Kwankam, S. YunkapNingo, N. NtomambangThe Network Startup Resource Center (NSRC), University of Oregon2024-11-142024-11-141997https://hdl.handle.net/1794/301926 pagesThis paper examines perspectives for the growth of information technology (IT) in Africa. The central thesis is that, as in other development sectors, technological solutions are more readily available than the political will to implement them. Policy aspects of IT therefore need to be addressed, in terms of formulation, dissemination, and implementation. In the absence of clear and enforceable policy, the African information industry is likely to evolve in a haphazard manner in reaction to uncoordinated external motives, thus allowing improper practices that would impair the growth of enthusiasm for IT. One strategy proposed is to concentrate IT development in priority sectors identified by governments themselves, such as education, health, and the environment, thereby opening new vistas of application. Examples are given of how this can be done. Another strategy is to pursue IT at the regional level with strong interagency collaboration, given the interdisciplinary nature of the technology. This would have two positive outcomes. It would contribute to bringing down the barriers that currently circumscribe countries into fairly closed information entities. Second, it would exploit the bandwagon effect, which has worked successfully in the health sector, to commit African governments to IT development programs. Such development should take a long-term view and reach for the cutting edge of technology, for which some institutional capacity already exists. The continent could thus leapfrog decades in the development of IT and provide an empowering environment for development in other sectors.en-USCreative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0-USAfrica, information technology, IT, government policy, technology developmentOther