APC Hafkin Communications Prize

The Hafkin prize was established to honour Dr. Nancy J. Hafkin, a true pioneer of networking, and development information and communications in Africa, over the course of a twenty-three year career. Nancy was among the first to enter the field of electronic communications in Africa. She played a central role in facilitating the APC’s work to enable email connectivity in more than ten countries during the early 1990s, before full internet connectivity became a reality in most of Africa.

In 2001, the Hafkin Prize was established to focus specifically on socially meaningful ICT achievements in Africa. APC’s objective is to recognize African ICT efforts, and to extract some of the lessons learned in order to make them accessible to others doing related work.

The theme for the 2004-5 award recognised community initiatives that use the internet and other digital communication networks to access markets, skills and opportunities to derive real economic benefits.

The winner of the APC Africa Hafkin Winner in 2004-5 was the Global Education Partnership – Wundanyi

Nominations were be judged according to three main criteria:

1. Positive economic impact

• The project demonstrates a positive economic contribution to the community

• Has a long-term vision for sustaining impact which includes training and developing local expertise

• Provides an equal opportunity for participation by the community regardless of sex, religion, political persuasion or income levels

• Is documented so that others can learn from the model

2. Africa-driven and developing Africa

• Developed and implemented by people and/or organisations based in Africa

• Must be local and community-based

3. Sustainable use of technology

• Offers or makes use of technology that is available and supported locally

• Demonstrates an understanding of the relationship between technology and the needs of the community on the ground. Extra points will be awarded for projects that predominantly use free and open source software and projects that utilise Africa’s natural resources (e.g. solar power)

THE PRIZE WAS OPEN TO: civil society organisations, community-based groups, networks, and social movements anywhere in Africa. Applications will be accepted in English and French.

THE PRIZE: USD$7,500.00 was to be shared amongst up to three winning initiatives.

Image: ITU used under Creative Commons license.