UNECA launches ASKIA initiative



ASKIA portal

Various initiatives to enhance the visibility and to improve access to digital content from and on Africa are under way across the continent. On 14 March 2013, I witnessed the launch of one such initiative, the Access to Scientific and Socio-economic Information in Africa (ASKIA), in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Mr. Makane Faye, Officer-in-Charge of the Knowledge Services and Library Services Section at the United Nations Economic Commission (UNECA), launched ASKIA at the plenary session of the Third Session of the Committee on Development Information, Science and Technology (CODIST-III).

 

According to Faye, the ASKIA initiative defines a framework for bringing together a variety of scientific and socio-economic information for the African community, including scientists, researchers, students, economists and policy makers, over an interactive online portal. The initiative, which responds to the recommendations made at various CODIST meetings and conference across Africa by African experts from the fields of information and libraries and policy makers, will focus on the following:

•  ASKIA online portal: which will serve as a one-stop access point to all knowledge from/on Africa;
• ASKIA Federated Search Engine: which will facilitate collation and discovery of knowledge  from/on Africa through a single search;
• Geo-data repository: a repository of maps from Africa;
• Knowledge hub: which will provide value added services through knowledge contextualization;
• Capacity building: focusing on enhancing capacities of institutions in UNECA member states through partnerships.

ASKIA’s goal is to strengthen online knowledge discovery and access by tapping into global scientific and socio-economic knowledge on and from Africa.

 

ASKIA is also an implementation programme of the African Virtual Library and Information Network, which unanimously endorsed by an expert group meeting convened by UNECA at the second meeting of the Committee on Development Information (CODI-II) in September 2001.

 

Providing access to digital content from Africa discussed at CODIST-III

Gracian Chimwaza (ITOCA) and
Justin Chisenga (FAO) at CODIST-III

Over the past four days, I have been in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia participating in the Third Session of the Committee on Development Information, Science and Technology (CODIST-III). CODIST is one of the seven subsidiary bodies of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) composed of senior officials and experts from member States who meet on a biennial basis. The theme for CODIST-III was Measuring Innovation in Africa.

On 12 March, I took part in the pre-CODIST-III roundtable of the Knowledge and Library Information Services (KLIS) sub-Committee. The theme for the round table was “Innovations promoting information access and diffusion in Africa: best practices, challenges and the way forward”. Discussions mainly focused on initiatives that are working towards opening access to digital content generated in Africa. These included development of institutional repositories in African universities, the Access to Scientific and Socio-economic Information in Africa (ASKIA), the Database of African Theses and Dissertations (DATAD), Uganda’s implementation of the World Digital Library initiative, and the impact of social media in libraries. Following the discussions, the participants at the round table noted, among others:

• The absence of necessary technical, legal and governance frameworks to support adoption of Open Access model and other emerging technologies that would enhance access to the continent’s digital content;
• Proliferation of initiatives aimed at creating digital repositories. These are mainly externally supported/funded and in most cases, there is duplication of efforts.
• The need for coherence in information management and dissemination initiatives existing in Africa;
• Inadequate and/or limited capacity in many countries to manage digital information assets to support innovation for national development.

A key recommendation that came out of the round table is that UNECA should provide a forum for development partners, international organizations and member states to deliberate on the integration of their initiatives to avoid duplication and to leverage on the sharing of resources.

UNECA Launches Institutional Repository



Ms Aida Opoku-Mensah, Director, ISTD
launching the ECA Institutional Repository

Access to digital socio-economic development information in Africa received a boost with the launch of the ECA Institutional Repository by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 2 May 2011, during a workshop on Open Access. The ECA Institutional Repository will provide free access to publications, including journal articles, conference proceedings and working papers as well as technical, mission and annual reports produced by UNECA since its establishment in 1958.

Launch of the ECA Repository

Speaking at the launch of the repository, Ms Aida Opoku-Mensah, Director of the ICT, Science and Technology Division (ISTD), indicated that the need to ensure a free flow of scientific information should be pursued by all member states with vigour. Ms Opoku-Mensah also informed the people present at the launch that the ECA Library was collaborating with the Science and Technology Section of ISTD to develop the Access to Scientific Knowledge in Africa (ASKIA), a programme that will facilitate a one stop centre to scientific and associated information available on the Internet.