ITU ACADEMY CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE (COE) NETWORK IN LUSOPHONE AND SPANISH SPEAKING COUNTRIES IN AFRICA

Introduction

The ITU Academy Centres of Excellence (CoE) in Lusophone and Spanish (LSP) Speaking Countries in Africa aim to establish a sustainable network of selected training and educational institutions (hereafter “nodes”) that provide training opportunities in topics related to telecommunications and/or information and communication technologies (ICTs). The overall purpose is to promote human capacity building of governmental authorities, regulators, and senior managers of operators and service providers. This Centres of Excellence Network was launched in September 2008. Its establishment is the result of the generous financial contributions made by the governments of Spain and Portugal totaling approximately US$ 1. 3 million. The CoEs in AFR LSP will operate for three years ending in December 2011.

Objective

The aim of this Network is to build a dedicated Centre of Excellence mechanism to address the capacity needs of the Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries of Africa. It was designed to overcome linguistic challenges these countries encounter in assimilating new knowledge and acquiring new skills, particularly in the areas of new technologies, through a second language. The countries that will receive support through the CoEs in AFR LSP Network are: Angola, Cape Verde, Equatorial Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Mozambique, São Tomé and Príncipe and East Timor. All the benefiting countries will contribute as event hosts.

Beneficiaries

The principal beneficiaries of the AFR LSP CoE are decision makers, high level managers, executive staff and the various attendants who participate in the CoE training sessions. In this region another core beneficiary of this training are engineers who are responsible for operating the new networks that are being installed by most of these operators. The CoE mechanism also benefits the trainers who participate in the implementation of the CoE programs as well as the institutions through which the CoE programs are delivered. At the national and regional level, the CoEs enrich the existing body of knowledge on current issues and developments in the fast changing telecommunication sector. This facilitates  decision-makers being able to take the right decisions based on global trends and best practices.

Overview

Implementation of the African LSP countries CoE Network commenced in in January 2009. By year end, the project had implemented nine workshops and 11 activities (including workshop repeats).Close to 400 professionals were trained in various topics in 2009. This was a high implementation rate considering that it was the first year, and that there was not yet a  dedicated Project Coordinator.

Action Plan 2013

For training and events planned for the AFR-LSP,  please visit the upcoming training & events section for this region. However, the program, schedule and content is subject to modification by the organizer at any time. For more information please contact the CoE coordinator for the LSP region.

CoE LSP Coordinator

Mondlane, Ermelinda
TDM Training Centre,
Maputo, Mozambique
Phone: +258 (21) 497 133
email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

CoE Nodes 

São Tomé e Príncipe Autoridade Geral de Regulação (AGER)	CABO VERDE Agência Nacional das Comunicações (ANAC)	MOÇAMBIQUE Instituto Nacional de Moçambique (INCM)
GUINÉ BiSSAU Instituto das Comunicações da Guiné Bissau (ICGB)	TIMOR LESTE Autoridade Reguladora das Comunicações (ARCOM)	ANGOLA Instituto Angolano das Comunicações (INACOM)

Special Partners

This Action Plan shows planned events for the year 2013. However, the program, schedule and content is subject to modification by the organizer at any time. For more information please contact the CoE coordinator for the Africa Lsp network.

Ensuring the Sustainable Development of the CoE Network

The performance of the CoE nodes is assessed annually against targets developed and agreed on in the CoE action plan. Based on this assessment and discussion with the focal point for the nodes, a decision is made as to whether to continue to work with the node or how to improve the work of the node.

The Centres of Excellence Network in the African Lusophone and Spanish speaking countries seeks to support efforts by the region’s nodes to enhance their relevance in and contribution to capacity building in the region. One important measure of relevance is the financial viability of the nodes, as this demonstrates their ability to sustainably deliver value. An overall key metric of success is the ability of the node to successfully deliver its respective action items as delineated in the CoE action plan.

The ultimate aim of this Network is to bring together the expertise of the entire region in the field of telecommunications/ICT (trainers, consultants, researchers, advisors), to share models of success, empower and train a cadre of regional professionals.

Strategy

The strategic focus of these CoEs is the provision of training for the stakeholders in the telecommunications sector, while at the same time identifying training providers with the potential to develop into robust centers of excellence that can be relied upon to provide ongoing training to the other countries within the community of Spanish and Portuguese speaking countries in Africa.

Given the unique historical backgrounds of the countries covered by this Network, and the small size of the telecommunications markets, there is not likely to be many training centres that are fully equipped to contribute to the CoE Network with experts, content and programs that they have a superior competency in. Therefore the implementation strategy includes the identification and support of centres that show potential to develop into future hubs of knowledge and Centres of Excellence nodes. Because of the aforementioned factor of size, it is envisaged to create a small, but effective network. The process of identifying the nodes is still ongoing. To date, two nodes have been identified, namely Instituto de Formação das TDM ( IFT) in Mozambique and Instituto Nacional de Telecomunicações ( Itel) in Angola.

This Centre of Excellence Network is driven through the Regulatory authorities who represent all the stakeholders in each country. The regulatory authorities work closely with training providers available in the country to implement training activities. It is supported by external partners such as Spain, Portugal and Brazil, who recommend some of the experts responsible for content delivery at the training events. The participating countries also provide local experts to complement the external experts, as a strategy for local capacity building as well as  for sharing of local and regional experiences. Training is provided in the following training domains:

• Telecommunication Policy and Regulation
• Business Management New Technologies and
• Services Universal Access and Rural ICT Development

Roles and Responsibilities

Steering Committee

The Network is governed by a steering committee composed of representatives from the International Telecommunications Union, the Governments of Spain and Portugal and representatives from the regulatory bodies from each of the beneficiary countries in Africa. The steering committee plans to meet at least once every year. The first steering committee meeting was held in Maputo, Mozambique, in December 2008. At this meeting it was decided that the regulatory authorities from the participating countries would be the focal points for this project. Further, during this first meeting Mozambique was elected as the Chair for the coming year and an action plan for 2009 was agreed upon for which implementation started in February 2009. The second Steering Committee was held in Sao Tome, who then assumed the Chair of the Steering Committee for the coming year. The host of the next Steering Committee meeting automatically becomes the chair for the following year.

In the conduct of its project management function, the Steering Committee (SC):

• Approves the Annual Action Plan drawn up and submitted by the Coordinator. In the absence of a Coordinator, the SC shall draw up the Action Plan.
• Approves the overall budget for the year and/or any substantial changes proposed to the budget.
• Monitors the implementation of the Action Plans by the respective institutions.
• Approves criteria recommended by the Project Coordinator for the inclusion of institutions and nodes into the network.
• Approves collaborative arrangements with other international institutions and partnerships.
• Evaluates and approves progress reports submitted by the Project Coordinator.
• Explores ways of collaborating with the other nodes of the African Centre of Excellence network established under Phase 2 of that initiative.

Subcommittee on Experts and Management

An Advisory Committee had been envisaged to be composed of representatives of industry and other stakeholders, with the responsibility of advising the Steering Committee on trends in the sector and the priorities for training. However, during the 2nd Steering Committee meeting in Sao Tome in November 2009, the Advisory Committee meeting was deemed redundant, as the Regulators were free to bring into their delegations any other stakeholders whose interests and concerns could be aired at the Steering Committee meeting.Therefore during the 2nd Steering Committee meeting in Sao Tome, the Advisory Committee was replaced by a Subcommittee on Experts and Management (SEM).

The SEM, comprising of ITU, Portugal, Spain, and two representatives of the beneficiary countries (Angola and Mozambique) had been created during the 1st Steering Committee meeting  with the role to evaluate and choose the experts and trainers to undertake the training activities under the project. This role was then enlarged, to include managing the project in between Steering Committee meetings. The representation was also expanded to include Cape Verde, and any country holding the Steering Committee chair. The Steering committee thus also considers the advice and recommendations of the SEM on the management of the project.

The ITU

The ITU provides the overall management coordination and supervision of the project. This is to ensure that the CoE Network conforms to its objectives as stated in the project document, and that it is implemented according to ITU rules and standards. This Network is implemented through the ITU regional Office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in coordination with the HCB Division at ITU headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. The ITU gives advice and guidance to the Steering Committee and any other committees or structures formed within this Network. The ITU also participates in the meetings of the Steering Committee. Over and above this, the ITU:

• Provides supervision to the work of the National Coordinator.
• Provides guidance over the disbursement of funds in accordance with priorities established for all the CoE Networks.
• Makes recommendations regarding the observed contributions and performance of the institutions within the Network.
• Facilitates the establishment of links with global partners, including support in sourcing for external experts.
• Recruits experts for delivery of training programs.