Future Orientation of Geoinformation Activities in Africa

1
Future Orientation of Geoinformation Activities
in Africa

• A Position Paper produced by ECA-DISD
• Presented by Dozie Ezigbalike
• At the International Conference on
• Spatial Information for Sustainable Development
• Nairobi,Kenya
• 2-5 October 2001

2
Who and Why?

• ECA Economic Commission for Africa
• Main development responsibility
• To carry out activities that encourage the growth
  of the economic and social sectors on the
  continent
• Responsibility broken down into core programmes

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Grow economic social sectors
4
Justification for the study

• to identify practical mechanisms to
  facilitate spatial data collection, access and
  use in the decision-making process, both
  nationally and regionally, through a
  participatory approach

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Scope

• Acquisition
• Management
• Use
• Of spatial data

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Williamson says

• When planning future strategies for spatial
  information management, governments worldwide
  sometimes just concentrate on the technology and
  do not consider other influences or drivers
  they do this at their peril

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Answer

• Change in paradigm
• From Mapping to Knowledge Management
• Move beyond the map
• ? Put in place policies, resources and structures
  to make information available to decision makers
• When they need it
• Where they need it
• In a form they can use (almost) immediately
• Help them make sense of the information

8
Spatial Data Infrastructure

• Implication Treat spatial data production,
  management, dissemination and utilization systems
  as infrastructure
• Just like roads, bridges, telecommunications, etc

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Infrastructure

• The underlying foundation or basic framework
  (e.g., of a system or organization)
• The basic structural foundation of a society or
  enterprise, a substructure on which other
  components are based
• Collective or No ownership
• Custodianship principle

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Infrastructure

• Standard delivery and standard equipment
• Taken for granted
• Public good
• Expensive, with long term returns

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Issues for African Countries

• Economic Justification
• Legacy Data
• Policy and Coordination
• Dedicated Management

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Issues

• Re-engineering
• Data acquisition technology
• Information management and dissemination
• Just-in-time attitude to maps
• Customer orientation
• Standards

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Issues

• Core, Foundation, Framework or Basic data
• The Awareness Problem
• The personnel problem
• Utility and other enabling technologies and
  infrastructure
• Especially ICT

14
Issues

• Special Interests
• Environmental
• Cadastre
• Streets and road maps
• Financial Constraints and cost recovery
• Self-analysis

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Self analysis

• Chart 1 Available Information
• Dataset name
• Format and scale
• Where available
• Main users
• Uses and decisions supported

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Self analysis

• Chart 2 Information Requirements
• Issue
• Decision or action involved
• Information required
• Format and medium

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Immediate Actions

• Concept of Information Budgeting
• Information implication briefing
• Identify lead person/agency to coordinate further
  development
• Conduct series of workshops to publicise and
  explain concepts
• Start self-analysis
• Develop (web-based) self-learning modules

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Conclusion

• The vision is to ensure that spatial data
  permeates every aspect of society and that they
  are available to people who need them, when they
  need them, and in a form that they can use to
  make decisions with minimal pre-processing. Also
  the collected data sets should be put to the
  maximum possible uses by publicizing their
  existence and making them easily available to the
  widest possible audience. The most efficient and
  effective way to achieve these two related
  objectives is to establish spatial data
  infrastructures

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CODI-2

• What is it?
• Committee on Development Information
• A committee that provides policy and technical
  guidance for the implementation of the programme
  on harnessing information for development
• Findings and recommendations of CODI passed to
  Conference of African Ministers responsible for
  Planning Development
• One of the parliamentary organs of ECA
• Second meeting September 4-7, 2001

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Resolutions on SDI

• Give priority to establishment of NSDI
• Establish RSDI, with an African Geographic
  Database, for cross-national applications
• Permanent Committee on SDI in Africa be establish
• Participate in international developments and
  efforts

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Resolution on Policy

• Develop national GI policies as integral part of
  national Information and communications policy
• Develop appropriate legal, institutional and
  technical framework to integrate land admin and
  topographic programmes into wider context of SDI
• Adapt provided model policy guidelines

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Resolutions on Capacity Building

• Strengthen regional centres RECTAS, RCMRD,
  SEAMIC,
• Modularise curriculum and modernise constantly to
  keep up to date
• Create network of Educational Institutions
• Create a network of professional organisations to
  coordinate activities

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Thank you

• ezigbalike.uneca_at_un.orghttp//www.uneca.org