5th EATLF was held in Khartoum

The East African Telecentre leaders Forum (EATLF) is a biannual gathering of telecentre practitioners in the East African sub region. The EATLF is an initiative of UgaBYTES with support from telecentre.org a joint social investment of IDRC, Microsoft, and SDC.The event is part of the global framework of telecentre.org and focuses on different themes. The gathering is focused at facilitating learning and sharing of ideas and solutions among telecentre practitioners.

The event is usually planned to run in two phases; the online session occurs two weeks prior to the face to face session.

The online sessions are guided by subject matter specialists and are open to global participation on the UgaBYTES mailing list This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

The face to face session is held at rotating venues in Eastern Africa.

The government of Sudan has pledged to support telecentre academies in Africa. This was revealed on 9 June by Abdul Gadir Mohammed Ali, Gedaref State Minister of Social and welfare and Governor at the official opening of the East African Telecentre Leaders Forum in Khartoum, Sudan.“We are proud and committed to sponsor telecentres in Sudan and other parts of the continent,” Mohammed Ali said.The telecentre academy that is aimed to professionalize telecentre practitioners and to provide practical skills will be the first of the kind in Africa and is part of telecentre.org’s efforts to support professional development needs of telecentre managers and practitioners across the globe.

The State minister of Information technology Dr. Eisa Bashari said that Sudan’s dream in this technological era is to witness Sudan transforming into a digital city just like Gedaref Digital City organisation, an ICT model in the region.He however said that for this strategy to materialize, all stakeholders at different levels in the country have to collaborate towards a common cause.Dr. Shaddrach Basheermad, a programme officer-Asia at telecentre .org said the academy comes at a time when there are emerging needs to address management and sustainability issues in the telecentre ecosystem as well as putting up a face or structure of telecentre activities in the world.In his introductory remarks, Dr. Ahamed Abudul Gadir , the chairman of National Information Centre said that the government of Sudan has liberalized communication and ICT industries which has led to growth of telecentres in the country as well as providing chance for practitioners to operate smoothly.

About 120 participants from different parts of the world attended the opening session. Notably, establishment of the academy took centre stage of discussions but other issues such as sharing experience of different telecentres and evaluation of National networks and their status in the region were also tabled.Updates about the academy launch, content and curriculum development, sustainability and partners involved will be communicated tomorrow, 10 June 2008.