Introduction

By K. Boafo, Africa Desk, Communication Division,
A. Aznar, Regional Communication Adviser,
J. McClain, Regional Communication Adviser,
C. Sy, Regional Communication Adviser.

The major communication challenges and difficulties facing African countries may be summarised as follows:
1. Inadequate or weak infrastructure and spread of mass media systems and new communication technologies as well as limited resources to develop or strengthen them;
2. Lack of or insufficient access and exposure to modern communication sources for the majority of the national population living in rural areas and poor suburbs of urban communities;
3. As a consequence, limited opportunities for most people to use modern communication means to express their views and opinions about national and public issues and to participate in communication and national decision-making process;
4. Inadequate pluralism and independence in the collection, production and dissemination of messages and information through the mass media;
5. A dearth of trained personnel who have the requisite skills and knowledge not only to gather, process and disseminate news and information but also to plan, organise, manage and use communication techniques, resources and channels in support of development ;
6. Absence of communication and information policies for development.

In its extra-budgetary communication projects, UNESCO provides technical assistance and advisory services designed to support the efforts of African countries to respond to the above challenges. UNESCO's role in assisting member states in Africa to meet their communication needs is based on its new communication strategy which was adopted by the 25th General Conference, October-November 1989.

A number of internal and external evaluation studies carried out on UNESCO's communication projects in Africa indicate that the organisation's actions have made considerable contribution to the efforts of African countries to address their major communication challenges and difficulties.

For example, UNESCO communication activities have helped in the development of communication infrastructure, especially in the opening access to the media to the large segments of the national population living in the rural communities. They have also assisted in developing human resources for the media on the continent, in particular in establishing media training institutions, in offering training programmes to the media professional and equipping communication practitioners with the knowledge and skills required to use communication instruments in support of national social, economic, political and cultural development in Africa.

As for extra-budgetary informatics and information activities in Africa, they have four main orientations:
a) In harmony with the overall priorities of the Intergovernmental Informatics Programme, most of the projects aim at training people in informatics. In particular, they provide training packages supporting trainers in the design and running of their courses. Regional workshops are also organised, in the framework of which the training packages created are evaluated and transferred to trainers, who are expected to train both other trainers and students in their country.
b) A special concern in Africa is to extend the support provided for the development of local software production. This is done through the elaboration of relevant training packages and by the means of supporting meetings with private companies with a view to analysing their needs in knowledge, publicity, etc.
c) The development of telematics application is supported by assisting regional networking efforts and co-operation. The Regional Informatics Network for Africa (RINAF) was initiated in 1992 as a framework for UNESCO as support for African co-operation to promote academic and public sector computer networking within the IIP. Thirty-one African Member States are participating in this effort.
d) Telematics infrastructure development is being supported in co-operation with ITU, through the implementation of Multipurpose Community Telecenters which aim at providing communication facilities all located in the same area within a city.