ICT

What's on this page?

On this page you will find out more about the work being done to promote digital development across the African continent as well as information on progress made to date.

What is the NEPAD e-Africa programme?

NEPAD's e-Africa programme works in the area of technology to promote Africa as a globally competitive digital society. The programme was previously known as the NEPAD e-Africa Commission and is tasked with developing policies, strategies and projects at continental level for the development of information and communication technologies (ICT) throughout Africa.

What are the aims of the programme?

The aim of the NEPAD e-Africa Programme is to pursue cross-sector initiatives so that ICT is entrenched in all social sectors, e-services are developed and Africa is digitally competitive.

What's happening in the programme?

NEPAD's ICT Broadband Infrastructure Network for Africa is one of the key initiatives of the e-Africa programme, which:

- Aims to connect all African countries to one another and to the rest of the world through existing and planned submarine (Uhurunet) and terrestrial (Umojanet) cable systems.
- Aims to integrate the continent and enable trade, social and cultural interchange to take place with ease and affordability.

Uhurunet is being developed by Baharicom Development Company (BDC) which has signed an MoU with ACE (Africa Coast to Europe) to jointly build a submarine cable that will extend from Europe to South Africa, running along the West African coast, and connecting every African country along that coast.

Umojanet is a a terrestrial network that will link every African country to its neighbours, will connect to Uhurunet to realise the dream of the cross-border continental NEPAD Network.

Another key project of the e-Africa programme is the NEPAD e-Schools Initiative. The initiative aims to harness ICT technology to improve the quality of teaching and learning in African primary and secondary schools in order to equip young Africans with the knowledge and skills that will enable them to participate confidently and effectively in the global information society and knowledge economy.

What progress has been made so far?

Sixteen African countries have signed MoUs with the NEPAD e-Africa Programme and a consortia of private sector companies to participate in the NEPAD e-Schools demo Project. To date over 80 demonstrations NEPAD e-Schools have been implemented. Each school in the demonstration project was equipped with a computer laboratory containing at least 20 PCs as well as a server and networking infrastructure and peripheral devices such as scanners, electronic whiteboards and printers. The schools were connected to the Internet to enable them to access content and to communicate with the rest of the world.

Who is leading the Programme?

The NEPAD e-Africa Programme is within the CEO Office and is lead by
Dr Edmund Katiti, edmundk@nepad.org 
Tel: +27 12 841 4624