The 3rd African Conference on FOSS and the Digital Commons – IDLELO 3

Welcome

Welcome to the official site of the 3rd African Conference on Free and Open Source Software and Digital Commons. Dakar, Senegal will be our host country this year and the conference will be taking place from the 16th to the 20th of March 2008 at the Université Cheikh Anta Diop (UCAD) of Dakar, and Campus Numérique de la Francophonie, Dakar, Senegal).

Idlelo has been a rally center for capacity building at continental levels. The past two editions have given needed opportunity for Training of Trainers, physical exhibition of FOSS progress as well as innovation. Idlelo 3 will host a number of training , parallel events and an exhibition.

Hands-on training will be given to the Media, Education, Health, Administration, SMEs and policy practitioners. Parallel events shall be hosted in partnership with the Agence Universitaire de La Francophone in their Campus Numérique of Dakar.

We look forward to seeing you in Dakar, Senegal

Participants will be required to pay a registration fee of two hundred and fifty dollars($250)

For registration fee, please visit http://www.aiti-kace.com.gh/idlelo/?q=node/15

IDLELO 3 – the conference

Idlelo is a Southern Africa word meaning common grazing ground. Idlelo captures the essence of FOSSFA's existence as well as the fundamental objective of the conference. The original idea of an African conference on FOSS and the Digital Commons was born at about the same time as FOSSFA itself.

Why Idlelo?

Idlelo, over the past two editions has proved its necessity and has established beyond doubts that it is the one event for FOSS practitioners, developers and advocates as well as governments to showcase results, share experiences, exchange challenges, review progress on the continent in divers domains and chart a way forward for the following years.

Theme and sub-themes

The general theme of Idlelo 3 is Achieving a Knowledge Economy in Africa.

The sub-themes, organized in tracks will include, but will not be limited to:

• Good Governance

• Human capacities, capacities, and competencies

• FOSS Business models and community development

• Health, HIV and AIDS

• FOSS in Education

• Connectivity

• Developers and Applications

• FOSS best practices and lessons

• National FOSS experiences

The Workshops, training sessions, parallel events and exhibition

Idlelo has been a rallying center for capacity building on continental levels. The past two editions have given needed opportunity for Training of Trainers, physical exhibiton of FOSS progress as well as innovation. Idlelo 3 will host a number of trainings, parallel events and an exhibition. Hands-on trainings will be given to the Media, Education, Health, Administration, SMEs, and policy practitioners.

Expected/measurable outcomes

Among other things, Idlelo 3 will 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 and research papers from world-acknowledged speakers on featured tracks

• New and innovative FOSS initiatives to be presented and evaluated

• 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 – (education, media, SMEs, certification, volunteering, gender mainstreaming, Health)

• 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.

• A decisive meeting on the continental FOSS agenda and a Road Map.