NEPAD Council Hosts Africa ICT Awareness and Fund-Raising Event in Washington, D. C.
NEPAD Council, a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization of African professionals in the Diaspora, is hosting a reception and dinner event on Saturday, September 8 at 6 p. m at the South African Embassy in Washington DC. The event kicks off NEPAD Council's ICT awareness and fundraising activities. Proceeds from this activity will help support two of NEPAD Council's Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) initiatives; "Africa Broadband Communities" and "ICT Africa."
Washington, DC (PRWEB) August 2, 2007
NEPAD Council, a 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization of African professionals in the Diaspora, is hosting a reception and dinner event on Saturday, September 8 at 6 p. m at the South African Embassy in Washington DC. The event kicks off NEPAD Council's ICT awareness and fundraising activities. Proceeds from this activity will help support two of NEPAD Council's Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) initiatives; "Africa Broadband Communities" and "ICT Africa."
Ms. Amina Salum Ali, Ambassador of the African Union Mission to the USA and the Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa to the USA will be the featured speakers. An overview of major African ICT infrastructure projects and the role of NEPAD Council will be presented.
"Africa Broadband Communities" is an initiative to foster rapid deployment of Broadband networks in Africa and shrink the digital divide between Africa and the rest of the world. The "Africa Broadband Community" fosters partnerships between local businesses, local governments, and service providers to initiate and rollout broadband networks in selected African communities. According to Dr. Jabulani Dhliwayo, NEPAD Council Senior VP and ICT Department Chair, "the successful implementation of our plan is expected to trigger 'copy cat' initiatives all over Africa; thereby accelerating broadband penetration in Africa." The first community to be connected through this initiative is a rural mining community in the Northern Province of South Africa. "NEPAD Council is teaming up with a local mine trust, community schools, the local government and local service providers to roll out a Fixed Wireless Broadband Access (FWBA) network to enable free high speed Internet access to community schools, community centers and computer workshops," said Dr. Dhliwayo.
"ICT Africa" is a series of NEPAD Council's continental conferences to share new ideas on ICT development in Africa, lessons learnt from other regions of the world, impact of policy on ICT development, ICT investment, regional projects and research and development. It is a forum for organizations to meet people working on similar projects and form collaborations and synergies. Members of NEPAD Council and other professionals from all over the globe offer technical tutorials on next generation networks to African Engineers and business leaders. The last "ICT Africa" event was held in Nairobi, Kenya, in May 2006 and the next event is scheduled for February 13-15, 2008, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In 2008, NEPAD Council is teaming up with Pro-Invest; a European Union Institution, to host one of the largest ICT event ever hosted in Africa.
More details on NEPAD Council's ICT initiatives can the found on the Council's ICT Website: http://www. nepadcouncil. org/ictcommission (http://www. nepadcouncil. org/ictcommission)
About NEPAD Council:
NEPAD Council is an independent nonprofit organization of African professionals working for leading Institutions and Corporations in the Diaspora and Africa. The main mission of the council is to help with the implementation of NEPAD. NEPAD Council is registered as a 501(c) 3 organization in New York and as a Non Governmental Organization in Germany with a fully functional office in Gottingen. NEPAD Council has embarked on developmental projects in the areas of ICT Science and Technology, Global Health, Socio-Economic Development and Education.
###
