THE DIGITAL DIASPORA NETWORK FOR AFRICA
(DDNA Project)

The Digital Diaspora Network for Africa (DDNA) project is promoted by the United Nations ICT Task Force, and undertaken by the Digital Partners ( a not-for-profit organization based in Seattle), the CERFE Group( a no -for- profit research center based in Rome) joined by UNIFEM.
This DDNA in turn will mobilize the technological, entrepreneurial and professional expertise of skilled members of the second African Diaspora* in US and Europe to accelerate the transfer of information and communications technology (ICT) and the return of skills to countries in Africa. The network will also support the work of the UN's ICT Task Force.
The Digital Diaspora Network in Africa will follow a two-phase process of development, growing from a network of entrepreneurs that is exchanging information to a network that is mentoring and supporting the development of entrepreneurs in Africa that are using ICT.

Call for participation
The CERFE Group is working to build up the European Network of the African Digital Diaspora, trying to:

- Identify potential participants to the European Network

- Contact the European Partners

- Promote and assist the core group for Europe, organizing a first meeting

- Organize the participation of the European members to the UN's ICT Task Force meeting in New York and take part to the   meeting of the American network

- Contribute to the organization of a meeting in Africa

Anyone who is interested and has the skills requested to be part of this project (member of the second African Diaspora in Europe, computer skills, voluntary) is kindly invited to contact Mr. Alfonso Alfonsi at the address ddna@africansocieties.org.
The need and opportunity
The use of ICT has been integrated into virtually every aspect of commerce, education governance and civic activity in developed countries and has become a critical factor in access to information and wealth worldwide. Yet in Africa, ICT has barely taken a foothold. For example, while one in every two residents of the United States has access to a personal computer and the internet, in Africa there are only 7 personal computers to every 1,000 people and only three million of Africa's population of over 750 million are internet users.
Computer illiteracy and the lack of access to ICT are widely recognized as an increasingly powerful obstacle to the economic, civic and political development of Africa.
Many potential entrepreneurs in Africa are limited in their actions by a lack of information about opportunities, potential partners, institutional contacts and resources. On the other hand, preliminary research demonstrates that many Africans in the U.S., and many others who feel committed to the development of Africa, have important skills and access to a wealth of human and material resources but perceive few avenues to apply them to benefit SSA. Brought together with the growing number of organizations, corporations, foundations and academics promoting the application of ICT to assist Africa's development, these individuals provide a rich source of ideas, skills and support for the transfer of ICT to Africa. The Digital Diaspora Network will reach out to this scattered community in the United States and Europe and facilitate the exchange of ideas and information to help ICT entrepreneurs create opportunities and find the partners and the resources they need to make use of them.

* The project intends to relaunch the term diaspora, not only to refer to the event of the slaves deportation happened during the 16th century, but even to highlight the phenomenon of the international migratory fluxes, moving from Africa to the industrialized countries. This second migration could be defined as the second African diaspora.

Go to DDNA SITE