DRAFT LETTER TO BUSINESSES WITH INVESTMENTS IN GHANA

WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM
DRAFT LETTER TO BUSINESSES WITH INVESTMENTS IN GHANA

30 May 2002

Dear ------

At the Annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, I was privileged to present a proposal on the Forum’s digital divide pilot initiatives in Ghana. These three educational ICT initiatives will make a real difference for the schools and students that participate over the next three years. More importantly, these are pilots that the Forum will learn from prior to the participants rolling them out in several other African countries. This pilot represents an innovative partnership between the private sector led by Africa Online and a team of NGOs led by World Computer Exchange, an NGO with a demonstrated record of sustainable results.

The Global Digital Divide Initiative of the World Economic Forum was launched at the Annual Meeting 2000 held in Davos, Switzerland, by the senior level executives of the information technology and media communications and entertainment industries. This Initiative seeks to harness the global and multi-sectoral platform of the World Economic Forum to develop and propagate creative public and private sector initiatives to transform the digital divide into an opportunity for growth. Since January 2000, we have been working the member companies, government officials and civil society organisations who make up the task force to mobilise resources to build-out digital divide-related initiatives and to advance this issue on the global and regional public policy agendas.

The Education Steering Committee, composed of such leading companies as Vivendi Universal, Microsoft, Sony, Siemens and Sun Microsystems seeks to promote universal access to quality education, wiring of schools and libraries, training of teachers, skilled volunteer programs, and access to technology tools for education in the developing world.

The Country Programme, launched at the Annual Meeting 2002 of the World Economic Forum in New York, will target six countries initially – including Ghana. It aims to coordinate, provide resources for, and deliver expanded education technology programs - building on private sector regional priorities. Through the individual country proposal documents, setting out existing provision and country needs, the “lead company” and “lead NGO” team for each country is working together to mobilize resources, implementation and liaison with government and other partners. We anticipate showcasing and recognising the successful outcomes of these pilots at our Annual Meeting 2003.

As you review the attached summary about the specific initiatives in Ghana, I ask for your support and donation to the work being undertaken. Together we are working to test a model that will use government buildings and donated computers to move telecenters into rural areas where we otherwise would not be able to be profitable. We are also pleased to be working to support the WEF initiative with University of Ghana and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology piloting the adoption of content adaptation, teacher training, and computer maintenance for area primary and secondary schools. The third initiative is for WEF companies to provide the donated equipment and costs needed to get a container of 400 Pentium computers to a group of rural schools recruited, prepared, and trained by the Centre for the Empowerment of the Vulnerable.

The Forum is focused on developing sustainable initiatives that can be successfully brought to scale throughout Africa and in other developing countries. I hope that your company will join mine in helping.

Your donation of equipment and funding combined with a mixture of public and other private support will help with the infrastructure, training, and computers needed. Please contact Heather Pace Clark at the Heather-Pace_Clark@weforum.org to explore ways that are appropriate for your company to help.

Sincerely yours,

Ayisi Makatiani
Chairman
Africa Online