In France’s relations with Africa, we had the habit of "white elephants" (these large dams or hospitals imagined in the Parisian ministries that often remained at the planning stage). There will now also be ... interactive whiteboards !
While many African countries are experiencing a revolution since the extension of mobile network - and access to the internet in the most remote villages - and they get seats on Chinese satellites, France uses the ceremonies on July 14 to distribute to heads of states of the former colonies, invited by Nicolas Sarkozy, a package called Sankore.
This bag includes an interactive "whiteboard", , a digital tablet , Flash disks, 4 pens, and storage units, all for the" modest "sum of 1,000 € per unit!
The educational revolution Digital Shared with Africa
The DIENA (Interministerial Delegation for Digital Education in Africa) is headed by former minister Alain Madelin and is close to institutions such as the "World Digital Solidarity Agency. It aims “the marriage of education with digital technologies.”
Because, according to their website, France "intends, through the program Sankore to share with Africa the benefits of the digital revolution." Adding : "The Sankore program is designed"with the Africans for Africans".
DIENA intends to request French local authorities, as part of their twinning with African cities and decentralized cooperation, to support the programs that will "help to meet the challenges of mass education on the African continent and the best chances for all children in Africa. "
The culmination of a long series of international meetings including that of Lyon in 2008.
Already in 2008, we had already met with the developers of the interactive whiteboard during the meeting of the Global Fund for Digital Solidarity in Lyon. Presented by Alain Madelin in the presence of Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner and the President of Senegal Mr. Wade, the whiteboard was already announced as "promising" by its originators. But the Global Fund for Digital Solidarity had already been experiencing serious dysfunction problems.
Created on March 14, 2005 in Geneva, following an initiative by Abdoulaye Wade when he was Coordinator of Information Technology in NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa), the fund had already in 2008 several million Switzerland francs. And Alain Madelin said at the time he hoped to obtain much more if states were implementing what they had voted, "a contribution of 1% on all public contracts for the supply of hardware"
A lot of money but too little action
We noted then that while this foundation, based in Switzerland, presented many projects on its website, in the fields of telemedicine, education and retraining, it had few achievements to its credit (4 in Burundi and 6 in Burkina Faso!).
This situation did not escape the Senegalese president who had disagreed with the operation of the fund and railed against the costs of operation and organization of very expensive meetings.
Mr. Wade then had insisted that his initial idea was not to create an intergovernmental structure, but to promote solidarity between "citizens" of the North and South sides of the divide "digital (read Article in Lyon-News " digital solidarity to reduce the fracture with Africa ").
Thus, the founding father of the Global Fund for Digital Solidarity a few months later, asked his own dissolution! ( see the press release ) -
Gilles Roman
(LYonenFrance.com)
Source: http://www.agoravox.fr/actualites/societe/article/france-afrique-la-revolution-78463
