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Connectivity workshop in Sierra Leone
Fri, 12 Mar 2010
The Commonwealth African Rural Connectivity Initiative (COMARCI) recently held a two-day workshop in Sierra Leone as a way of furthering the connection of unconnected rural communities in Africa.
The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), which issued the African Rural connectivity Report in December 2008, realises that to bring connectivity to marginalised communities requires a more active role by stakeholders. To this end, the CTO is conducting a series of in-country workshops to facilitate the building of Public Private Peoples partnerships. The resulting partnerships are expected to bring new connectivity and new services to rural communities.
The Sierra Leone workshop was hosted by the National Communications Commission of Sierra Leone and held in Makeni. It was attended by some 300 delegates representing all the ICT operators, some manufacturers, donors and importantly, community representatives, who examined and debated issues impacting rural connectivity. The National Communications Commission facilitated these consultations with the help of the CTO and helped to identify potential partnerships for nurturing. These partnerships will be anchored on local needs as community representatives will be involved in the process from an early stage.
On behalf of President Ernest Bai Koroma, the workshop was officially launched by the Minister of Presidential Affairs Hon Joseph Koroma, who drew the attention of delegates to the need to empower local people and communities through ICT connectivity by using Public Private Peoples partnerships.
Speaking at the opening of the workshop attended by several Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Parliamentarians, operators, civil society organisations and other stakeholders, the Hon Minister of Information and Communications, I. B. Kargbo referred to the importance the Government of Sierra Leone attaches to ICTs.
“Sierra Leone is the second country on the African Continent to have its President as the head of the ICT Council, after Rwanda. We understand and appreciate the role played by various stakeholders in improving ICT access and services in order to leverage the full potentials of ICTs for broader development goals. In that sense it is encouraging to note that COMARCI focuses on not only the Public and Private sectors, but has extended the engagement to the Peoples sector as well.”
Adding his words of encouragement, Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, the Chief Executive Officer of the CTO said that “these COMARCI workshops are not an end in themselves. They are rather a means to an end, one that we all have been pursuing for a long time – connecting unconnected rural communities so they can have access to knowledge. Our aim is not simply to connect all but to provide appropriate connectivity for all, without which the vast majority of the people of our member countries will not be able to benefit from the marvels of modern ICTs”.
Importantly the Makeni workshop has drawn attendance by a number of regulators of the region who are keen to observe the next phase of COMARCI at work with a view to replicating this successful model in their countries including representatives of regulators of Gambia, Ghana and the West African Regulatory Assembly (WATRA) are also in attendance.
The National Communications Commission under the able guidance of the Chairman Siray Timbo has been able to gather a large number of key stakeholders to ensure that the outcomes of the workshop form the basis of successful implementation of rural connectivity projects. The heavy presence of civil society representatives and the traditional chiefs of Sierra Leone was a striking feature of the workshop and bodes well for the activities beyond-Makeni. Other community–based organisations represented agricultural cooperations, health service workers, teacher unions, mining and forestry societies, and women’s associations.
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