Global agenda and ICT4D in Africa: Constraints of localizing ‘universal norm’

• Describes the limitation of the international policy transfer and global ICT for development agenda.
• Shows the utopian goals of African Information Society Initiative.
• Identifies the barriers to the ICT policy implementation in Africa.
• Analyzes the institutional and political challenges to African ICT for development agenda.

In 1996, as part of the global ICT for development phenomenon, the Africa Information Society Initiative (AISI) was launched as the action framework for the building of ICT infrastructure in Africa. Its goals included the digital connection of every African village to the global information network by the year 2010, and the leapfrogging of Africa's development through ICTs. Over a decade after the enactment of the AISI, many villages are still without electricity, and lack access to Internet services and other core ICTs. Based on the data gathered from qualitative semi-structured interviews and secondary sources, this paper analyzes the challenges and obstacles that have confronted the AISI implementation and ICT4D agenda in Africa. It examines the implication of these challenges and potential ways of addressing them.