As the global community marked World Intellectual Property Day 2008, last 26th of April, an eight-country African research network was launched with a mandate to investigate the relationship between copyright and education in African countries.

From now until June 2008, four organisations – including APC – are inviting applications for the third round of the GenARDIS small grants programme. A total of fifteen grants of 7 000 Euros will be given out to successful projects.

Fantsuam Foundations community wireless internet network access project, ZittNet, has been selected a finalist in the Stockholm Challenge Award 2008.

PROTEGE QV, APC’s Cameroun civil society group, released a multimedia kit late last year. Accompanied by full training of radio broadasters, this tool is meant to provide the general public and professionals with the means to exploit and use technology to create micro enterprises. Called the MMRK is increasingly being recognised as flexible tool which can be used in a variety of contetx, including rural.

The APC stated its whole-hearted support of the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA) for the drafting of regulations prescribing a list of essential facilities for electronic communications which will create conditions of open access on a non-discriminatory basis to undersea-based submarine cables. APC also called on ICASA to take immediate action to counter anti-competitive behaviour of Telkom, the dominant fixed line operator. Read the full statement.

The use of free software in West Africa would represent an opportunity to reduce the digital divide with the South. In this region, the low level of free software production goes hand in hand with marginal usage. Free software is present in certain businesses, in education, etc. but there is mistrust, as a result of the fact that free software is developed rapidly and is proliferating. It causes fear because there is a belief that “whatever is free is not of good quality”. IDLELO3, a panafrican conference on free software, will look at these questions and beliefs from March 16 to 20 2008 in Dakar, Senegal.

A statement by African civil society groups was made in light of the publicised commitments and goals of the Connect Africa Summit taking place in Rwanda, Kigali on 29th and 30th of October 2007. The statement acknowledges that the private sector plays a key role in the deployment of infrastructure in Africa. Its continued investment should be encouraged through the implementation of a stable policy environment that encourages investment as well as protect the public interest. Read the full statement here.

The 2007 Global Information Society Watch report identifies Nigeria as the fastest growing ICT market in Africa. Despite this, women remain severely under-represented among the country’s ICT professionals. And yet, one young woman in APC-member Fantsuam’s ICT department became a role model when she became the first woman to climb a communications tower in northern Nigeria.

There is a Congolese proverb that says, “You can’t wash your face with just one finger.” That’s the expression APC’s new member AZUR Développement is using in reference to the need to solidify links with other APC members in order to get the ICT job done in Congo. And they mean it. Recognising that APC’s members have a lot of experience with ICTs, they believe that their activities and those of APC’s members will blend in well.