Holistic ICT for EcoLiving

This year’s Digital World Africa 2006 meeting in Abuja, Nigeria was supported and hosted by The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) at the Digital Bridge Institute. Before the meeting Kafui Participated in the tt30 Annual Conference @ The Digital Bridge Institute, Abuja, Nigeria. September 9-11, 2006.

Kafui’s Presentation at Digital World on Open Source Tools and Education
At the Digital World Africa 2006 Conference, Kafui Prebbie participated in the Technical Panel 5 Discussion, where he made a presentation on Open Source Tools and shared his experience(s) with the Winneba Linux User Group (WiLUG) and the University of Education, Winneba. The outline for the Presentation is available here: The Result of Freedom: Low Cost Technologies & Free and Open Source Software (Word 33kb).

tt30 Annual Conference @ The Digital Bridge Institute, Abuja, Nigeria. September 9-11, 2006
tt30 meetings are generally closed sessions for members to meet physically and review the previous year and set new targets and goals for the coming year. Sessions are often run under discussion mode.

tt30 Background Information

• What is Think Tank of the Club of Rome? The Young Think Tank of the Club of Rome (tt30) was founded in 2001. It prides itself as a global think tank promoting holistic and integrated approaches to humanity’s development and evolution. Its mission – just like the Club of Rome – is to act as a global catalyst of change that is free of political, ideological and business interests.
• Who are its Members? tt30 is composed of independent men and women around the age of 30 (therefore tt30), concerned about current trends, but who are committed to work proactively towards innovative and inspirational solutions to these challenges. For more about tt30 members and how it selects it members go here.
• How does it Work? From the perspective of a new generation, tt30 works out an agenda of topics it regards as central for the future development of the world, using CoR’s unique methodology (Web of the Problematique). tt30 is guided by CoR’s fundamental principles, promoting a holistic, global approach to development that is long-term oriented.
• tt30 Goals – tt30 aims at an impact in three directions:
  • Integrating Participants into a global network of young people committed to work toward a better future;
  • Providing CoR with the perspective of young people on the Problematique;
  • Distributing its findings to the public through the tt30 website and the media.

Relevance to Kafui’s work @ OVF
Kafui’s involvement with the think tank dates back to August 2005, when he was selected to attend the fourth Annual tt30 meeting in Sao Palo, Brazil. The work of tt30, which involves perceiving and predicting the future from not just an empirical point of view but a holistic one, gives credence and value to the research oriented and the ICT enabled projects of oneVillage Foundation.

Launch of New tt30 Book on ICT4D
Kafui’s work on tt30’s ICT caucus helped to produce a book titled: ICT for Development: The Challenges of Meeting the Millennium Development Goals in Africa. The book was launched at the conference in Abuja. The book with 22 chapters each written by different authors, embraces the idea countries must invest in the age of information to develop knowledge societies to prosper in the global economy. Especially relevant to Africans is the book’s conclusion that access to information and knowledge can be significantly enhanced by new, low cost technologies. Such an effort, the book’s authors conclude, is the key to addressing: education, poverty, enhancing human development and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

A copy of this book has been donated to the University of Education, Winneba Library together with a book edited by Michelle Sellinger, Executive Advisor of Education at Cisco Systems titled: Connected Schools. Michelle summarizes “Connected Schools provide new opportunities to improve the learning experience and to meet the challenges of today’s Knowledge Society.”

Education 2050
It was decided at the tt30 meeting that Kafui would moderate an online discussion group under the theme Education 2050. Education 2.0 is just the beginning of the formation of new more intuitive and agile ways of learning that. The growth of Information and Knowledge Economies, driven by the current rapid introduction of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) is enabling emerging markets to leapfrog existing infrastructures and stages of development and investment and embrace state of the art ICT such as Education 2.0. Already, instructional delivery and learning has dramatically changed (and is still changing in developing economies) and so is the role of the teacher and the student. The changing educational landscape will be explored in great detail as OVF develops the Education Pillar of its integrated development approach or architecture. The Education Pillar is one of the six oneVillage Foundation Initiative (OVI) pillars.
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Digital World Africa Conference @ The Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja Nigeria. September 12-13, 2006.

Summary
The Digital World Africa 2006 Conference considered Information and Communication Technologies as the basis for unprecedented “quantum leaps” in providing access to education and knowledge towards the integral development of Africa. The Conference included a Plenary, Workgroups, Exhibitions, Networking and Media Events. Several exciting developments were showcased, foremost of which was the One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project chaired by Prof. Nicholas Negroponte of MIT, USA.

Theme
Embracing the age of information and knowledge societies is a must for every country; developed or developing. It is widely recognized that education – formal and non-formal – is vital for fighting poverty, enhancing human development and achieving the various MDGs.

Organizers and Participants
The two-day thought provoking and revealing International Conference was hosted jointly by The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC), the Club of Rome and the Growing Businesses Foundation, along with the support of twenty four (24) public and private sector organisations. The Event was attended by: international delegates from twenty one countries; Government and Public Sector executives; civil society represenatives including in particular, women and youth organizations; service providers; and various professionals.
Closing Ceremony
The climax of the event was the launch of two major activities:

1. tt30 book titled: ICT for Development: The Challenges of Meeting the Millennium Development Goals;
2. Formal establishment of Club of Rome Chapter in Nigeria by the Deputy Secretary General of the Club of Rome and member of tt30 coordinating team, Joerg Geier.

The CEO of the Nigerian Communications Commission, Engr. Ernest Ndukwe gave a farewell speech to participants.

See complete Report here: Report on the tt30 Annual Meeting & The Digital World Conference (Word 2.67MB)