Finnish Development Cooperation Support for Information Society Development in Africa Ilari Lindy / Department of Development Policy / MFA Finland 12.10.2009 Perspectives on ICT and Innovation in Africa VTT, Metallimiehenkuja 2, Espoo, Otaniemi 1
ICT4D in Finnish development policy Fostering achievement of MDGs along the lines of WSIS, EU development policy and Finnish development guidelines Implementing ICT as a tool for economic and social development: to increase efficiency, impact and results in achieving MDGs Reducing poverty by making use of ICT in fostering knowledge economy and entrepreneurship and integration of developing country partners to global economy via knowledge networks Enhancing Policy coherence by bringing new stakeholders to the implementation Supporting gradual shift from donor-recipient relation to new forms and broader cooperation e.g. Aid-for-Trade. 2
Operationalisation of ICT4D: Investing in capacity development Focusing on enabling environment for ICT take-up: innovation policy and systems development at all levels of society Introducing models for co-operation and knowledge transfer Fostering multi-stakeholder partnerships for development, validation and take-up in local context - private sector is essential Bringing forward best Finnish knowledge & added-value for peer-to-peer learning. Establishing platforms for future North-South partnerships for learning through development co-operation: everyone benefits 3
Example: SAFIPA project South Africa - Finland Knowledge Partnership -programme Objective: to support capacity in development/take-up of local ICT applications for local people. Component 1: Institutional development to facilitate the take-up ICT service applications - Process involving value-added instruction, the training of trainers, activities with multiplier effects, and networking both on institutional and human level. Component 2: Expert skills building to develop ICT applications for end users - Seed Fund addressing education & learning sector competences and societal development issues amongst selected constituency. Special attention given to the institutional education and learning outputs as sustainability factor. Selection, upgrading and implementation of the ongoing projects and Identification and preparation of new projects and stakeholder groups. Component 3: Partnership development to bring ICT service applications into market - Strengthen the cooperation between networks and research institutions locally and globally, support PPP in the service delivery process. Open dissemination of results and ideas to innovate new development activities and promote networking. Result 1 Result 2 Result 3 Increased ability by stakeholders to generate and apply new knowledge in ICT applications development/deployment. Improved innovative IS applications for end users. Increased regional, national, African & global R&D/institutional networks in ICT. 4
Instruments for ICT4D Multilateral cooperation: institutional support (economic capacity, trade policy, regulatory environment) & infrastructure development. Bilateral cooperation: long-term partnerships for future: capacity building with technical expertise. Institutional cooperation: public sector partnerships for peer-peer learning and exchange of Good Practice. Local cooperation: new innovative practice at grass-root-level by local organizations, NGOs. University cooperation: networked knowledge partnerships through teacher and student exchange Business cooperation: private sector partnerships with joint projects. Credit loans: fostering infrastructure investments and productive capacity. 5
Some challenges for bi-lateral donors Connection to poverty-reduction programmes: addressing real needs of beneficiaries needs ICT validation in field Limited efforts and investments: impact on systemic level needs to bridge global and bilateral instruments Ad-Hoc and lack of coordination: mass scale take-up of ICT applications requires wider partnerships Silo- and project-based thinking: sustainable use requires crosssectoral cooperation Focus on top-down / bottom-up: innovative partnerships grow at grassroot level but enabling environment evolves top-down. 6
7 Most important partners of the bilateral development cooperation of Finland Map (c) 1999 Europa Technologies UM/NH/11.10.2001 Nicaragua Peru Mosambik Etelä-Afrikka Sambia? Länsi- Balkan Egypti Palestiinalais- alueet Etiopia Kenia Tansania Afganistan Nepal Vietnam Itä-Timor Sudan Namibia
EU-Africa Partnership No: 8 Science, Information Society & Space 8
EU-Africa partnership no 8 Africa - EU Summit / Lisbon December 2007: The EU-Africa Joint Strategy and Action Plan: changing relations to a partnership between equals, moving away from the traditional donor beneficiary relations. Political dialogue for - Strengthening exchange of views on issues of common concern; - Promoting key issues for development (eg. MDGs, Governance); - «Beyond» Development => S&T coop., Space, ICT - A joint response to global challenges (eg. climate, peace & security). Based on identified needs of Africa: support to ARAPKE (African Regional Action Plan for the Knowledge Economy) and to the AMCOST (African Ministerial Council on Science & Technology) Consolidated Plan of Action and specific projects identified on space technology to achieve regional & global development goals. Focused on regional integration in Africa and large scale deployment of ICT technologies & applications for economic and social development. Implemented through selected flagship projects agreed by AU and EU. Better integration and mobilisation of existing contributions from AU and EU member states (bi-laterals, multilaterals), EU funding (e.g. EDF, EIB, FP7), Private sector, Civil Society. 9
Finland & implementation of 8th partnership Vice Chair (MFA) with Portugal of joint EU Implementatation Team, France Chairing the partnership 8. Chair (MFA) of Information Society track. Currently roadmapping of Partnership - actions & priorities, actors, existing funding, timeframes, results Support for the related initiatives of 8th partnership: - ALICT: financial support from 2010 onwards (tbc) - AUC in organising AU Summit January 2010 ICT for African Development including secondment of short-term Finnish expert to AUC tasked to support the preparation of Summit and in particlar track related to the enabling environment of African information society - UNECA (UN Economic Commission for Africa) in developing regional INFSO strategies and indicators for African Information society including secondment of long-term Finnish expert. - IST Africa 2009-2010 and EuroAfrica-ICT conferences. 10
8th Partnership: flagship projects Information Society - AXIS: establishment of national IXPs & regional internet hubs - Africa Connect: GEANT extension to sub-saharan Africa - ALICT: training programme for IT professionals and policymakers - AYIN: e-skills for the youth - African Virtual Campus: e-learning network Science - EU-AU Africa research grants - Popularization of science and technology and promotion of public participation - Development of a Common African Union Science and Technology Policy Framework - Development of African SMEs and support business incubator networks - Securing and Using Africa s Indigenous and Traditional Knowledge - Pan African intellectual Propriety Organization (PAIPO) - African Observatory of Science, Technology, and Innovation and Policy Development - Water and food security in the Nile basin - Building Africa s Scientific and Institutional Capacity in Agriculture/Resource mangemt. - Harnessing Biotechnology for the Advancement of African Agriculture - African Pole of Excellence on Desertification and Forestry - African Union Initiative on Climate Change Science - GMES Africa: African global Monitoring for Environment and Security - Implementation of the African Reference Frame 11
Thank you Ilari Lindy Advisor Information Society, Science, Technology & Innovation policy Department of Development Policy Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland ilari.lindy@formin.fi 12