[governance] How do we engender effective participation from developing countries (Africa)?

[Nyangkwe Agien Aaron]

Kwasi's remarks sounds like some incisive insult to the African that I
am and I will not let him have it easily. If he has no ambition, let
him quietly stay at his corner and let the ambitious ones strive.
He talks of having attended "all these meetings and achieving nothing"
The answer is clear: Kwasi had no ambition nor clar objectives  before
going to these meetings. May be he too wanted to be there like others.
It is not new that confabs and international come together are a
market place for the sharing of ideas, networking and even securing
aids.
Take for example, the World Economic Forum, through whose attendance
my organization has succeeded to network with an Indian organization
and have started solar electrifying 4 villages in Cameroon. More
villages are in the pipelines.
In international forums, while the specialists are there expounding
their knowledge, other stakers are there looking for solutions to the
multiple problems of the rural masses back in their various homes.
That is the other face of the meetings. Do not only count on
resolutions.
On Internet connectivity, which is the main problem in my country, my
presence at any IGF will be to look at the means in which the civil
society can assist in solving this solution.
What I think should be done is that organizers of meetings should be
more proactive by having postulants of meetings answer questions
regarding to tangible and measurable outcomes when they do attend
these meetings. The outcomes should be measured during following
meetings.
This done, meetings will help in moving the world forward and people
like Kwasi will not more be bewildered.

Aaron

On 12/11/07, Suresh Ramasubramanian <suresh at hserus.net> wrote:
>
>
>
> Weeding out freeloaders from a fellowships process takes effort.  But yes,
> it can be done, given people who are active in a particular region and good
> at identifying who are genuine + deserving fellows and who are freeloaders
> out for an expenses paid vacation.
>
>
>
> The issue is not accountability as such.  And it is actually tough to play
> mother hen to a couple of dozen people.
>
>
>
> You can, however, do a lot by not leaving them to their own devices once
> they arrive at the conference venue. Regular sessions targeted at fellows
> tends to help (orientation / welcome program to start with, and if possible
> hooking groups of fellows up with a mentor).
>
>
>
> Before that,  targeting the right people / groups for fellowships
> announcements, and developing what can only be called a "bullshit detector"
> might help.  Of course, it is even easier when you operate a conference for
> network operators (people who run networks at ISPs) in the Asia Pacific
> region, and so can easily fend off requests from people whose job profiles,
> or  geographic location, don't match selection critieria.
>
>
>
> That (being asiapac specific) certainly helps us when various people
> claiming to be from Nigerian "trading companies" apply for fellowships and
> ask for visa invitation letters … it is not just freeloaders looking out for
> junkets we have to be careful of, there is a lot of fraud out there too.
> Especially where someone issuing a visa invitation letter often has to
> assume responsibility for repatriating a fellow [per visa regulations].
>
>
>
> Speaking of that, visa regulations are often the single largest barrier to
> attending these global events.   Especially where some countries' embassies
> may have completely unreasonable, locally invented requirements for issuing
> a visa.     I hardly need to tell you that, or people from other developing
> economies who have to travel internationally.
>
>
>
> Funnily enough, the easiest places to get visas to are (say) the USA,
> Australia etc.  If you want to go to, say, Argentina from India .. suffice
> to say that's the only country that demands notarized affidavits, letters
> from "the chamber of commerce your employer is a member of"  etc for a
> business visa.. somewhat tough when you are a consultant, going to speak at
> a conference.
>
>
>
> We Indians kind of inherited red tape and bureaucracy from 300 years of
> being a British colony .. and then went ahead and refined it.    As I found
> to my irritation when dealing with an Indian clerk working for the
> argentinian embassy in New Delhi, not too long back … J
>
>
>
>                 suresh
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> From: kwasi boakye-akyeampong [mailto:kboakye1 at yahoo.co.uk]
> Sent: Tuesday, December 11, 2007 6:28 PM
> To: governance at lists.cpsr.org; Suresh Ramasubramanian
> Subject: Re: [governance] How do we engender effective participation from
> developing countries (Africa)?
>
>
>
>
> Suresh writes:
>
>
> "Or find some way to actually mentor fellows from the start to finish - so
> that they can be drawn into the process. And improve fellowship selection
> so that finding quality people from a particular location takes priority
> over the usual CS catchphrases like "inclusive"."
>
>
> And I coundn't agree more with him. He was trying to make a point by
> suggesting hosting events in some remote and obscure place. That may be less
> attractive to those who don't really mean business.
>
>
>
>
>
> I'm not sure how it's going to be done but I believe strengthening regional
> structures is one possible solution. That way selection of participants for
> global CS/ IG related events will come from the regions themselves but not
> from a panel who may not have an idea who those they are selecting are and
> their motives for participation. Participants will then be made accountable
> to their respective regions.
>
>
>
>
>
> Kwasi
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Aaron Agien Nyangkwe
Journalist/Outcome Mapper
Special Assistant To The President
Coach of ASAFE Camaroes Street Football Team.
ASAFE
P.O.Box 5213
Douala-Cameroon
Tel. 237 3337 50 22
Cell Phone: 237 79 95 71 97
Fax. 237 3342 29 70
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