Development in Africa
20-06-2003 ()
At the Conference
© UNESCO Dakar
International partners pledged strong support for Community Multimedia Centre (CMC) development in Africa at a symposium that ended this week in Dakar, Senegal. The meeting, “Digital Opportunities for Africa – Community Multimedia Centres” aimed to forge a strategy for larger-scale CMC development in Africa.
New funding commitment for community multimedia centres topped 1.2 million US dollars. Several new partnerships were forged for CMC development at country level.
Nearly 20 bilateral donors, foundations, intergovernmental and bilateral development agencies and non-governmental organizations gathered at BREDA, the UNESCO Dakar office, for a two-day roundtable meeting that covered CMC scale-up, sustainability, capacity building and content development. The partners heard a report from the workshop that preceded their meeting. Some 45 managers of CMCs, radio stations and telecentres highlighted several priority areas in their four-day workshop.
In their final recommendations, they emphasised the need to promote local cultures and to give disabled persons a full role in CMCs, not only as users but also as staff and board members. The importance of appropriate technology and preventive maintenance was also emphasised. The workshop participants also appealed for supportive government policies including preferential telecommunication tariffs and tax exemption on IT equipment.
Opening the workshop, Senegalese minister for culture and communication, Mr Abdou Fall called for plans of action based on regional strategies and responding to specific regional needs. At the opening of the roundtable, Senegal’s Presidential adviser (Délégué general) for NEPAD, Abdou Aziz Sow, emphasised that the CMC programme was a concrete illustration of the aims of the new partnership for African development in terms of community access to ICT.
Nearly 20 bilateral donors, foundations, intergovernmental and bilateral development agencies and non-governmental organizations gathered at BREDA, the UNESCO Dakar office, for a two-day roundtable meeting that covered CMC scale-up, sustainability, capacity building and content development. The partners heard a report from the workshop that preceded their meeting. Some 45 managers of CMCs, radio stations and telecentres highlighted several priority areas in their four-day workshop.
In their final recommendations, they emphasised the need to promote local cultures and to give disabled persons a full role in CMCs, not only as users but also as staff and board members. The importance of appropriate technology and preventive maintenance was also emphasised. The workshop participants also appealed for supportive government policies including preferential telecommunication tariffs and tax exemption on IT equipment.
Opening the workshop, Senegalese minister for culture and communication, Mr Abdou Fall called for plans of action based on regional strategies and responding to specific regional needs. At the opening of the roundtable, Senegal’s Presidential adviser (Délégué general) for NEPAD, Abdou Aziz Sow, emphasised that the CMC programme was a concrete illustration of the aims of the new partnership for African development in terms of community access to ICT.
At the Conference Opening© UNESCO Dakar
Related themes/countries
· Dakar Symposium (2003)
· 2003
· Senegal: News Archives 2003
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