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ISSUE NO 63 JOBS, PEOPLE, EVENTS...

PEOPLE & JOBS

* Cellular telephone operator MTN - owned by M-Cellhas announced the creation of a new post to drive its growth in Africa. MTN says it has appointed Lazarus Zim, who is managing director of pay-TV channel M-Net, as managing director of MTN Africa/International.

* Nigerian Minister of Environment Alhaji Kabir Sa’id said his ministry is to launch its web site on the internet before the end of this year as part of the renewed effort to combat environmental disasters in the country. Speaking at the launch of the web site of an environmental non-governmental organization in the capital Abuja, Sa’id said the internet provides a lot of opportunities for environmentalists to tackle the problems of environmental degradation. He said having a web site on the internet will serve as an avenue for the gathering and exchange of environmental news in Nigeria.

* Ghana has just hosted the African Telecom Summit, the third time it has held the event. Organised by Mavis Ampah-Sintim-Missa, it attracted 350 delegates, including Japanese-born Secretary-General of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Mr Yoshio Utsumi(his first time in Africa). Felix Kwesi Owusu-Adjapong, Ghana’s Minister of Transport and Communications said some of the African Communications Ministers lamented (in French) that since they arrived in Accra, even those of them who were so close to Ghana such as Togo and Cote d’Ivoire, were unable to call their families back home on their mobile phones to say "hello" to them. There was therefore the urgent need to focus on improving telecom access, capacity and affordability for the benefit of ordinary African citizens.

* According to GCA executive secretary Ahmedeou Ould Abdallah, press freedom was (relatively speaking) gaining ground in Africa and concrete assistance to journalists through provision of adequate technological resources could help advance the democratic transition on the continent.

* At 5-day workshop conducted by the Goethe Institut in partnership with Mmofra Foundation to improve the standard and range of illustrations for children’s books in Ghana has ended in Accra, German tutor Christiane Pieper suggested a novel way to improve the country’s "content-making" skills. If book illustration is taken seriously and included in the Primary Curriculum, children are going to get a wider scope of what they are being taught at school. Presumably these same skills would also benefit the development of e-content.

EVENTS

SCHOLARSHIP FUND FOR FRANCOPHONE ISPs TO ATTEND ACT 2001

The French Government has joined the British government in offering funding towards the scholarship fund for ISP’s to attend the ISP Forum at the ACT 2001 to be held 30 July - 2 August 2001 in Johannesburg. The French government funding will be given to those from francophone countries.

Further details: Denise Garwood (denise@aitecafrica.com)

According to Sean Moroney, group chairman of AITEC, "Donor countries have identified ISPs as having a vital role to play in spreading internet connections in Africa. As a result there is growing support for this year’s African ISP Forum at the ACT Summit to provide a platform for ISPs to share their experience and knowledge and stimulate national and regional co-operation among ISPs to help them overcome the regulatory barriers and difficult market conditions they face. We welcome the funding the British and French governments are providing for scholarships to enable ISPs to attend and are in discussions with other donors to provide further scholarships so that a range of ISPs from all African countries can attend."

INTERNET TRAINING FOR UNIVERSITY LIBRARIANS

Although online access to the Internet has recently been introduced in many African universities, librarians in those universities often feel inadequately trained in its use. INASP offers a programme of ‘travelling’ workshops on internet use for staff in nine university library systems in Africa. [The International Network for the Availability of Scientific Publications (INASP) - Oxford, England]

http://www.comminit.com/Training/sld-1674.html

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