Knowledge and Development in Africa: What Price Access?

It is universally acknowledged that knowledge, in its application to production, organization, management and communication, is the driving force of development in the modern world. Information Communications Technology (ICT), in particular, the Internet has made a vast store of information widely available - but only to those able to access and turn it into useable knowledge! In order to eradicate chronic poverty and achieve sustainable development, Africa has to be able to integrate its indigenous knowledge with modern global knowledge, and apply it in all areas of social life. In that connection, a critical constraint on Africa's development is the severe limitation on it,, access to and successful exploitation of modern knowledge; a limitation that is partly physical (infrastructure, equipment, etc.) and partly socio-legal (higher education capacity, intellectual property rights, etc.). The Association of African Universities, on behalf of and working with its 200 odd member institutions, has been active in efforts to overcome this limitation. These range from expansion and reduction in the cost of bandwidth available to African knowledge institutions, to strengthening the management and leadership capabilities of those institutions. This paper will explore some of the main issues in this area and the effort to address them.