Informing Society in African,Caribbean and Pacific Countries: developing unlikely partnerships

Abstract

The international community has created a framework for partnership development related to technology, information and communication. Currently under way, the World Summit for Information Society leads in this process. Other initiatives include the Cotonou Partnership agreement between the European Union and the African Caribbean and Pacific countries and the Africa Union strategy. Within this context, the article looks at how technology attempts to dominate development initiatives, while issues of information (literacy, right to information and intellectual property rights) lag, but remain pressing on the international and national agendas. The role of information managers in tacking the challenges is highlighted by providing examples from African and Caribbean countries. The juxtaposition of information managers with technology and communication in a partnership seems unlikely. However because all three aspects are aligned, the partnership has the potential to be beneficial to users of information. The article concludes with options for unlikely partnership development.

Keywords

Information and communication technologies Partnerships African,Caribbean and Pacific countries World Summit on the Information Society

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