Accelerating Development Requires Common Goals
Global ICT Forum, Botswana, looks to help achieve this
To accelerate development in developing countries, experts in different fields must ‘talk the same language’, and work together towards a common goal.
This is the view of Professor Dipak Khakhar, chairman of the steering committee of the World IT Forum (WITFOR) 2005.
WITFOR is a major global ICT initiative aimed at accelerating development for the world’s poorer nations. To be held in Gaborone from August 31 to September 2, 2005, it will be hosted by the Government of Botswana, in collaboration with the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP).
“Politicians make promises to different constituents, researchers focus on their own research, and venture capitalists invest in specific areas of expertise,” says Khakhar.
“The value of the WITFOR process lies in bringing together policy-makers, researchers, academics, the private ICT sector as well as end-users, and enabling them to communicate.”
The professor was speaking following the recent preparatory meeting of the eight WITFOR commissions in Botswana. These commissions each work in defined areas, such as health, education, environment and agriculture. They are addressing issues critical to developing countries, such as the application of ICT in fighting HIV/Aids and poverty.
Their work forms part of an ongoing process. The vision for each commission was described during WITFOR 2003, held in Lithuania. Each commission is now identifying concrete projects to transform that vision into reality, with tangible benefits for the peoples of developing countries.
A highlight of the process so far has been the generous funding acquired from the European Union (EU) for the Health commission’s BEANISH project. The EU is also a sponsor of WITFOR 2005.
The BEANISH project is developing regional health information systems, together with local stakeholders, using open source software.
“The HIV/Aids pandemic, together with the generally poor health status and health systems in Africa, has emphasised the need for developing appropriate information and communications technology (ICT) for managing, monitoring and delivering health services,” says Khakhar.
The BEANISH project addresses this by building a Europe-African network that combines experience from the previous South African implementation, best practices from other African countries, and research from Europe into the application of ICT in health. It is building appropriate African ICT solutions and know-how.
Projects in other areas, and their funding, will be announced at WITFOR 2005.
Professor Khakhar is based at the University of Lund, Sweden, in the Information Technology and Strategy department, and is involved in the university’s ‘IT in the context of globalisation’ centre of excellence. 
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