ICT centres for NEPAD countries

The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) is establishing Information and Communications Technology (ICT) centres in member countries to create the opportunity for the youth to bridge the information gap existing between the African continent and the developed world.

The Media Manager at the NEPAD Secretariat, South Africa, Mr Louis Napo Gnagbe, announced this at a two-week international training seminar for broadcast and television journalists in Accra yesterday.
He said the four countries that had so far benefited from the ICT training were Rwanda, Kenya, Mauritius and Mali.

He said the training of trainers seminars organised by NEPAD were part of the broad plan to bring the activities of NEPAD closer to the ordinary people who stood to gain from the new economic partnership in Africa.

He said over 1,000 journalists had been trained since the training of trainers seminars were started in 2006, adding that the training programmes had begun to bear fruits because journalists from different countries on the continent had got to establish networks which enabled them to share information through the Internet.

He said the NEPAD Secretariat in South Africa had also drawn up a programme for journalists to visit South Africa to learn more about the Pan African Parliament and the way to report on its proceedings.
Mr Gnagbe appealed to journalists to respond to invitations extended to press houses to participate in NEPAD training programmes, since they were the representatives of the people.

The Media Manager of NEPAD explained that if the media personnel understood the workings of NEPAD, they could easily relay them to the ordinary people and transmit their feedback to governments in Africa.
Ms Sina Eckhof, a representative from the German Technical Co-operation (GTZ) who are sponsoring the training programme with NEPAD, said a number of areas had received German support.

The areas included the NEPAD communication outreach programme, the gender unit, the capacity development unit, good governance, as well as trans-border water management.