Background:
It is crucial that the ICT programmes of donors working in the development sector is informed by the needs and experiences of organizations on the ground. Collaborative environments for information and experience-sharing provides a useful corrective to the sometimes top-heavy theorizing on the use and usefulness of ICTs for Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Africa.
Project Synopsis:
The HBS Highway Africa Scholarship aimed to facilitate the participation of CSOs in the Highway Africa conference held in Grahamstown (September 8-10, 2003). It aimed to create a learning context or a space for reflection - where the key issues raised at the conference could be discussed.
The conference provided a good opportunity to introduce ICTs to organisations still grappling with the implications of new technologies in their work and their communities, and to supplement the thinking of those who already had an in-depth grasp of ICTs and development. It was also an opportunity to reflect on regional initiatives such as the African Information Society Initiative (AISI) and the National Information and Communication Infrastructure (NICI) and on international processes such as the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS).
Through a post-conference workshop the HBS intervention aimed to collate the learning experiences of the conference, as well as any additional ideas around ICTs and civil society.
The process as a whole will supplement research done by SANGONeT in 2002/2003 into the use and usefulness of ICTs for civil society. These two documents will inform HBSs ICT strategy for the next three years. The project was repeated with some 30 delegates from Namibia, Zimbabwe and Lesotho in 2004.
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