ICT Roundtable Conference Burkina Faso - Summary report
News
Nov 04 1998, Burkina Faso [BF]
This is a summary report of the National ICT Roundtable held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso in January 1998. It contains an overview of the objectives of the Roundtable conference, the input it created and project ideas resulting from the workshop. In addition, it outlines the planned follow-up activities.
Executive summary
This report summarises the main results of the 2nd workshop that was held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 22-23 January 1998. The 2nd workshop was organized on request and in co-operation with the Délégation Général a l´Informatique (DELGI), the public institution responsible for National ICT Policies in Burkina Faso.
The workshop is the follow up to the 1st workshop held at the same place on 19-20 September 1997. 30 people attended the workshop. The participants are all leading persons in different sectors including government, private sector and non-governmental organizations. In addition, technical representatives of national IT organizations were present to support the group in the development of project ideas.
1. Objectives
The purpose of the National ICT Roundtable in Burkina Faso is to deepen the shared/common understanding of the potential role of ICT in the development of Burkina Faso and to develop a series of annotated project ideas.
In terms of outcomes, the Roundtable therefore has two primary objectives:
· Identification of ICT policy priorities in Burkina Faso
· Annotated ICT project ideas
In order to arrive at these objectives, the Roundtable participants followed a process of scenario building, supported by the facilitators of Global Business Network.
2. ICT policy priorities
During the Roundtable conference the participants have discussed and validated 2 scenarios.
Scenario 1: Sahel Vert and Scenario 2: Termitière, both developed during the 1st workshop. The scenarios served in this workshop as a common context for further development of project ideas. Furthermore, the scenario thinking provided an inspiring approach for the participants and stimulated creative and effective discussion during the 2nd workshop. In addition, the participants validated the priority areas that were developed during the 1st workshop. The priority areas represent areas in which ICT is expected to have a strong impact and include education, public information, entrepreneurship, health care and food security.
Validation scenarios and vision for Burkina Faso in 2010
The workshop participants validated the scenarios developed in the 1st workshop. Between the 1st and 2nd workshop, the participants have had time for reflection. It resulted that most participants have studied the scenarios developed and have brought in a number of suggestions to improve the scenarios. The scenarios provided a common starting point for all participants. The validated scenarios are the following:
· The Sahel Vert scenario: A world where more regular and cyclical rain seasons provide the country with abundance as far as basic needs are concerned, yet where new - economically and/or individually inspired - values are seen to conflict with more traditional values. Burkina Faso manages to create a higher independence, and manages to claim some role in a regional and even global context. ICT will more change to be developed by different stakeholders in the society, particular the private sector and NGOs.
· The Termitière scenario: A world in which the country again experiences a prolonged drought and social values play an important role. Burkina Faso remains highly dependent on foreign aid, yet manages a transition to higher scolarity and alphabetisation. In this scenario, ICT will play a less pertinent role. The government will retain strong control over ICT. Only limited stakeholders will actively be involved in ICTs. Advantage is a better co-ordination of ICT policies.
In the course of the workshop, the scenarios have been used as a context for the selection and development of project ideas. In general, the scenario building was seen as a helpful tool to set the projects in a context. During the discussions on the scenarios, participants were triggered to envision the relationship between ICTs and national development. Unexpected developments in external national and international factors should be taken into account to ensure a successful and sustainable project implementation.
Validation priority areas
A second result of the workshop is the validation of the priority areas developed in the 1e workshop. After the period of reflection, the participants committed to 5 priority areas. The priority areas are all areas in which ICT is expected to have a strong contribution to socio-economic development. These areas represent the starting point for the development of specific ICT project ideas. There was found brought support for the selection of these priority areas including:
· Education: Connecting regional universities and research institutes and capacity building in these institutions is identified as the best leverage areas for ICT in education. Capacity building at this level is the best starting point for further distribution of ICT to secondary education levels.
· Public information: A strong leverage area for ICT is found at providing better public information access beyond the city of Ouagadougou, at the provincial and community level. In this area, the ICT is to search for areas to support democracy.
· Commerce: Information centres specialised in national and international commercial information is identified as a strong ICT leverage area.
· Health: Health information systems based on ICT is identified as an important leverage area for ICT in health care.
3. Project ideas
In each priority are, the participants identified 8 to 10 project ideas. Out of these, a selection was made for the most viable and sustainable project ideas with a clear linkage to sustainable development were identified.
Apart from the project ideas, ´agents of change´ have been identified. These agents of change are the persons or institutions that will take ownership of the project and will set forward the realisation of the project. In most cases, the agents of change include participants of the workshop or the institutions they represent. The following table summarises the project ideas and agents of change in each of the priority areas.
In the following sections the most viable and sustainable projects and agents of change are briefly described. In all projects is, apart from the assistance in the development of ICT networks and applications, foreseen in extensive capacity building of operators and users linked up to the project.
(Please scroll down)
Public information: Access to Internet and training at the provincial level
Project description
The objective of a third project in the area of public information is the improvement of access to public information via Internet for the provincial administration. Whereas an access network is currently developed for the central administration, the provincial administration does not have any means of access to Internet. The development of an access network at this level is a next step in the national ICT plan for the administrative sector developed by DELGI and the different Ministries.
The detailed project proposal foresees in the following elements:
· Development of links supporting Internet access in all provincial administrative headquarters in Burkina Faso.
· Provision of hardware and software for 2 workstations in all provincial headquarters
· Capacity building for operators and users at the headquarters.
Agent of change and local partners
· The Ministry of Internal Affairs and DELGI will have ownership of this project. The Ministry has developed already a well-defined general information plan for the Ministry and related entities, including the provincial authorities. DELGI is a strong and highly viable agent of change, which has shown strong commitment to the realisation of projects. The project will be implemented with support of ONATEL, the national PTT of Burkina Faso. The Provincial Authorities will be partner in the project.
Follow up
IICD considers this project to be relevant and viable. The project fits directly into the national ICT plan developed by DELGI. Therefore the project provides an opportunity to develop the co-operation with DELGI, the central secretariat for ICT policy in Burkina Faso. DELGI invited IICD to prepare a formal agreement for co-operation. After that, DELGI will develop project proposal in this area.
Public information: Juridical database
Project description
The project aims at a more effective distribution of public information on the laws of Burkina Faso on the national, provincial and village levels with help of ICT. Hitherto, information in this area has not been available to large parts of the population. At the moment, the University of Ouagadougou is developing a comprehensive overview of all laws in Burkina Faso. Hitherto, no specific laws are available in Burkina Faso. All laws are still based on the French laws developed for the former French areas in Western Africa. The Faculty of Law of the University has developed adapted laws for the country.
In order to distribute and popularise this essential package of information the Faculty plans to develop a judicial database containing well structure information of the laws of Burkina Faso. The database will enable national institutions and citizens to gain direct access to juridical information or to customized information packages on specific issues of interest.
In detail, the following project is proposed:
· Development of a juridical database containing all laws of Burkina Faso. For this hardware, software and personnel is required.
· Establishment of access points for selected institutions interested in connecting to the database.
· Capacity building personnel at the institutions interested in using the database.
Agents of change and local partners
Primary agent of change is the Faculty of Law of the University of Ouagadougou.
Follow up
IICD considers this project as highly relevant from the point of view of using ICT to support sustainable development from the perspective of the strengthening of the civil society in Burkina Faso. Furthermore, it provides an opportunity to develop specific applications for a sector, which has not used ICT as a basic development tool. A detailed project proposal for the development of a juridical database is already presented by the Faculty of Law and will be studied by IICD. The faculty of Law is asked to prepare a project proposal for further development of the project.
Public information: Pilot project sensitisation on constitutional issues at the local level
Project description
In Burkina Faso, the population at the local level does not have access to information of the nation´s juridical issues (constitutions, laws, regulation, etc.). A pilot project is set up to find out the best way to distribute juridical information in an accessible way for users at the provincial and local level. To make the information accessible to users, multi-media applications are expected to support the development of easy readable and locally adjusted information packages.
In detail, the following project is proposed:
· Development of a small information centre at the Organisation of Human Rights of Burkina Faso. At the centre, on demand of users, information is collected by means of searches on Internet, national databases and other sources of information. The collected information will be send to 2 regional centres (Boromo and Gourcy).
· In 2 regional centres the collected information will be used to develop Video and Powerpoint presentations containing text in local languages and pictures.
· The presentations and videos will be shown at community meetings by specialised animators.
· Training of a small staff in the national iformation centre in Ouaga
· Training of 2 persons in the provinces of Boromo and Gourcy who will test the application in Boromo.
Agents of change and local partners
The President of the Movement furthermore supports the project for Human Rights of Burkina Faso and by the Vice-President of the High court of Burkina Faso. These persons are highly respected and leading people in the area of democracy and human rights in Burkina Faso.
Follow up
IICD considers that the project is an interesting pilot project in a sector that is in many cases not brought in contact with new technologies. The agents of change themselves have developed a potential interesting application that is expected to support their activities. The agents of change are asked to develop a sustainable and viable project plan.
Livelihood opportunities: Information system for the agro-food business
Project description
The objective of the project is the development of an information system for the agro-food sector in Burkina Faso. The information system is set up to gather and distribute national and international market information to support a better co-ordination of agriculture and food information for small and medium local entrepreneurs. The project is expected to strengthen the competitiveness of the agro-food sector n Burkina Faso at the national and international level.
The information system is built on a national information centre that will be responsible to collect, customize and distribute information on demand. The national centre will collect information by means of a search on Internet, on national databases and more traditional sources of information. In a later phase of the project, a database at the national centre is developed and linked up to regional centres.
The national information centre will be connected to information point in 5 regions of the country. In principle, the information is made available to all interested users. Users can request information at the regional centres at a small fee.
In detail, the project is based on the following elements:
· Development of a small national information centre and 5 regional outlets
· Development of a communication network with external providers of information (University, CNRST, Orstom, Ministry of Commerce and Agriculture, etc.) and with the 5 regional centres on the basis of Internet access
· Development of a database and direct access to the database for the national and local companies co-operating in the project
· Capacity building for the information searchers and the operators and users of the database
Agents of change and local partners
In principle, the ownership of the project will be in hands of a leading federation of agro-food business, in which a number of local companies participate. FIAB - Federation de l' Industrie Agro-alimentaire de Burkina Faso - is an active institution who has already sought contact with the Dutch embassy in order to find counterparts among the Dutch federations in the agro-food business. The project will be initiated and led by Ms. Simone Zoundi. She is an adviser of the federation and a highly respected social entrepreneur in Burkina Faso. An ICT specialist of the federation is contacted to provide technical assistance to the project.
The federation has had for a long time interest in setting up this project but lacks in particular expertise to develop the project. The federation is prepared to invest in the project, but seeks apart from expertise financial support and contacts with western counterparts to provide information for the database.
Follow up
In principle, IICD thinks that the project is viable and sustainable. The project offers IICD an opportunity to co-operate with social entrepreneurs in the private sector, who are increasingly considered to be major partners in sustainable development. Therefore IICD has asked the federation to prepare a project proposal and offered to assist in project formulation, technical assistance, training and in identifying western counterparts.
Follow up
(Please scroll down)
This report summarises the main results of the 2nd workshop that was held in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, 22-23 January 1998. The 2nd workshop was organized on request and in co-operation with the Délégation Général a l´Informatique (DELGI), the public institution responsible for National ICT Policies in Burkina Faso.
The workshop is the follow up to the 1st workshop held at the same place on 19-20 September 1997. 30 people attended the workshop. The participants are all leading persons in different sectors including government, private sector and non-governmental organizations. In addition, technical representatives of national IT organizations were present to support the group in the development of project ideas.
1. Objectives
The purpose of the National ICT Roundtable in Burkina Faso is to deepen the shared/common understanding of the potential role of ICT in the development of Burkina Faso and to develop a series of annotated project ideas.
In terms of outcomes, the Roundtable therefore has two primary objectives:
· Identification of ICT policy priorities in Burkina Faso
· Annotated ICT project ideas
In order to arrive at these objectives, the Roundtable participants followed a process of scenario building, supported by the facilitators of Global Business Network.
2. ICT policy priorities
During the Roundtable conference the participants have discussed and validated 2 scenarios.
Scenario 1: Sahel Vert and Scenario 2: Termitière, both developed during the 1st workshop. The scenarios served in this workshop as a common context for further development of project ideas. Furthermore, the scenario thinking provided an inspiring approach for the participants and stimulated creative and effective discussion during the 2nd workshop. In addition, the participants validated the priority areas that were developed during the 1st workshop. The priority areas represent areas in which ICT is expected to have a strong impact and include education, public information, entrepreneurship, health care and food security.
Validation scenarios and vision for Burkina Faso in 2010
The workshop participants validated the scenarios developed in the 1st workshop. Between the 1st and 2nd workshop, the participants have had time for reflection. It resulted that most participants have studied the scenarios developed and have brought in a number of suggestions to improve the scenarios. The scenarios provided a common starting point for all participants. The validated scenarios are the following:
· The Sahel Vert scenario: A world where more regular and cyclical rain seasons provide the country with abundance as far as basic needs are concerned, yet where new - economically and/or individually inspired - values are seen to conflict with more traditional values. Burkina Faso manages to create a higher independence, and manages to claim some role in a regional and even global context. ICT will more change to be developed by different stakeholders in the society, particular the private sector and NGOs.
· The Termitière scenario: A world in which the country again experiences a prolonged drought and social values play an important role. Burkina Faso remains highly dependent on foreign aid, yet manages a transition to higher scolarity and alphabetisation. In this scenario, ICT will play a less pertinent role. The government will retain strong control over ICT. Only limited stakeholders will actively be involved in ICTs. Advantage is a better co-ordination of ICT policies.
In the course of the workshop, the scenarios have been used as a context for the selection and development of project ideas. In general, the scenario building was seen as a helpful tool to set the projects in a context. During the discussions on the scenarios, participants were triggered to envision the relationship between ICTs and national development. Unexpected developments in external national and international factors should be taken into account to ensure a successful and sustainable project implementation.
Validation priority areas
A second result of the workshop is the validation of the priority areas developed in the 1e workshop. After the period of reflection, the participants committed to 5 priority areas. The priority areas are all areas in which ICT is expected to have a strong contribution to socio-economic development. These areas represent the starting point for the development of specific ICT project ideas. There was found brought support for the selection of these priority areas including:
· Education: Connecting regional universities and research institutes and capacity building in these institutions is identified as the best leverage areas for ICT in education. Capacity building at this level is the best starting point for further distribution of ICT to secondary education levels.
· Public information: A strong leverage area for ICT is found at providing better public information access beyond the city of Ouagadougou, at the provincial and community level. In this area, the ICT is to search for areas to support democracy.
· Commerce: Information centres specialised in national and international commercial information is identified as a strong ICT leverage area.
· Health: Health information systems based on ICT is identified as an important leverage area for ICT in health care.
3. Project ideas
In each priority are, the participants identified 8 to 10 project ideas. Out of these, a selection was made for the most viable and sustainable project ideas with a clear linkage to sustainable development were identified.
Apart from the project ideas, ´agents of change´ have been identified. These agents of change are the persons or institutions that will take ownership of the project and will set forward the realisation of the project. In most cases, the agents of change include participants of the workshop or the institutions they represent. The following table summarises the project ideas and agents of change in each of the priority areas.
In the following sections the most viable and sustainable projects and agents of change are briefly described. In all projects is, apart from the assistance in the development of ICT networks and applications, foreseen in extensive capacity building of operators and users linked up to the project.
(Please scroll down)
Priority area |
Project idea |
Agents of change |
|---|---|---|
|
Access to Internet and training at the provincial administration |
Ministry of Internal Affairs Provincial authorities DELGI |
|
Juridical database |
Faculty of Law (University of Ouagadougou) |
|
Pilot project for sensitisation on constitutional issues at the local level |
UIDH |
|
Infocentrum agro-food business |
FIAB |
Public information: Access to Internet and training at the provincial level
Project description
The objective of a third project in the area of public information is the improvement of access to public information via Internet for the provincial administration. Whereas an access network is currently developed for the central administration, the provincial administration does not have any means of access to Internet. The development of an access network at this level is a next step in the national ICT plan for the administrative sector developed by DELGI and the different Ministries.
The detailed project proposal foresees in the following elements:
· Development of links supporting Internet access in all provincial administrative headquarters in Burkina Faso.
· Provision of hardware and software for 2 workstations in all provincial headquarters
· Capacity building for operators and users at the headquarters.
Agent of change and local partners
· The Ministry of Internal Affairs and DELGI will have ownership of this project. The Ministry has developed already a well-defined general information plan for the Ministry and related entities, including the provincial authorities. DELGI is a strong and highly viable agent of change, which has shown strong commitment to the realisation of projects. The project will be implemented with support of ONATEL, the national PTT of Burkina Faso. The Provincial Authorities will be partner in the project.
Follow up
IICD considers this project to be relevant and viable. The project fits directly into the national ICT plan developed by DELGI. Therefore the project provides an opportunity to develop the co-operation with DELGI, the central secretariat for ICT policy in Burkina Faso. DELGI invited IICD to prepare a formal agreement for co-operation. After that, DELGI will develop project proposal in this area.
Public information: Juridical database
Project description
The project aims at a more effective distribution of public information on the laws of Burkina Faso on the national, provincial and village levels with help of ICT. Hitherto, information in this area has not been available to large parts of the population. At the moment, the University of Ouagadougou is developing a comprehensive overview of all laws in Burkina Faso. Hitherto, no specific laws are available in Burkina Faso. All laws are still based on the French laws developed for the former French areas in Western Africa. The Faculty of Law of the University has developed adapted laws for the country.
In order to distribute and popularise this essential package of information the Faculty plans to develop a judicial database containing well structure information of the laws of Burkina Faso. The database will enable national institutions and citizens to gain direct access to juridical information or to customized information packages on specific issues of interest.
In detail, the following project is proposed:
· Development of a juridical database containing all laws of Burkina Faso. For this hardware, software and personnel is required.
· Establishment of access points for selected institutions interested in connecting to the database.
· Capacity building personnel at the institutions interested in using the database.
Agents of change and local partners
Primary agent of change is the Faculty of Law of the University of Ouagadougou.
Follow up
IICD considers this project as highly relevant from the point of view of using ICT to support sustainable development from the perspective of the strengthening of the civil society in Burkina Faso. Furthermore, it provides an opportunity to develop specific applications for a sector, which has not used ICT as a basic development tool. A detailed project proposal for the development of a juridical database is already presented by the Faculty of Law and will be studied by IICD. The faculty of Law is asked to prepare a project proposal for further development of the project.
Public information: Pilot project sensitisation on constitutional issues at the local level
Project description
In Burkina Faso, the population at the local level does not have access to information of the nation´s juridical issues (constitutions, laws, regulation, etc.). A pilot project is set up to find out the best way to distribute juridical information in an accessible way for users at the provincial and local level. To make the information accessible to users, multi-media applications are expected to support the development of easy readable and locally adjusted information packages.
In detail, the following project is proposed:
· Development of a small information centre at the Organisation of Human Rights of Burkina Faso. At the centre, on demand of users, information is collected by means of searches on Internet, national databases and other sources of information. The collected information will be send to 2 regional centres (Boromo and Gourcy).
· In 2 regional centres the collected information will be used to develop Video and Powerpoint presentations containing text in local languages and pictures.
· The presentations and videos will be shown at community meetings by specialised animators.
· Training of a small staff in the national iformation centre in Ouaga
· Training of 2 persons in the provinces of Boromo and Gourcy who will test the application in Boromo.
Agents of change and local partners
The President of the Movement furthermore supports the project for Human Rights of Burkina Faso and by the Vice-President of the High court of Burkina Faso. These persons are highly respected and leading people in the area of democracy and human rights in Burkina Faso.
Follow up
IICD considers that the project is an interesting pilot project in a sector that is in many cases not brought in contact with new technologies. The agents of change themselves have developed a potential interesting application that is expected to support their activities. The agents of change are asked to develop a sustainable and viable project plan.
Livelihood opportunities: Information system for the agro-food business
Project description
The objective of the project is the development of an information system for the agro-food sector in Burkina Faso. The information system is set up to gather and distribute national and international market information to support a better co-ordination of agriculture and food information for small and medium local entrepreneurs. The project is expected to strengthen the competitiveness of the agro-food sector n Burkina Faso at the national and international level.
The information system is built on a national information centre that will be responsible to collect, customize and distribute information on demand. The national centre will collect information by means of a search on Internet, on national databases and more traditional sources of information. In a later phase of the project, a database at the national centre is developed and linked up to regional centres.
The national information centre will be connected to information point in 5 regions of the country. In principle, the information is made available to all interested users. Users can request information at the regional centres at a small fee.
In detail, the project is based on the following elements:
· Development of a small national information centre and 5 regional outlets
· Development of a communication network with external providers of information (University, CNRST, Orstom, Ministry of Commerce and Agriculture, etc.) and with the 5 regional centres on the basis of Internet access
· Development of a database and direct access to the database for the national and local companies co-operating in the project
· Capacity building for the information searchers and the operators and users of the database
Agents of change and local partners
In principle, the ownership of the project will be in hands of a leading federation of agro-food business, in which a number of local companies participate. FIAB - Federation de l' Industrie Agro-alimentaire de Burkina Faso - is an active institution who has already sought contact with the Dutch embassy in order to find counterparts among the Dutch federations in the agro-food business. The project will be initiated and led by Ms. Simone Zoundi. She is an adviser of the federation and a highly respected social entrepreneur in Burkina Faso. An ICT specialist of the federation is contacted to provide technical assistance to the project.
The federation has had for a long time interest in setting up this project but lacks in particular expertise to develop the project. The federation is prepared to invest in the project, but seeks apart from expertise financial support and contacts with western counterparts to provide information for the database.
Follow up
In principle, IICD thinks that the project is viable and sustainable. The project offers IICD an opportunity to co-operate with social entrepreneurs in the private sector, who are increasingly considered to be major partners in sustainable development. Therefore IICD has asked the federation to prepare a project proposal and offered to assist in project formulation, technical assistance, training and in identifying western counterparts.
Follow up
(Please scroll down)
Phase |
Output |
Ownership |
Support |
Month (1998) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Policy input Project ideas |
ISOG Participants |
Ministry of Communication IICD |
January |
|
Sustainable project proposals |
Agents of change |
IICD Consultants |
February/April |
|
Local/foreign governments Private development banks Donor agencies |
Agents of change Local partners |
IICD |
May-August |
|
Start-up project |
Project teams |
IICD Funding organisations |
October/November |