Support for the Establishment of Harmonized Policies for the ICT in the ACP

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Support for the Establishment of Harmonized
Policies for the ICT in the ACP

• Sandro BAZZANELLA
• ITU-EC Project Manager
• Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT)
• International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

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A global Project for the ACP countries

• An effectively functioning ICT sector is a key
  driver for development, growth and employment
• ITU and the European Commission signed in
  December 2007 a global project which aims at
  providing Support for the establishment of
  harmonized policies for the ICT market in the ACP
  states
• It is a component of programme ACP-Information
  and Communication Technologies _at_CP-ICT
• This global project entails three regional
  sub-projects addressing specific needs
• Short terms Experts will be recruited during the
  implementation of the project to support the
  Project Coordinators

Sub-projects Acronym Duration
Project global management (Mr. Sandro Bazzanella) 4 years
1. Support for harmonization of the ICT Policies in Sub-Sahara Africa (Mr. Jean-François Le Bihan) HIPSSA 3 years
2. Enhancing competitiveness in the Caribbean through the harmonization of ICT Policies, Legislation and Regulatory Procedures (Ms. Kerstin Ludwig) HIPCAR 3 years
3. Capacity Building and ICT Policy, Regulatory and Legislative Frameworks Support for Pacific Island States (Under recruitment) ICB4PIS 2 years
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Objectives
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• Global objective of this project is to provide
  support towards creating harmonised policies for
  ICTs and an efficient regulatory environment,
  conductive to massive investments required by ICT
  infrastructures and applications in the ACP
  countries
• Detailed objectives are as following
• Developing and promoting ICT market policies and
  guidelines for individual ACP Countries
• Supporting the regional organizations and the
  sub-regional economic groupings to develop and
  promote the use of harmonized ICT market policies
  and regulations in the area concerned
• Building human as well as institutional capacity
  in the field of ICT through a range of targeted
  training, education and knowledge sharing
  measures
• This Project urges for a demand-driven bottom up
  approach
• The methodology will facilitate and consolidate
  the ownership of the project by the beneficiary
  countries
• In general terms, this project will pay specific
  attention to link the substance of policy and
  regulation to Capacity Building.

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Project implementation at Regional level
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• A launching meeting (Kick Off) in order to
  convene all stakeholders and validate the
  projects global approach, the priorities and its
  operational structure. All stakeholders were
  invited to participate
• HIPSSA (Sub Sahara) Kick Off 11-12 December
  2008, Addis Ababa (Ethiopia)
• HIPCAR (Caribbean) Kick Off 15-16 December 2008,
  St Georges (Grenada)
• A Regional Steering Committee in order to adopt
  a work programme plan of action and overview
  its implementation
• HIPSSA SC 12 March 2009, Addis Ababa (Ethiopia)
• HIPCAR SC 5-6 March 2009, Bridgetown (Barbados)
• Production, validation and adoption of
• policies and
• harmonized legislative and regulatory frameworks
• at regional levels in the Caribbean and
  sub-regional levels in Sub Sahara Africa based on
  best national, regional and international best
  practices.
• A first raw of actions in favour of
  institutional and human capacity building

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Project implementation at National level
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• Further to the completion of the Regional
  activities, the implementation at national level
  will include the following steps
• Appropriation of harmonized regional framework
  by stakeholders in each beneficiary country
• Transposition of regional guidelines into the
  national legislative and regulatory frameworks of
  beneficiary countries in coherence with the
  national strategies of each of them
• A second row of of actions of institutional and
  human capacity building at national level with a
  focus on national experts

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Sub Project 1 HIPSSA (Sub Sahara Africa)
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• 3 years programme
• 43 Countries divided in 4 geographical regions
• Project Coordinator based at ITU Regional Office
  for Africa
• While the HIPSSA Project is a scale up project
  of a pilot project successfully implemented in
  West Africa, the methodology has been adapted to
  reflect the diversity between the sub-regions and
  their differences in the legal systems

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Sub Project 1 HIPSSA - Template
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Sub Project 1 HIPSSA - Western Africa
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Sub Project 1 HIPSSA - Central Africa
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Sub Project 1 HIPSSA - Southern Africa
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Sub Project 1 HIPSSA - Eastern Africa
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Sub Project 2 HIPCAR (Caribbean)
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• 3 years programme
• 15 Countries
• Project Coordinator based at Caribbean
  Telecommunications Union (CTU)
• Further to the Kick Off meeting (15-16 December
  2008) and the first Steering Committee (5-6 March
  2009), three working groups will be set up
• ICT Policy data protection, eEvidence,
  eTransaction, cybercrime, freedom of
• information and interception of
  communication
• Revision of various Telecommunications Acts
• Universal Service Framework
• Licensing Guidelines in a convergent environment
• Interconnection Guidelines.
• eGovernment (in collaboration with CARICAD)
• Other areas to be determined, budget permitting.

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Sub Project 3 ICB4PIS (Pacific Islands States)
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• 2 years programme
• 15 Countries
• Project Coordinator under recruitment. Location
  Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS)
  premises
• Aims at building human capacity building in the
  field of ICT through a range of targeted
  training, education and knowledge measures
• Develop background material for possible
  harmonized policies for the ICT markets
• Ongoing discussions with the EU and the
  Governments regarding the extension of the
  programme to cover harmonization of legislative
  and regulatory framework.

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Thank you for your attention
Sandro BAZZANELLA sandro.bazzanella_at_itu.int
  Phone [phone]
http//www.itu.int/ITU-D/projects/ITU_EC_ACP/index
.html