Report on Indicators of Information and Communications

The purpose of this report is to assist Africa in its capability to invest in information and communication technologies (ICTs) as well as with its transition to an information society.

This report outlines activities undertaken in the Scan-ICT programme, from September 2001 to December 2002 and provides information on the development of indicators in Ethiopia and Mozambique, as well as an overview in Ghana, Morocco, Senegal and Uganda. It is a product of the Economic Commission for Africa under the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

The activities undertaken in the Scan ICT project include four major components:

1. Indicators and benchmarks: to track movement toward an information society, it is necessary to establish indicators, set benchmarks, and measure progress in meeting targets.
2. Policy issues: achieving maximum benefit from ICTs requires policies that facilitate access and effective utilization. Scan-ICT will help African nations to develop, implement and monitor policies that facilitate access and utilization.
3. Human resources: to participate in the global digital economy, African nations also need to educate young people for a variety of ICT related occupations, and to re-train the existing workforce to enable them to use information technologies. Scan ICT will monitor the growing demand for ICT skills in Africa, and will work with educators and the private sector to develop and share training materials. Scan-ICT will also work to facilitate the use of ICTs for delivering courses that teach these skills through distance education.
4. Applications: to contribute to African development, ICTs must not only be available, but must be used effectively. Scan-ICT will document and disseminate information on effective applications of ICTs in African business, community development, and social services including education and health care.

The Scan-ICT Methodology

The Scan-ICT methodology essentially contains a set of indicators developed by International Development Resource Centre (IDRC) based on the thematic areas identified for implementation of the AISI framework, namely, infrastructure, strategic planning, capacity development, sectoral applications, e-governance and information society and the information economy. The methodology was developed to contribute to the continuation and expansion of data collection and analysis, with a view to monitoring ICT sectoral progress in the pilot countries. As realities vary from one country to the other, the Scan methodology can be used as a guideline to further fine-tune and adapt the existing set of indicators to meet the peculiar needs of the countries and to develop new ones as appropriate. Together with continuous improvements of the indicators and benchmarks, it is expected that the system can provide accurate and up-to-date data and information to decision makers on progress monitored over time. The common denomination of data and the development of databases will also further regional analysis, monitoring and sharing of best practices and lessons learned.

The countries selected to undertake a baseline study include:

• Ethiopia (led by an expert from the Faculty of Business and Economics of Addis Ababa University - AAU)
• Ghana (Institute of Information Technology - INIT)
• Morocco (par la SARL dénommée "Informatique, Technologies de l'Information et Géomatique”)
• Mozambique (Centre for Informatics of the University of Eduardo Mondlane - CIUEM)
• Senegal (L'Observatoire sur les Systèmes d'Information, les Réseaux et les Inforoutes au Sénégal - OSIRIS)
• Uganda (Uganda National Council for Science and Technology - UNCST)

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