Regional Information Society Network for Africa (RINAF)

In 2001, RINAF initiated four pilot projects:

1. Virtual Multimedia Academy, which was coordinated by the Technical University of Sudan in Khartoum, the University Eduardo Mondlane in Maputo and the University of South Africa (UNISA) in Pretoria. This virtual education and training academy is designed to:
   
   • achieve a better understanding of underlying processes in the shift from printed media to online services
   • carry out research in user-friendly information design
   • identify affordable web tools.
   • establish a new university degree in Multimedia.

   
   

   The learning and teaching materials developed for the academy will be validated by UNESCO's International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA).

2. Website Design Competition (2001/2002), which aims to strengthen the competence at African universities and educational institutions in website design. The competition will be implemented in three steps, at the national, sub-regional, and regional levels.
3. Distance Education Project, the main goal of which is to promote ICT-supported Distance Education (DE) in order to improve education access, equity, and quality in Africa. The project will identify and describe current and planned DE programmes that are based on the use of ICTs, including new wireless media. Databases from UNESCO, the World Bank, French Ministry of Co-operation, INTIF (The ICT training institute of the Francophone community) and ICDE (the International Council for Distance and Open Education) will be utilised. A workshop was organised in Dakar (May 2002) in cooperation with UNESCO Breda and International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA) with country reports from Ethiopia, Mali, Senegal, South Africa, Togo, Uganda, and from India.
4. Cheap Hardware and Open Software Project at the University in Lome, which involves transforming old PCs into "new" recycled PCs capable of performing basic office functions, including accessing the Internet. The recycled PCs are passed on to universities and educational institutions at a low price; the income generated from these sales enables another shipment of old PCs. In addition, the PC recycling workshop offers computer science students practical experience with PC trouble shooting and upgrades.

Technology.

RINAF is a framework for cooperation within UNESCO's intergovernmental Information For All programme, which was initiated in 1992 to strengthen the capacity of the public sector and the civil society in Africa to use ICTs for development. Forty-three African countries are now participating in RINAF through national focal points.