The "APC Hafkin Prize" Award 1 August 2001 ACT 2001 The African Computing and Telecommunications Summit 30 July - 2 August 2001 Pretoria Message from the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) Afework Temtime ICT Team, Development Information Services Division (DISD)/ECA YOUR EXCELLENCIES DISTINGUISHED GUESTS LADIES AND GENTLEMEN On behalf of Mr. K. Y. Amoako, Under Secretary General of the United Nations and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), I would like to thank you for inviting the ECA to join you in this very important and memorable event. Please accept greetings from Mr. K. Y. Amoako and Ms. Karima Bounemra Ben Soltane, Director of Development Information Services Division (DISD), who were unable to attend this very important gathering due to their busy schedule. I am delighted to be with you on this occasion that provides me an opportunity and great honour to talk about our dear colleague - Nancy Hafkin. My gratitude goes to the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) for having such an inspired vision and for the persistence to realise it. This marks a great beginning to encourage young Africans to follow her footsteps. Dr. Nancy Hafkin joined ECA in 1976 and was one of the long serving employees of the Commission with over 24 years of service. Her career in ECA started as head of research and publications at the African Training and Research Centre for Women until 1987. Dr. Hafkin's contributions in promoting Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for African development can not be covered with this very short speech. However, I will try to mention only the major ones. Her roles as project leader at ECA on a number of projects have been instrumental in initiating projects which have been seminal in communications development in Africa, notably Computer Networking in Africa, Capacity Building for Electronic Communication in Africa, Impact of Electronic Communications on Africa and the African Networking Initiative. ECA is also very proud to acknowledge Dr. Nancy Hafkin for her invaluable contributions to one of the very early electronic networking projects in Africa - she was in charge of the Pan African Development Information System (PADIS) from 1989 to 1997. Her involvement in bringing the gender dimension within ECA's work programmes was valuable. Since 1997 until her last days with ECA, she was the Co-ordinator of one of ECA's prominent and very important initiative - the African Information Society Initiative (AISI) (http://www.uneca.org/aisi), which was adopted as a framework to harness the use of ICTs to accelerate socio-economic development in Africa. Prior to the adoption of the AISI she organised and co-ordinated the High Level Working Group of African Experts in information and communication technologies who drafted the Initiative. Dr. Hafkin organised a number of large regional meetings related to communications development in Africa, including the Regional Symposium on Access to Telematics (1995) and the Global Connectivity for Africa Conference (1998). She was also active in the program organisation of the Global Knowledge Conference (Toronto, 1996). Ladies and gentlemen, Dr. Nancy Hafkin's significant contributions to the development of ICTs are enormous. Particularly, her contributions to the development of ECA's ICT programme through the AISI have been exceptional. As you may all know, the African Information Society Initiative (AISI) is an action framework that has been the basis for information and communication activities in Africa for the last five years. AISI was designed to give Africans the means to improve the quality of their lives and fight against poverty. It was launched in 1996 as Africa needed a common vision for its quest not only to bridge the digital divide between Africa and the rest of the world, but more importantly to create effective digital opportunities to be developed by Africans and their partners, and to speed up the continent's entry into the information and knowledge age and the global economy. AISI was supported and endorsed by a number of regional and international bodies including the OAU Heads of State summit in Yaounde (1996) and the then G7+1 Summit in Denver (1997). Since its inception, AISI has been supported and implemented through partnership. ECA joins multilateral, bilateral, and non- governmental partners, as well as representatives of the private sector and African member States, in implementing AISI. An important vehicle for AISI partnership is the Partnership for Information and Communication Technologies in Africa (PICTA), where Nancy Hafkin has been very instrumental during its formation and serving as the de facto secretary. ECA is also a leading member of the Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP). The PICTA working model and methodologies have been widely replicated, mainly through the GKP annual meetings and information resources. Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to take this opportunity to mention some of the major achievements of AISI, to which Dr. Nancy Hafkin has contributed directly or indirectly. * Support provided to 24 African countries to develop their own national information and communication infrastructure (NICI) policies, plans and strategies; and NICI profiles of African countries have been compiled. * Periodic consultations were organised with member states and partners through the following activities which include the Global Connectivity for Africa Conference in Addis Ababa 2 to 4 June 1998 in collaboration with PICTA, and the African Development Forum 1999 (ADF'99), which took place from 24 to 28 October, to bring the message of information technology and development, within the context of globalisation and the knowledge-based economy. * Capacity building for decision makers and technical training through the Information Technology Centre for Africa (ITCA), which is an ICT focused exhibition and learning centre * Launched the evaluation of ICT impact on peoples' lives and welfare (SCAN-ICT project) Ladies and gentlemen, Finally, I would like to appreciate the thoughtful decision of APC to name this Prize after Nancy Hafkin. Dear colleagues within APC, I assure you that you have made the right choice. We at ECA feel very proud and honoured about the inspired vision of APC to establish this Prize. We also feel proud for having been privileged in terms of all the ICT work done by Dr. Nancy Hafkin through ECA and the AISI. We would like to express our renewed commitment and readiness in working together very closely with APC and all other institutions involved in promoting ICTs for socio-economic development of our continent. Ladies and gentlemen, Let me join you in congratulating the winner of this year's "Nancy Hafkin Prize" - The Bayanloco Communication Learning Centre of Nigeria. I do not have any doubt that they have been inspired very much and encouraged in contributing their share to promote ICTs for African development. I wish you all the best in your future endeavours. Thank you. 1