AFRICAN CIVIL SOCIETY ON THE INFORMATION SOCIETY
GHANA CHAPTER
The African civil society contribution to the WSIS process dates back to before the official launching of the WSIS.
In 2000, during the Bamako meeting titled “The Gateway to Development” African civil society started its mobilization process to be ready for the WSIS process. This explains why, in May 2002, again in Bamako, during the first regional meeting dedicated to WSIS, African civil society was present in large numbers.A major achievement in the Bamako meeting was the setting up of an inclusive African coordinating body dedicated to mobilization, sensitizing and awareness between African stakeholders. This body, called the African Group, innovated in many ways. For the first time, the African government is a multi-partnership body composed of 5 government representatives, 3 members of the civil society and 2 from the private sector. This coordinating mechanism was adopted in Geneva by WSI Summit in December 2003.
Since then, African civil society has participated in WSIS. Initially small numbers of African people were involved. Participant umbers increased to the point where we were able to bring 40 participants to the Geneva Summit.
African civil society, in partnership with UNECA (United Nations Economic Commission for Africa), Francophonie, and many other organizations at the WSIS. WSIS agenda.
The way forwardThe African civil society goes beyond the WSIS. This is the reason why, after months of reflection, the representatives and delegates of the African civil society organizations, participating in the WSIS process since the beginning, in a light, smooth running and efficient coordinating mechanism.
The formation of a co-ordination mechanism has become a prerequisite for this critical phase of the overall WSIS process, dedicated to action. Aftermath of online discussion, the representatives and delegates of the First Phase of the World Summit on the Information Society, in Geneva, Switzerland, in December 2003, held an election to constitute ACSIS (African Civil Society for the Information Society), a Governmental Organization with a non-profit The action domain for ACSIS is the use of Information and Communication Technology for African Development. The official launch of ACSIS took place in Tunis in April 2004, thanks to the invitation of the Tunisian civil society, the financial and technical expertise of ECA and the facilitation of the Tunisian Government.co-ordination mechanism has become a prerequisite for this critical phase of the overall WSIS process, dedicated to action. After months of online discussion, the representatives and delegates of the First Phase of the World Summit on the Information Society, in Geneva, Switzerland, in December 2003, held an election to constitute ACSIS (African Civil Society for the Information Society), a Non Governmental Organization with a non-profit The action domain for ACSIS is the use of Information and Communication Technology for African Development. The official launch of ACSIS took place in Tunis in April 2004, thanks to the invitation of Tunisian civil society, the financial and technical expertise of ECA and the facilitation of the Tunisian Government.
WSIS Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action, based on the results of the first phase of the WSIS, moved ahead to an enabling phase in the continent’s Information Society Initiative (AISI).