Connecting sub-Saharan Africa
2005
Pierre Guislain, Mavis A. Ampah, Laurent Besançon, Cécile Niang, Alexandre Sérot
The World Bank
With a revitalized approach to information and communication technologies (ICT) sector development in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the World Bank Group (WBG) is poised to support further reform of the telecommunications sectors in the region. The strategy builds on the earlier reform agenda in the sector by leveraging the strengths of the Bank’s various organizational units to advance the essential goal of increasing the continent’s connectivity. Of particular concern is the ability to bring rural areas into the national, regional, and global economies, thus creating new opportunities for the world’s poorest citizens.
In its renewed efforts, the World Bank is especially keen on developing and enhancing the capacity of Africa’s ICT institutions—including regulators, ministries, and regional bodies—to lead the development of an interconnected region and implement sustainable regional strategies for integration and knowledge sharing. The WBG is exploring critically important new ways to strengthen support for local ICT applications which will help to create the requisite skills needed to adapt technologies to SSA’s circumstances and enable Africans to create innovative solutions to their own development challenges.
Keywords: Connecting, sub-Saharan Africa
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