The United Nations and the African diaspora
Networking
Mobilising emigrant technicians and intellectuals to bridge the digital
divide in africa
by Alfonso Alfonsi
 |
| First pubblic videophonic connection in Dakar (photo Panapress) |
The project in turn will mobilize the technological, entrepreneurial and professional expertise in the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) of skilled members of the African Diaspora in US and Europe to accelerate the transfer of ICT and the return of skills to countries in Africa. The network will also support the work of the UNICT Task Force, who promotes the whole project.
The selection of the participants to the network who are living in the United States is undertaken by the Digital Partners (a not-for-profit organization based in Seattle). The two organizations are joined by the United Nations agency UNIFEM (United nations Fund for Women).
The CERFE Group is working to build up the European Network of the African Digital Diaspora, with the aim of:
- identify potential participants to the European Network;
- promote and assist the core group of the European Network, organizing a first meeting;
- organize the participation of the European Network members to the UNICT Task Force meeting in New York (fall 2002) and take part to the meeting of the American Network;
- contribute to the organization of a meeting in Africa
- contact some European partners
Why work to support the ICT in Africa
The use of ICT has been integrated into virtually every aspect of commerce, education |
| An Internet cafè in Abidjan (photo Panapress) |
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 Sub-Saharian Africa.
An example of the importance and the value of the ICT for Africa is represented by the opportunity of improving the african health system offered by the online medicine, as Eddy Kapema Monga demontrates in his article on this issue.
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 American Network meeting in New York
The first meeting for the formation of the DDNA north american network has taken place in |
| A Rwandese student. |
A large number of entrepreneurs, professionals and scholars of ICT, has participated to the event, confirming their committment to assist, together with their african partners, the development of ICT in Africa.
In addition, during this event some other initiatives has been promoted.
First of all it will be lauched "Afrishare", a platform dedicated to the network and the mentoring activities, in which many members of the African Diaspora will work. With the support of Africast and Digital Partners, Afrishare will become a resource for the sharing of knowledge and for the allocation in innovative projects going on in Africa of mentors coming from the DDNA network.
It has been also started up the "Social Venture Fund for Africa" designated to support the entrepreneurial initiatives for the ICT in the African continent.
In addition, a Steering Committee will be build up to develop the network, start the mentorship program, raise funds aimed to supplement of the "Social Venture Fund for Africa", identify the ICT projects in Africa that need support and mentoring and, finally, develop a "brain trust" made up by advisors and experts among the diaspora members and friends.
Meeting of the European network in Bruxelles
The building up of the core group of the European Network branch is currently ongoing. CERFE, who is coordinating the European DDNA activities, is receiving the adhesions of the african diaspora members living in the European countries. The first meeting is expected to take place on the 20th of september 2002, at the European Union in Bruxelles.Call for participation
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
or ddna@gruppocerfe.org
.
|
Digital Partners |
| UNIFEM The United Nations Fund for Women (UNIFEM) promotes women's empowerment and gender equality. Since its creation, UNIFEM has supported numerous projects and initiatives throughout the developing world that promote the political, economic, and social empowerment of women. Recently, UNIFEM launched a new program, "Bridging the Gender Digital Divide in Africa though Strategic Partnerships". The program seeks to empower African women through innovative uses of Information Communications Technologies (ICT). |
|
UN TCI TASK FORCE The UNICT Task Force was established to provide overall leadership to the United Nations role in helping to formulate strategies for the development of information and communication technologies and putting those technologies at the service of development. The Task Force focuses on forging a strategic partnership between the United Nations system, private industry and financing trusts and foundations, donors, programme countries and other relevant stakeholders in accordance with relevant United Nations resolutions through its various Regional Networks and Working Groups. |
Onlinemedicine, the product of applying telecommunication systems to the health field, represents one of the innovations that could be deliberately introduced in technological progress as a way to fight underdevelopment and to improve the quality of health services and performance. Thanks to the use of suitable terminals, this system allows the transmission of clinical record data and also the exchanging of advice between physicians operating in extremely difficult conditions, such as in rural areas or in combat zones. It also affords a diagnostic support for images (X-rays, ultrasound etc.) and laboratory tests by using equipment enabling data entry and transmission in real time, through the internet or satellites, towards important research or clinical centres located in industrialised countries.
Using online medicine in developing countries has obvious advantages in view of the complexity of the problems found in their health systems and also for the kind of pathologies characterising these countries. Many African countries are undergoing an epidemiological transition, as the latest WHO report also stressed. This leads to public health problems linked to modernisation and to the adoption of an identical lifestyle as the one in Western countries, but in an African context. Besides having to combat problems linked to infectious diseases and malnutrition, African countries also have to face heart disease and diabetes that are typical pathologies of developed countries.
Until now, various countries' health systems have subdivided their national territory into health zones according to WHO rules. These zones provide for the presence of a main hospital with satellite units scattered over the respective territory. The units, or health centres, are differentiated as regards importance and whether they have specialized personnel. They are often located many kilometres away from their main hospital and their staff only include paramedics. Therefore, for any kind of operation of a certain level, patients have to travel a long way in order to receive treatment from non-specialist physicians who are forced to do what they can.
In this context, the use of telecommunication networks between professionals working in Africa and foreign experts, either working in big cities or in key hospitals, allows operating at a higher technological level and thus improves the level of health services provided.
Villages of a certain importance could act as telecommunication exchanges, where technologically equipped terminals would enable connections with big city hospitals or with key health centres in Europe. This would make a fundamental contribution in terms of quality of performance by using appropriate diagnostic and online help instruments.
This system also assures initial and in-service training of health workers, which is a fundamental factor for scientific progress, considering that African researchers have to face problems of financing, materials and isolation within the international scientific community. Telecommunication systems allow access to international databases and image banks as well as participation in e-conferences and in distance training programmes. In this way, African researchers can apply comparable solutions to local situations, thus contributing to scientific and technological progress.
One of the hoped for results is a reduction in the number of patients who have to be transferred from rural hospitals to urban ones, and from the latter abroad, thus enabling a saving in time and money, particularly for health transfers towards industrialised countries. This problem does not only closely concern national economies but also household budgets. For example, the costs of carrying out a computerised body scan, a complete oncological examination or a dialysis abroad are exorbitant. This is a kind of problem that only the "rich" can overcome, unlike the rest of the population. On the other hand, the possibility to carry out a quick biopsy online and to interpret the results in real time by consulting with colleagues working thousands of kilometres away is a way to get round many obstacles.
Another advantage is the online availability and computerised management of hospital resources represented by pharmaceutical stores. This is a very delicate situation because the management procedure of pharmaceutical stores depends very much on the follow-up and quality of the services provided.
The computerisation and networking of health management can lead to an optimum hospital organisation. Specialist personnel, such as radiologists, can offer their services to all hospitals in a given health zone on the same day, without having to move around, and can also provide advice. If need be, they can send their test results to colleagues in Europe or elsewhere and seek advice. All this is possible without physically moving around. Related services would also enjoy high performance. All this would then lead to shorter hospitalisation periods and the optimum use of the human resources concerned.
In this context, it is possible to apply budgeting techniques to health services, with an optimum management of pharmaceutical supplies, shorter hospitalisation periods and a reduction in the high costs of doctors having to travel to industrialised countries for in-service training courses. For many African countries, health budgets have always been very low and this system would thus allow an optimum management of these resources.
Many initiatives in favour of Africa have been implemented in the field of online medicine, and an example of these is the one carried out by AMBIMED Technologies starting from Italy and addressed to Cote d'Ivoire and the Democratic Republic of Congo. In view of the priorities expressed by the telecommunications and information technology firm in the health field as well as NEPAD guidelines, online medicine is destined to become one of the pillars of African health systems. An illustration of this fact is the project enabling a 28,000 kilometre cable network linking Europe with Africa and Oceania using optic fibres. This technology overcomes the technical problems linked to transmission speed, quality and quantity.
In this regard, one should also envisage the contribution that diaspora Africans can make. The motivation is two-fold, because participating in an online medicine network means making a real contribution in favour of one's homeland. That is why an organisation focusing on the contribution that health workers, integrated in the scientific milieu of industrialised countries, can make would be a significant starting point as regards cooperation for development.
Complete success depends on the cooperation of various bodies and, above all, on solid health programming. What is needed is not an inward-looking service, but actions that must be part of a plan, an overall project in order to combat disease and poverty. A healthy population is a guarantee of lasting development.
By promoting information and communication technologies on the basis of the aforesaid priorities, that is, health and education over and above commercial factors, a proper policy of cooperation between countries of the northern and southern hemisphere could solve a great many problems. The technical aspects have already been assessed and some of the solutions are already envisaged: what remain are the political decisions that largely involve the mobilising of funds in order to achieve concrete results.