[Kictanet] Fwd: IDLELO2 UPDATE - POST WSIS

[Bill Kagai]

FYI
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Bill Kagai <billkagai at gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 5 Dec 2005 16:45:23 +0300
Subject: IDLELO2 UPDATE - POST WSIS
To: fossfa at gmail.com

Dear all,

Two weeks after the WSIS Conference, FOSSFA is glad to announce the
following positive developments.

1. InWEnt joins IDLELO2 Collaborating Sponsors.
2. Sir John Daniel & Mr. Mark Shuttleworth accept to be IDLELO2 Key
Note Speakers.
3. UNECA to support African Delegates to IDLELO2.
4. FOSSFA Mailing List Active - Please Subscribe.

1. InWEnt joins IDLELO2 Collaborating Sponsors.

InWEnt will support 30 delegates to the Idlelo2 Conference comprised
of IT at B members and ICT Government Representatives from the SADC
Region. InWEnt now joins UNECA, Hivos and OSIWA as our main partners
for the Idlelo2 Conference. Intel has also shown interest in IDLELO2
and discussions are going on between them and our conference
organiser, AITEC Africa, on the prospects of Intel becoming part of
the sponsoring family.

The full statement from InWEnt will be available on the FOSSFA website
www.fossfa.net by close of business today. Part of their statement
supporting IDLELO2 states as follows...

"InWEnt is very pleased to collaborate with FOSSFA on this most timely
initiative. The World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis has
shown again that innovative approaches to technologies can have an
impact on poverty reduction and the attainment of the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs). In this context, Free and Open Source
Software (FOSS) plays an important role. InWEnt therefore supports a
number of initiatives in this field in Asia (it at foss) and in Africa,
funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and
Development (BMZ). Notably, since 2001we have trained IT specialists
of seven SADC countries, inter alia on the use of FOSS. They are part
of the Southern African Knowledge Network on "Information Technology
in African Business" (it at ab) supported by InWEnt.

Now, we have committed ourselves to bring the expertise of this
network it at ab to Idlelo 2 and to support the conference, because we
believe that only by connecting the African private sector and policy
makers we will be able to make progress in stimulating a local FOSS
software industry in Africa. InWEnt is also looking forward to
exploring further synergies and cooperation with the other key players
of Idlelo 2.

Mr Derek Lakudzala, vice chairman of the it at ab network explains:
"it at ab would like to associate itself with Idlelo2 partly to expose
the expertise already available in the region and to the regions' user
community through the it at ab network and partly to exchange knowledge
and information on possible collaboration to use innovations such as
FOSS as a tool to fight poverty in Africa. The time to move from mere
talk to concrete results, products and services using FOSS is now.
Idleleo2 affords stakeholders that rare opportunity to meet some of
the regions own experts on the one hand and key decision and policy
makers on the other hand. The it at ab network expects that the
conference will also offer opportunities for business contacts.  With
the investment already put into development of Africa's own human
resource expertise in the area of FOSS, we expect to establish new
synergies and win-win relationships with other key players in the
it-field."

2. Sir John Daniel & Mr. Mark Shuttleworth accept to be Key Note Speakers

Sir John Daniel the Head of Commonwealth of Learning and Mr. Mark
Shuttleworth, the entrepreneur behind Ubuntu Linux have agreed to
deliver the key note speeches during IDLELO2 Conference. We have also
invited the President of the Republic of Kenya, His Excellency Mwai
Kibaki to grace and officially open the Conference. The president will
have the opportunity to hear from the Key Note Speakers before
delivering his speech.

3. UNECA to support African Delegates to IDLELO2
Mr. Makane Faye from the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa
(UNECA) and also the FOSSFA focal point to the UN confirmed in Tunis
during the WSIS Conference that UNECA will support FOSS Delegates from
Africa to IDLELO2. We are working out on the modalities but priority
will be to ensure gender balance and ensure that women are involved in
software development in Africa. We will post the modalities for
qualification for this scholarship by January 2006.

4. FOSSFA Mailing List Active - Please Subscribe.
FOSSFA Mailing Lists have been rectified following the bruteforce
attack on our portal. If you wish to be member of the FOSSFA Mailing
List, please send a message to 'council-subscribe at fossfa.net' with
subject 'subscribe'.

Further updates regarding FOSSFA and IDLELO2 Conference will be posted
to the mailing list.

-
With Kind Regards,
Bildad Kagai
CEO - Circuits & Packets Communications Ltd
Coordinator - Free Software & Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA)
Suite B2, Tetu Apartments, State House Avenue
P. O. Box 20311 - 00200
Nairobi, Kenya
Tel. 254 20 2728332
Fax. 254 20 2726965
Cell. 254 722 379409
E. fossfa at gmail.com
URL. www.fossfa.net
IDLELO2 URL. www.fossfa.net/idlelo2