Stockholm collaborates with WSIS on ‘Project in Africa’

SWEDEN-based Stockholm Challenge award for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) on empowerment project is spurring interests as it collaborates with the Executive Secretariat of the World Summit on the Information Society ( WSIS), specifically on Africa.

Disclosing this to Champion Infotel, the Project Manager at Stockholm Challenge, Ulla Skiden, said the partnership gave birth to WSIS Challenge Award.

Although the project manager said this would be announced officially at the forthcoming summit in Tunis on Thursday, November 17, it is open to initiatives in Africa.

These initiatives, the manager said, must be one that uses ICT to enhance livelihood opportunities, improve living conditions and support economic development.

“Projects that are eligible to compete should show that they empower people and communities by using ICT in areas such as health, education, government, business, culture and environment,” Skiden said.

The WSIS Challenge Award is an initiative of the Stockholm Challenge, the world's leading ICT award since 1995. The Stockholm Challenge is an alliance between Sida, Ericsson, The Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) and the City of Stockholm. It is also sponsored by Sun Microsystems and SPIDER, the Swedish Programme for ICT in Developing Regions, based at KTH.

According to Skiden, the award is designed to support the United Nations (UN) Millennium goals of eradicating world poverty, with the objective to stimulate and energize the use of ICT for human and economic development in Africa, by finding and acknowledging the best ICT for Empowerment projects.

The winner will receive 10.000 Euro to be used for further development of the project’s activities, whereas the donation will be made by SPIDER whose mission it is to promote ICT as a powerful means for poverty alleviation and human resource development.

Though the award opens for entries upon its announcement at the ICT4All exhibition, on the Central Place, on November 17, the prize giving ceremony will take place in Stockholm on May 11, 2006 during the Stockholm Challenge final event.

All projects that wish to compete for the WSIS Challenge Award will be asked to enter the Stockholm Challenge Award, which will have a special file for African participants.

“To be noticed is, that projects from Africa, already in the Stockholm Challenge, are automatically also competing for the WSIS Challenge Award. An international experts' jury will select the winner,” the manager explained.