Bridging Africa's Digital Divide

This report is based on the outcomes of a regional §workers education training workshop held at the Tom §Mboya Labour College, Kisumu, Kenya and organized by §the Bureau for Workers Activities §of the International Labour Organization and the §Workers' Activities Programme of §the International Training Centre in Turin. The aim §was to trade unions in English-speaking Africa to §bridge what has been described as the Digital §Divide: the gap between developed and developing §countries in the use of Information and §Communication Technologies (ICT). §§One important outcome of the workshop was that, the §bridge of the digital divide will only be shortened §if trade unions design and co-ordinate the ICT §agenda at the workplaces. The conventional wisdom §must be that information technology must be seen to §be important for all trade union operations, ranging §from membership recruitment and organising, delivery §of services, collective bargaining, research, §training and education, to political campaigns and §maintenance of democratic principles. Trade unions §must also take information technology as a critical §force in shaping their relevance in the future.