By Ashnah Kalemera According to data from the IER 2011, the 51 mobile money deployments in Africa as of April 2011 are creating new opportunities for small businesses to access financial services. The real time money transfers and payment transactions are enabling small enterprises to better manage their cash flow and speeding up the delivery of […] Read more
By Ashnah Kalemera What role are Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) playing in enabling private sector development in developing countries? And what are countries in Africa and other developing regions doing to enable ICT play a greater catalysing role in national development? These were some of the questions discussed at the launch in Kampala of […] Read more
The inhabitants of Bushenyi District in Uganda have seen their right to access information blatantly violated by public bodies; reflecting the plight of thousands of ordinary citizens who wish to hold their leaders accountable. Unusual and suspicious delays in the execution of a contract to build a new stadium in the District of Bushenyi amid […] Read more
In this issue of the newsletter, read about concerns that Tanzanian authorities are growing intolerant of online activity deemed critical of the government; the link between ICT and open government; how social media could promote democracy; the challenges of accessing public information in Uganda; the ICT-for Democracy in East Africa project; and the Uganda national […] Read more
By Ashnah Kalemera Social media is fast becoming one of the major uses of the Internet. Wikis, blogs and other social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube have been added to the Internet as enablers for developing, storing and disseminating instant information to audiences of people in diverse locations at a fairly low […] Read more
By Lillian Nalwoga Tanzanian citizens are increasingly using social media networks to share information and, to a lesser extent, demand more transparency in the conduct of public affairs. But there are concerns about the apparent intolerance by Tanzanian authorities of online activity deemed critical of the government. For over 40 years, Tanzania under the Chama […] Read more
By Ashnah Kalemera Launched in May 2011, ICT for Democracy in East Africa (ICT4DemEA) is a network of organisations undertaking collaborative projects where Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is used in various ways to promote transparency, accountability and democracy. The network, with seed funding from the Swedish Program for ICT in Developing Regions (Spider) comprises […] Read more
By CIPESA Writer Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) could be a key enabler of open government in Africa, in the wake of the September 20, 2011 launch of the Open Government Partnership (OGP), a multilateral initiative that aims “to secure concrete commitments from governments to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technolo¬gies […] Read more
The report of the 4th Uganda Internet Governance Forum organised by the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern (CIPESA) in conjunction with the Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) and Hive Colab on August 10, 2011, is available for download here […] Read more
By Lillian Nalwoga The Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern (CIPESA) in conjunction with the Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) and Hive Colab organised the 4th Uganda Internet Governance Forum (IGF) under the theme “Harnessing Internet Development. The forum was held on August 10, 2011 at Hive Colab premises in Kampala, brought together over […] Read more
Cloud Computing and ecommerce+uigf2011 NIGF PresentationPower of Social Media in Citizen Empowerment UIGF online discussions 2011 What kind of Internet do you want NIGF programme 2011 […] Read more
