acacia

ART I: OVERVIEW

The idea of Acacia emerged at the 1996 Information Society and Development Conference, the first event of its kind held in a developing country, South Africa, and was thus closely associated from the outset with efforts by developing countries, particularly in Africa, to ensure that their voices would help shape the Global Information Society.

In March, 1997, the Board of Governors of the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) approved Acacia which was aimed at establishing the potential of Information and CommunicationsTechnologies to empower poor African communities. Acacia sets out with the determination to:

demonstrate how ICTs can enable communities to solve their development problems in ways that build firmly on local goals, cultures, strengths, and processes;

build a body of knowledge capable of identifying the policies, technologies, approaches, and methodologies instrumental in promoting the affordable and effective use of ICTs by marginalized communities, such as women.

Access to ICTs in and of itself can be rendered meaningless in the absence of measures to ensurboth affordability and easy use of the technologies. Thus the initiative stresses the need for mutually reinforcing action on four fronts: infrastructure, tools for local content creation, applications related to community needs, and policy.

This approach is being tested through national strategies in four target countries, Senegal, South Africa, Mozambique and Uganda, with successful projects in one country being tested elsewhere to determine if, as offshoots and opportunities, they could be replicated across the continent.

Acacia is also addressing cross-cutting issues which refer to potential road-blocks on five critical fronts: gender, youth, human resources development, technology research, and social policy.

In showing leadership on the application of ICTs to community development, Acacia recognizes that the full exploitation of their potential requires public and private sector partnerships. An active partnership program is in place and inquiries are welcomed.