For the past six years, Alternatives, a non-governmental organisation whose head office is in Canada, has run two main programmes concerned with community development (eg. the reconstruction of schools in various areas), advocacy and capacity building in information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Reduction in the digital divide in the DRC through multilateral collaboration
Alternatives in the DRC is undertaking ICT-related activities in collaboration with the Multisectoral ICT Initiative (Dynamique Multi sectorielle pour les TIC – DMTIC), which brings together representatives from the public and private sectors and civil society. Talking about this multilateral initiative, Lina Gjerstad, ICT Programme Officer for Alternatives in Kinshasa makes it clear that “it is mainly through this initiative that we are inviting people from different sectors to get involved in our studies or in our other ICT activities.”
Then she adds “We also have links with other organisations from various sectors, such as Reprontic, the network of NGOs from civil society that is involved in ICT advocacy in the DRC.” Alternatives also plans to organise a Forum on youth and ICTs in the coming months with the NEPAD e-Africa youth commission.
Studies on the ICT situation
A list of priorities was drawn up by DMTIC for the DRC, which includes infrastructure as the absolute priority. More specifically, it includes issues related to urban networks, the national internet backbone and the IT environment. These choices were justified by the following reasons:
- national inter-urban traffic goes via satellite, that is through other countries, and is consequently expensive;
- the country’s interior has a very low connectivity rate, which is an obstacle to ICT development;
- there are some networks that are reliable but under-utilised and which could be used to access the internet.
Since February 1995, studies have been launched by DMTIC that are within the framework of the project to reduce the digital divide in the DRC.
Since last June, Alternatives has been supporting a feasibility study and advocacy for an internet backbone for open access in the DRC. The objective of this study is to investigate and propose strategies for infrastructural development and the implementation of policies for the development and management of this infrastructure on an open model, promoting affordable bandwidth that is more accessible to all Congolese people.
The study aims to improve ICT access in the DRC and to promote social and economic development. The results of this study will be available in December 2006.
The next activities to be undertaken in the DRC
Together with their local partner, the Multisectoral ICT Initiative (DMTIC), Alternatives plans to undertake discussions on national ICT policies in the coming months. In effect, the DRC still has no national ICT development strategy.
Other Alternatives initiatives in the DRC include support to civil society through the management of the web portal www.societecivile.cd and the website www.rdc-tic.cd. To finish off, Lina Gjerstad adds: “we are starting a programme of distributing low-price computers to Congolese civil society organisations with whom we already work.”
General information on Alternatives
http://www.alternatives.ca/article99.html?lang=en
Report on the ICT situation in the DRC
http://www.rdc-tic.cd (in French)
Multisectoral ICT dynamic
http://www.societecivile.cd/membre/dmtic (in French)
DRC, ICTs and WSIS