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UNECA awards govts promoting ICT
2007-05-04 09:18:01
By Anaclet Rwegayura, PST, Addis Ababa
Nine African countries have won the first ever awards given for promoting the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) by governments in fulfilling their public service delivery functions, the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) has announced.
The Technology in Government in Africa (TIGA) awards came about through collaboration between UNECA and the Canadian Policy Resource Centre in training African policymakers.
Angola and Morocco have each won the first category award for public service delivery to citizens and communities while Rwanda was the only winner of the second category award for improved health services through the use of ICTs.
Kenya and Egypt have been awarded in the third category for improved educational services through the use of ICTs.
While Kenya successfully initiated automation of secondary school placement and online examination results delivery, Egypt`s education initiative has enabled students, teachers and administrators to build new skills through increased IT accessibility.
Senegal has won two awards, one in category four for its economic and financial e-services delivery, and the second under the Judges` Awards category for an ICT project that helps citizens to obtain administrative information from ministerial departments.
The fourth category award went to Rwanda for developing an ICT system that allows customers throughout the country to pay utility bills using scratch cards.
Other winners in the Judges` Awards category were Burkina Faso for developing a distance-learning programme in local languages, including Dioula and Moore, targeting rural people at any level of education, with a combined use of sound, images and text.
In the same category, Ethiopia was given two awards for a project that has fully automated services to over 300,000 customers of the Revenue Agency of Addis Ababa City Administration, including new taxpayer registration.
The second award to Ethiopia was for court administration reform that makes legal redress more accessible to citizens and responsive to their needs.
In the same category, Ghana has been awarded for its Instant Money Transfer (IMT) Service that uses the telephone to ensure prompt and instant delivery of cash to beneficiaries in the country.
The judges` awards were given to projects that did not fall in any of the four categories, but were considered of importance and deserved recognition.
Speaking at the award presentation gala late Tuesday, UNECA Executive Secretary Abdoulie Janneh said African governments have recognized the role of ICT, were embracing it and were looking for support in the field.
``ICT is critical for Africa. We will not move this continent forward if we do not embrace ICT and if we do not use ICT to influence our processes in government, in the private sector, in the rural areas and in service delivery,`` he added.
Besides the support provided by the Canadian government, the governments of Finland and Italy, Ethiopian Airlines, Microsoft, and Nokia Siemens Networks sponsored the TIGA awards.
According to ECA officials, the event would be held biennially to motivate the commitment of African governments to the use and promotion of ICTs.
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