The document discusses the history and goals of initiatives to develop Africa's information infrastructure, including PADIS, CABECA, and AISI. It defines AISI as a framework to build ICT infrastructure in Africa through priority strategies like NICI, RICI, SICI and VICI. NICI plans are instruments to implement AISI at the national level by developing ICT policies, strategies, and plans. RICI allows for harmonizing national ICT strategies at the sub-regional level. The benefits of RICI include policy integration, regulatory harmonization, strengthened regional institutions, joint infrastructure development, and economic cooperation.

1. AISI – NICI - RICI
Alain Nkoyock,
Addis Ababa, 1st October 2005
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2. ICT, ECA & AISI: Historical Steps
• PADIS (Pan African Development Information System):
1979 -> Objective: Establishment of a centralized
development information Db at ECA (AA) with national
development information Dbs at national participating
centres in Africa countries
• CABECA (Capacity Building for Electronic
Communication in Africa: 1992 -> Objective:
Establishment of electronic communication nodes in 24
African countries.
• AISI (African Information Society Initiative): 1996 ->
Development of National Information and
Communications Infrastructure (NICI) in Africa (among
others).
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3. What is AISI?
– An Action Framework to Build Africa's
Information and Communication Infrastructure
– Aims at supporting and accelerating socio-
economic development imperatives of African
countries
– Focuses on priority strategies, programmes
and projects (information networks, regional
databases, etc)
– Main e-strategies: NICI, RICI, SICI and VICI
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4. What is an NICI Plan?
• An instrument to implement the global AISI visions
of developing the information infrastructure, human
resources and content at national level;
• An African response to facilitate the digital
inclusion of Africa and integration of the continent
into the globalization process;
• An exercise aiming at developing national ICT
policies, strategies and plans which serve as
roadmap for the countries participation in the
knowledge economy.
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5. Aims of a NICI Plan
• Improve the nations Information and
communication infrastructure;
• Improve the nations ICT policies and regulatory
frameworks;
• Improve the nations Human resources;
• Improve the nations Infostructure.
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6. NICI Plan Components
– The policy;
– The Framework;
– The implementation plan.
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7. NICI Process
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8. NICI Plans in Africa, 2005
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9. Lessons learnt
• Long-term Vision
• - is absolutely Essential
• Short-term prioritization
• -(start small, scale fast)
• Human resource development
• - for all sectors of society
• Private-sector funding model
• -is not yet mature
• Donors need to fund
• -beyond “pilots”
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10. Lessons Learnt
• Incoherence between NICI Plans - UNDAF &
PRSP
• ICT- led Development Vision Vs. MDG
• Projects identified in NEPAD STAP are those
identified by RECs
• Implementation phase awaited
• Many initiatives with mitigated results
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11. AISI: ECA’s Subsidiary Bodies
• ATAC:
• PICTA:
• CODI:
• African Stakeholders Network (ASN) of the UN ICT Task
Force:
• African regional EPolNet Node:
– Launched in 2003 (CODI III);
– Mission: channel demand from African institutions and
individuals, such as policy experts, programme
managers and legislative drafters seeking e-strategy
expertise;
• GKP: Network of networks
– 2002: GKP annual meeting held in ECA
– Mission: develop GKP strategy for 2005: global and
regional networks and partnership mechanisms in Africa
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12. What is RICI?
• A facility for harmonizing national strategies at the sub-
regional levels by RECs for consistency in regional
economic integration goals in the area of ICTs
• Allows for harmonization of national regulatory frameworks
as countries deregulate and liberalize their
telecommunication markets
• Provides a framework for the development of information
and communication infrastructure that can facilitate regional
economic integration goals of the African continent.
• Provides an impetus for strengthening capacity at the sub-
regional level in ICT for development and building a critical
mass to facilitate regional integration through ICTs
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13. Benefits of RICI
• Policy and Regulatory Integration:
– The creation of regional strategies would enable Africa to build economy of scale for
developing its infrastructure and content and increase Africa's ability to negotiate
globally.
• Regulatory integration at the regional level:
– would create and strengthen the community/associations of regulators to facilitate
cross-boarder interaction, market enlargement and harmonization policies at the sub-
regional and regional levels.
• Strengthen regional institutions:
– to participate effectively in global ICT, as well as of decision-making bodies such as
ICANN, WTO, WIPO, ISOC etc.
• Infrastructure Development:
– This will include the setting up of sub-regional backbones, exchange and
interconnection points, with human resource development requirements.
• Mechanisms for sharing bandwidth within the sub-regions:
– should be looked into as part of the facilitation of sub-regional and regional
interconnectivity.
• Economic Policies:
– Establishing common tariffs for ICT products and services across borders as a key
component of the harmonization process at sub-regional and regional levels.
• Potential for cost sharing in executing joint projects at sub-regional and regional
levels:
– particularly the financing and strengthening of sub-regional and regional backbones
to enhance connectivity in the region.
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