NEPAD urges info scientists, librarians to help boost ICT uptake
COMPUTING
| April 20, 2013, 7:45 a.m.
NEPAD has called on African information scientists and librarians to take more active participation in national and global debates on development.
Speaking at a recent lecture at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, Dr Towela Nyirenda-Jere, Programme Manager of the NEPAD e-Africa Programme, urged Master degree students of the Information Technology (MIT) programme to link their research to issues relevant to NEPAD and become ambassadors of the Agency, so as to advance the development of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Africa.
Dr Nyirenda-Jere briefed the students on the NEPAD e-Africa Programme, which aims to better connect the continent through the development of broadband infrastructure and equip Africans with the necessary skills to make use of ICTs.
“I am really glad that I had the opportunity to interact with these students today. When we started the lecture, most of them had vague ideas about what NEPAD was and what it meant for Africa. They also did not know much about ICT development and the work that the e-Africa programme is doing,” said Dr Nyirenda-Jere.
The public lecture provided an excellent platform for the university students to understand how NEPAD works as well as to interact directly on profound ICT issues.
Dr Marlene Holmner, Coordinator of the MIT Program said: “It is so important for our students to hear about NEPAD and the work of the e-Africa Programme as it puts the MIT programme into perspective and makes the students aware of the connections between what they are studying and what is happening in the real world”.
Apart from gaining a better understanding of NEPAD, the students left with a pledge to become actively involved in advocating on the Agency’s mandate and advancing ICT development in Africa.
