SURVEY OF ICT AND EDUCATION IN AFRICA - infoDev

Project BackgroundOverviewThis report synthesises the findings from a survey that was initiated by the Information for DevelopmentProgram (infoDev), a multi-donor partnership housed at the World Bank which investigates issues related tothe effective and appropriate use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in developingcountries. The survey was undertaken in response to needs expressed by international donor and developmentagencies, private sector organisations, governments, and NGOs for a consolidated database ofinformation focused on the following key questions:nnnHow are ICTs currently being used in the education sector in Africa, and what are the strategies andpolicies related to this use?What are the common challenges and constraints faced by African countries in this area?What is actually happening on the ground, and to what extent are donors involved?A similar survey was completed in 2003–2004 by UNESCO-Bangkok (Metasurvey on the Use of Technologiesin Education in Asia and the Pacific). It is hoped that this Survey will contribute to the building of a globaldatabase on ICT and education issues in developing countries, regularly updated with the co-operation ofproject stakeholders.More complete background information on this project is available on the infoDev web site at http://www.infodev.org/ict4edu-Africa.The Survey ProcessA request for expressions of interest was issued by infoDev in April 2006. The Commonwealth of Learning(COL) was selected from among the respondents to conduct the survey, and the work began in September2006.The work process was designed as follows:nnnThe first phase involved an extensive literature search to identify relevant extant information to informthe data-gathering process for the preparation of reports. The resulting English language bibliographywas posted on the WikiEducator web site (http://www.wikieducator.org/ICT4EdAfrica) establishedspecifically to solicit public feedback on the survey project.Researchers prepared reports on each country over a three-month period beginning January 2007. Thereports were structured to include:n National policies, strategies, and programmes that exist in the country for the use of ICT in educationn A brief description of the current level and types of ICT infrastructure being used in the variouseducation sectors including primary, secondary, tertiary and non-formaln A list of the major initiatives underwayn Identification and description of the factors that enable and constrain the use of ICTData collection was largely done via desk research, using published sources on the Internet, and throughwww.infodev.org Project Background ix