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REPORT ON
THE FIFTH AFRICAN CONFERENCE ON FREE AND OPEN SOURCE SOFTWARE (FOSS) AND DIGITAL COMMONS

@
SHEHU MUSA YARADUA CONFERENCE CENTRE, ABUJA.

19TH MARCH, 2012 23RD MARCH, 2012.

THEME: THEME: OPEN SOURCE SOLUTIONS FOR ACHIEVING THE MILLENIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS.
BY

ABATAN SUNDAY MATTHEW TECHNOLOGIST II DEPT. DEMOGRAPHY AND SOCIAL STATISTICS FACULTY OF SOCIAL SCIENCE AND HUMANITY FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OYE EKITI
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PREAMBLE

The Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA) have pledged to work together to promote Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) in Africa. The Vision of FOSSFA is to promote the use of FOSS and the FOSS model in African development. That is why the conference is being organized to hold in any African countries every two years. FOSSFA is the premier African FOSS organization, and was founded under the auspices of the Bamako Bureau of the African Information Society Initiative within the mandate given by African Governments in 1995 to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). FOSSFA supports the integration of FOSS in national policies and also coordinates, promotes, and adds value to African FOSS initiatives, creativity, industry, expertise, efforts and activities at all levels. FOSSFA partners with development organizations who share these goals towards a participatory and gender-mainstreamed sustainable development and the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals.

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IDLELO 5 partnership
The fifth IDLELO was a partnership event among the following
1.

2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25.

The Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa FOSSFA The Nigeria Ministry of Communication Technology The Nigeria Ministry of Education The Nigeria, National Information Technology and Development Agency (NITDA). Open Source Foundation for Nigeria (OSFON) DIPLO Federal University Oye Ekiti Google ITAN ng ICT Forum, NIRA. ICANN ISPON, Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Creative Commons (CC) ICT@Innovation Mandriva GIZ Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), AITI IDLELO CEDERD ECOWAS NETWORK SETUP RESOURCE CENTRE BACKBONE CONNECTIVITY NETWORK (BCN) LTD. FADERA

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DAY ONE- 19TH MARCH, 2012. Arrival/Registration Participants from different parts of the world started coming to the venue at about 9a.m. while the registration started at half past ten. Opening Session The programme started by 11:07am with an Opening Address by Moderator Mawusee Komla Foli-Awli FOSSFA community Empowerment Manager, Togo. The Rostrum was made up of the FOSSFA Representatives and managers from Kenya, Togo, Ghana, Gambia, Nigeria, South Africa, USA, Spain, Director of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) from different Universities across African Countries, President of Open Source Foundation for Nigeria (OSFON) Mr. Dele Ajisomo, Director General, National Information Technology and Development Agency (NITDA). Representative from DIPLO, Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Aiti, IDLELO, GIZ, FUOYE, Google, ITAN, ng ICT Forum, NIRA, ICANN, ISPON, NCS, to mention few among the attendants. There was an Opening remark by the FOSSFA Council Chairperson, Madam Nnena Nwakanma where she told participants about the conference and what FOSSFA stands for, the Vision and Mission Statement of FOSSFA. She mentioned that FOSSFA made the call to encourage public involvement in the open standards debate at the national level throughout Africa. IDLELO 5 OBJECTIVES Among other things, Idlelo 5 was to allow: * Governments to share experiences in the use of FOSS in government and administration, * FOSS users, developers and localizers to showcase results obtained since the last Idlelo, * Participants to benefit from policy, academic papers and practitioners input from world-acknowledged speakers on featured tracks, with a focus on the overall theme of "ACHIEVING THE MILLENIUM GOALS * New and innovative FOSS initiatives to be presented and evaluated,
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* To set out the South African FOSS experience for the benefit of continental Africa * Seminars, round tables, mini conferences and deepened discussions on global and African FOSS issues. * Intensive hands-on training on current FOSS tools in several professional domains, * Students to connect to experts in the field * Organizations and entities looking for FOSS expertise to make valuable contacts towards recruitment, * Market African FOSS expertise, * The launch and commissioning of several FOSS awards, researches and innovative initiatives, * A review of the activities of the Free Software and Open Source Foundation for Africa (FOSSFA) as well as the renewal of its governance structure, FOSSFA encouraged African governments to facilitate the debate on open standards and involve national experts in decisions regarding technology standards. In her conclusion she gave a brief report on Idlelo4 that was held in Ghana, Idlelo5 now becoming a reality in Abuja Nigeria. While introducing the Idlelo5, the Council Chairperson said the word idlelo is a Southern Africa word meaning common grazing ground Idlelo capture the essence of FOSSFAs existence as well as the foundamental objectives of the conference as stated above.

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Session One The session started by 9am and the moderator invited the speakers that will facilitate the each session. Speaker: Evans Ikua - Kenya Title of Session; Community Self Organization and empowerment Speaker: Nnena Nwakanma- Cote dvoire Titled of Session: Leadership for virtual Community. Speaker: Rising Osazuma - Nigeria Title of session: Internet Governance In all these sessions the most interesting facts was that in Internet governance the resource persons opened the mind of all participants to free software. Is it really free! Free download if it is free that means somebody somewhere is actually paying for it. While some argued that we paid for free download through the bandwidth we buy from the providers. The speaker also raised the issue of indiscipline among bandwidth provider and how to deal them? He said that one needs to be sure of his request and query them if they do not meet up with the expectation. The speaker stressed the need for participants to visit freedom house (www.freedomhouse.org) to learn more on internet governance. Assembly General of FOSSFA After the LUNCH BREAK we proceed to Assembly General of FOSSFA, it was a general meeting for all FOSSFA Members and intending members, this session was moderated by Katim S. Touray an international development consultant based in The Gambia. He took his time to explain what FOSSFA Constitution and how to be a member as well as the role of member in economic development, somebody raised a question that some have applied to be a member yet their names were not listed among the members, Council Chairperson, Mrs Nnena said membership form filled online are always collated every quarter and this form has to pass through the liaison officer of each country before membership is confirmed. FOSSFA website: www.fossfa.net

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The meeting was brought into conclusion by 6:15pm, and everyone on his or her way to the Hotel room.

DAY 2 OFFICIAL Opening Ceremony This event kicked-off at exactly 9am with the welcome address by OSFON President, Mr. Dele Ajisomo, in his address he made it known to all that government support by enacting a policy that encourage open source in Nigeria, this he said will upgrade our society in international standard. After his speech, he welcome the minister of information and Technology to platform, Engr. (Mrs) Omobola Johnson in her speech, welcome all participants both foreign and citizens to Abuja and she officially declared the conference opened. The minister, after her speech went round the exhibition forum, there she visited the stand of the following DIPLO, Economic Commission for Africa (ECA), Aiti, ICT@INNOVATION, GIZ, FUOYE, Google, ITAN, ng ICT Forum, NIRA, ICANN, ISPON, NCS, FADERA stands to mention but few. We observed LUNCH BREAK by 2:00pm -2:30pm.

SESSION TWO The moderator of this session was Dorothy Gordon Ghana Speaker: Jon maddog Hall. Linux Institute, USA. Speaker: Dr Nana Tanko. African Policy Research Institute About Linux Fund Linux Fund is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides financial and advisory support to the free and open software community. Linux Fund has given away over
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$750,000 to open source events and development since its founding in 1999 using funds raised through its line of credit cards and direct donations. Richard Essien: Professional Ethical Hacker, he said in his presentation that the job of an Ethical Hacker is to get into the minds of computer criminals, think like them and come up with innovative methods to protect computers, networks and data. Anyone who uses the Internet services and application is at risk of being a victim of any of the form of the cyber crime. Here is a need for FOSS enthusiasts to do the same in FOSS related conferences such as Idlelo, in an ethical manner. This Technical session (workshop) shared Network security knowledge, raising security, awareness, capacity building, and to equip participants with Ethical Hacking skills and provide the beginners with a strong foundation in creation of future cyberspace warriors using FOSS tools. Aniedi Udo-Obong: IT Professional with over 5 years experience working with startups in the Education, Human Resources (Computer-Based Testing), Media (Online Newspaper) & Finance in his submission Building Functional, Scalable Websites Using Drupal Distributions and Wordpress Drupal Functional sites have web applications, where you could do something tangible such as search for & find information, fill out a form, submit an assignment, download a document/book, take a test/exam, apply for a scholarship/job/loan/visa, e.t.c www.drupal.org. join drupal forum on www.google.com Day 3 Poverty Alleviation The Moderator: Judith Ann Okite, Kenya started by asking what the meaning of Poverty Alleviation is? Time: 9:00am. Introduction Poverty is the state of human beings who are poor. That is, they have little or no material means of survivinglittle or no food, shelter, clothes, healthcare. Poverty is an inability to meet up daily needs, use of brain, accessed basic amenities, Alleviation is a sustainable programme to eradicate. Sometime poverty varies to different aspect of life, one may be rich and yet poor in education. Take for instance a farmer consider himself as a wealthy-fellow because he has a large cultivated plots of land but if he
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cannot adopt modern methods in his farming skills he can be considered to be poor. Invariably poverty is a state of mind. The Life history of Dele Ajisomo a 57yrs old President of OSFON, Nigeria was used as picture of the trend of Poverty alleviation. He was born in Ondo State an ijaw man, his mother was a trader and his father a typical fisherman but his father always tell him may your road be rough (reason being that everyone needs challenges to be great). Against all odds he went to public primary school and modern school in Ibadan. He is now a professional hacker. He had work with IBM and Oil Company in London; he later resigned for his own ICT Company. Achievement: initiative of Tech mentorship to assist young leaders. Prof. Afolabi, Liberian FUOYE in his comment on the life history of Mr. Dele Ajisomo asked what are his contributions to other Nigerians? especially from the school he went to and what he has done to help young ones coming to learn from his achievements? Mr. Faponda in response to the question asked, calling to support Youth in ICT knowledge said the focus of youths this day are on money, they are not ready to learn. Their agitation is desire to venture into business that they have little or no knowledge of in order to furnish themselves with quick money. He has tried to help some young graduates to learn some skill and develop themselves but all this effort ends in failure. The suggested solution to help future leader was to expose them to IT right from their tender age and build their interest early enough in software development. PC WORLD MAGAZINE, LINUX TO CONDUCT PORJECT, Open Source: www.blender.org

Sustainability
This session was coordinated by Moses Morimo from Zimbabwe Introduction Sustainability is system easily pass on, system to follow a project, a society that are functional in aspect of commitment, loop to the next level without starting all over again, sustainability should be a positive management principle of any growing society. Speaker: Susana Hernandez, Spain: Sustainable Loans System: motivation, engagement besides an opportunity of education

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Speaker: Francis Ohanyido, Nigeria: A sustainable system strengthening approach to Human Resource for Health Capacity Builing for ICT-Based Health Management Information System Speaker: Onyeibo Oku, Nigeria: 'Building' Architects and Use of Open-source Tools Speaker: Sunday Abatan, Federal University Oye Ekiti, Nigeria: Info-Tech in African Countries! Where are we in Economic Development? Speaker: Bankole Olubamise, Nigeria: Imperatives for Human Capital Development in the Emerging Information Society in Africa: Options for Policy and Strategy Speaker: Yunusa Rafindadi, Nigeria: Issues in the Use of Information Technology among community based organisations as illustrated by Alamar Tambayar These speakers emphasized different area and method that we can adopt to ensure sustainability of FOSS and ICT knowledge in African countries.

Day 4
Parallel Sessions of Education Track E-Learning This session was moderated by Mr. Seun Ojedeji-Federal University, Oye Ekiti Panel of Speakers: Timi Ogunjobi, Nigeria: How to create effective e-learning projects? Antoine Mian Bi, Cote d'Ivoire: Usages de Facebook pour lapprentissage en Cte dIvoire. (Using Facebook As a means of learning a case study of students in faculty of law that uses facebook conference chatt to do their assignment. Tendayi Mutangadura, Zimbabwe: Impact of eLearning (OERs) in institutions of Higher learning: Case of Zimbabwe

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Session Four Speaker: Prof Derek Keats, IT Strategy, FOSS, Technology Innovation Johannesburg, South Africa. Chisimba is a Web 2.0 enabled rapid application development with a rich set of features and over 100 modules of functionality. Chisimba was developed based on several years of experience in software design and architecture at the University of the Western Cape and partner institutions around Africa using its predecessor KEWL.NextGen. Features include MVC paragidm with modules including a multimedia-enabled weblog (blog), a feature-rich e-learning (learning management system) platform, a content management system, numerous modules for university and educational administration, & much more. Human Networking This is an interactive session which was created by Me, Abatan Sunday Matthew The session is make available to everyone to interact with different people, Students to connect to experts in the field, Organizations and entities looking for FOSS expertise to make valuable contacts towards recruitment, Market African FOSS expertise and lots more. In this session I learnt how to publish my paper via the internet through Mr. Timi Ogunjobi a drupal professional. Interacting with Prof. Derek Keats, IT Strategy, FOSS, Technology Innovation Johannesburg, South Africa. I discover another statistical Package called PSPP which is an Open Software in place of SPSS. This is a relevant software package for my faculty of Social Science, Social Statistics in particular. You can download my Paper presentation in the conference by visiting www.tinyingurl.com/7oydakv and this report also can be accessed through the internet by login on www.tinyurl.com/................... FOSS Business Models Trainers: Rising Osazuma Nigeria, Susana Hernandez, Spain and others African FOSS Business Models: Case Studies: This workshop provides case studies to demonstrate how companies in African countries are already profiting from the benefits inherent in FOSS. The case studies give practical advice based on reported experiences of a cross-section of FOSS business enterprises. Furthermore, the studies
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show that FOSS business models in Africa employ some innovative strategies. Common trends and practical experiences from the case studies are put together to generate a taxonomy of FOSS business models which are applicable in the African context. e-Learning with FOSS MOODLE Speaker: Seun Ojedeji: Principal Network Engineer, Federal University, Oye Ekiti. Nigeria. Moodle is a Course Management System (CMS), also known as a Learning Management System (LMS) or a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). It is a free web application that educators can use to create effective online learning sites. It has revolutionized the learning process, by offering an advanced and user-friendly solution for encouraging the collaborative work of students and teachers. It comes with a toolbox full of online teaching techniques that facilitate and enhance the proven teaching principles and traditional classroom activities.

DAY 5
THE CLOSING CEREMONY The closing ceremony of Idlelo was marked by the presence of Mr. Dele Ajisomo, President, OSFON, NITDA Director General, FOSSFA Chairperson, Member of Parliament from Kenya, Alhaji Abdul-Hakeem Ajijola and member of FOSSFA and other partners. Commercial access to ICTs is an impediment to knowledge development, the Governments commitment as well as individual effort to provide continuous support to the FOSS movement was addressed. IDLELO is essential for raising FOSS awareness in served communities and can foster greater participation in the global knowledge economy. IDLELO 6 Idlelo6 is scheduled to hold in Kenya, in 2014. Hope to be there! Thank YOU !

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