Over forty African policymakers and other stakeholders coming from 16 countries reached consensus on the need to move from policy development to implementation as most countries had developed policies which remained unimplemented for various reasons.
The purpose of this workshop was to build the capacities of decision makers in English-speaking countries of Western, Eastern and Southern Africa in the development of national ICT policies related to rural access. The workshop was intended to promote a dialogue among Participants that included representatives of local authorities, NICI focal points, regulators, cyber café managers, ISPs, civil society, private sector, women and youth entrepreneurs, the key players in the formulation and implementation of access related ICT policies and strategies.
Discussions focussed on topics such as: how to better integrate access issues in national strategies and regulations; how to facilitate, through licensing and approval procedures, the promotion of innovative uses of ICT within telecentres; and the economic sustainability of public access points located outside African economic capitals.
As a result, participants were able to identify the most suitable ways to consolidate the emergence of positive policy and legal frameworks that would guarantee the democratization of ICT access, particularly in rural areas. The workshop was an opportunity to discuss the various issues, create consensus and identify priorities for action that the countries or sub-regions can then implement in order to accelerate the development of ICT in rural areas thereby securing for these populations, better access to ICT and their economic and social benefits (i.e. “operationalise ICT4D – ICT for Development”).
This meeting was the third of its kind in Africa jointly organized by ECA and its partners, following two previous meetings in Douala, Cameroon and Dakar, Senegal for Francophone participants. This meeting was unique in that the delegates will also have the opportunity to participate and relay their recommendations in two major events:  a Ministerial meeting on ICT, to be held on October 26-27 2007, and the “Connect Africa Summit”, which will be held on 29th and 30th of October 2007.
For more information on this workshop and its findings, consult the Web site of the workshop at http://www.epolafrica.org/ictkigali2007/   Findings and recommendations from the French-speaking African countries workshops held in Senegal and Cameroon are available at http://epolafrica.org/psntic/about.htm.
The ePol-NET is made up of national and regional virtual centres of expertise, which are contact points for the dissemination of information available to policy and regulatory experts in the ICT sector.
The recommendations emerging from the discussion are presented based on the major themes covered by the workshop program:

Ownership and responsibilities of actors
• Participants urged the ECA and its partners to continue supporting the policy development and implementation process to ensure that benefits from the Information Society are realized;
• Leadership of ICT development at the country level should be placed at the highest possible level to ensure follow-up and implementation, both to develop the ICT as a growth enabling sector and to integrate ICT as an enabler in sectoral policies in various economic and social sectors;
• Government should establish and provide mechanism (eg SPV, holding companies to warehouse shares in ICT companies) to empower communities and citizens to ensure local ownership;
• Policy & regulations should not only emphasise  on technologies per se but address all related aspects of ICT such as infrastructure, applications, content, etc;
• Ensure that regulatory authorities that are truly independent from the political process and from operators;
• Governments should continue to recognize the role of various partners in supporting ICT growth;
• Need for Countries and Regional bodies to harmonize ICT policies & regulation issues regionally to facilitate regional integration;

Democratize public access to ICT’s
• Initiate development programmes at national level especially those aiming at availing technologies to rural and marginalised areas;
• Encourage Governments to establish telecentres in all regions of respective countries (National universal access points) and develop models to support and facilitate management of telecentres;
• The objective of Community Access Centres is to  serve respective communities and as a result, there is need for community consultation prior to the planning and implementation of such centres;
• Appropriate and relevant awareness activities should be conducted at all levels from the bottom of the pyramid to the top (all actors involved in the ICT adoption process i.e. from the users to the policy and decisions makers);
• Indicators should be reviewed and appropriate local relevant indicators should be adopted;
• Put in place performance based approaches to monitor progress on projects related to access in rural areas on  a regular basis;
• Document, promote and share experiences and best practices among African countries;
• Develop basic ICT infrastructure and advocate for country-wide decentralisation of ICT infrastructure;
• In the establishment and running of Community Access Centers, need to focus on short, medium and long term results and benefits;
• Include the use of existing facilities such as Post Offices as part of the ICT infrastructure in the development of CACs

Capacity Building
• Encourage the development of linkages between academia and industry / private sector to ensure better training programmes and a broader reach both at urban and rural levels;
• Develop capacity building programmes e.g.  Training in ICT’s, awareness promotion campaigns for rural and urban populations;
• Need to support capacity building (HR) in collaboration with developing partners at all levels and within all types of stakeholder entities: government Ministries and Agencies, Regulators, private sector, civil society, etc. Focus on sectoral policy development and implementation issues;
• Need to develop ICT skills and capacity in regional organisations for them to better integrate ICT as a social and economic driver.
Gender & Youth
• Integrate gender concerns in ICT policy and programmes;
• Increase awareness on the importance of ICTs  for national development and benefits of ICTs to women and girls;
• Involve all disadvantaged groups including women, youth, disabled persons, etc during the planning and deployment of ICT projects;
• Integrate gender sensitive monitoring and evaluation into ICT policy activities;

Partnership, Financing and Sustainability
• Encourage Public/Private partnerships and foster a consolidated approach to procure bandwidth (i.e. wholesale purchase);
• Continue working with current partners and international donors that have started ICT4D interventions through technical and financial resource mobilization. Seek new partners;
• Establishment and use of Universal Service Fund(s) for rural development programmes;
• Development and Promotion of local content;
• Offer incentives to ICT investors to invest in rural areas;
• Respect intended use of frequencies made available by regulatory bodies and ITU;

Telecenters sustainability
• Continue the development of the CACs with the assistance of the cooperating partners;
• Promote the development of entrepreneurial skills at community level to ensure long-term sustainability of critical initiatives such as Telecenters;
• Government should support development of telecenters Seek for  support from Development Agencies and national policy to promote growth;
• Apply appropriate technology for each centre based on the unique circumstances faced;
• Encourage government involvement, especially through leadership at the highest levels;
• Empower the community to understand the value of telecentre, thus increasing usage and revenues;
• Government should use telecenters as venues to provide government services.