-An African Union Flagship Program ‐Implemented by GESCI ‐Funded by the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland

1. African Leadership in ICT
(ALICT)
‐ An African Union Flagship Program
‐ Implemented by GESCI
‐ Funded by the Ministry for Foreign
Affairs of Finland
Technology . Innova/on . Educa/on

2. WHY ALICT?
 Knowledge is increasingly a key factor of produc/on as well as a resource
for economic and social development globally
 Knowledge and innova6on based businesses are growing and have
become essen6al part of all sectors of economy
 The gap between developing countries and developed countries is
widening due to the rela6vely low investments in ICT, educa/on and
science, technology and innova/on in developing countries

3. Leadership in Knowledge Society
• Knowledge based society:
• Pillars: educa6on, science, technology and
innova6on, ICT
• Leadership: what kind of leadership for
Knowledge based society?
• Leadership vs. management

4. ALICT GOAL & PURPOSE
Goal
 To build capacity of African leaders on ICT, Educa6on and STI for economic
and social development to become Knowledge Society leaders and agents
for change in their own country and be catalysts for regional coopera/on in
the domain
 To enhance understanding why investments in educa/on, science ,
technology and innova/on are cri6cal for economic and social development
Purpose
 ALICT will develop new models for knowledge society capacity building and build
the capacity of African leaders on Knowledge Society issues including establishment
of a plaForm for mul6‐stakeholder collabora/on

5. ALICT OUTPUTS & OUTCOMES
Capacity Building Model for African leaders on ICT, Educa/on, Science &
Technology, and Innova/on in the context of the Knowledge Society
 ul6‐stakeholder knowledge exchange plaForm bringing together private, public
M
and civil society to create Knowledge Partnerships
 uild the capaci6es of 150 African leaders of ICT, Educa6on, STI in KS in domains
B
of:
• Leadership capacity (including change management)
• Skills required for KS/KE development (including ICT, foresigh6ng,
strategic planning)
• Organiza6onal/ins6tu6onal development

6. Source: Wordpress (2011)
ALICT APPROACH TO LEADERSHIP
CAPACITY BUILDING
Source: Wordpress (2011)

7. EXPERENTIAL LEARNING MODEL
 Will combine analy6cal and theore6cal principles with
prac/cal experience
 Will allow par6cipants to bring theory and prac/ce together
 Will combine theory and instruc/on phases with more
prac6cal experien6al phases
 Par6cipants will implement tasks and plans in their
organiza6ons that they have learned during the immersive
theore6cal phase.
 Through the sequence of prac6ce, experience, debriefing, theory
and feedback par6cipants will be guided into more reflected
leadership prac/ces.

8. Country studies
• ALICT has produced 4 country studies: needs analysis in KS
development
• These studies provide informa6on for the capacity building
needs in Knowledge Society development in the 4 countries:
South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Mauri6us
• Module development in progress, first modules and
programme structure ready in October
• Capacity building is planned to start in the 4 countries and
Kenya in January 2012

9. CAPACITY BUILDING MODULES
M 7 Knowledge Society for Africa
Policy Coherence Road Map to
M 6 ICT as a Tool for Development
Personal Leadership
Knowledge Society
M 5 Educa6on and Development
M 4 Innova6on and Management STI
ICT
M 3 Foresight and Futures Thinking
M 2 Leadership in Knowledge Society
M 1 Orienta6on

10. MODULE EMPHASIS
 Framework of Knowledge based Society and Economy
 Leadership in the context of Knowledge Society and change
management
 Fore‐sigh6ng
 Strategic planning
 Policy formula6on
 Program management and evalua6on

11. DETAILS
Dura/on: 7 months, 6me needed from par6cipants 10 hours
per week (es6mated)
Approach: Lectures (face to face and online), collabora6ve
projects, individual assignments, peer review, online tutoring
PlaZorms: LMS (Moodle), Alfresco Digital Library, ALICT
discussion forum
Assignments: Team work, focusing on Leadership & Change in
the KS context ; team assignments applied to Individual &
organiza6onal environment; Team work: scien6fic ar6cle in KS
context
Transversal elements added: ICT Skills Development,
Mentorship/Reflec6on Tandems, Monitoring and Evalua6on

12. QUESTIONS
 What do you think that “Knowledge Society” means (or should mean) in the
African context?
 Do the educa6onal strategy and policy frameworks of African countries support
the building of inclusive knowledge socie6es? What kind of role does knowledge
society development have in these kinds of policies?
 What kinds of ICT‐professionals do African countries need in the near future?
Should mandatory ICT‐courses begin from the primary level?
 Do you think that the chosen pedagogical and methodological approaches are valid
for ALICT’s purposes? What kind of fine‐tuning would they need (should for
example m‐learning have even more prominent role)?

13. FOR MORE INFORMATION
About the ALICT Team
hgp://www.gesci.org/alict‐team.html
Contact: Helena Tapper ‐ ALICT Programme Manager,
Juho Mikkonen ‐ Blended Learning Expert and
Margaret Nyambura – Research Analyst. E‐mail:
helena.tapper@gesci.org, juho.mikkonen@gesci.org
and margaret.nyambura@gesci.org
About the Program (including concept note, KS
study series and program plan)hgp://www.gesci.org/
alict‐papers.html