Strengthening information and communication systems as well as bridging the digital divide between developed and developing countries is one of the major priorities of UNESCO's Regional Office for Education in Africa (BREDA).

It is within this context that three African countries, namely Senegal, Mali and Mozambique, were selected to pilot a vast program geared towards popularising Community Multimedia Centres (CMC). Each CMC is intended to provide a wide range of communication and information services such as radio, telephone and internet.

In Senegal, the signing ceremony of the Plan of Operation of a project aimed at establishing fifty (50) CMCs was held on Tuesday October 12, 2004 at UNESCO's Regional Office in Dakar. Present at the ceremony were: the Minister of Information, African Integration and Promotion of New Information and Communication Technologies of Senegal, Mr. Mamadou Diop, the Regional Adviser of UNESCO for Social Science in Africa, Mrs. Carrie Marias and the Chargé d'Affaires of the Embassy of Switzerland in Senegal, Mr. Pascal Décosterd.

"It is a programme that offers isolated and less privileged communities in developing countries the access to new information technology" said Mrs. Marias of BREDA. "There are already about thirty CMCs established throughout 16 countries in three continents. We intend to establish fifty more in Senegal" she added.

For Mr. Mamadou Diop, Minister of Information, African Integration and Promotion of New Information and Communication Technologies, the project "responds to a preoccupation of Senegal's Head of State, Mr. Abdoulaye Wade, to bridge the digital divide between urban, semi-urban and rural areas". He also indicated that "the project must target the youth who are more oriented to change and therefore receptive to the multimedia culture". According to the Minister, the first six centres will be established within the area around the regions of Podor and Kolda identified as one the most underdeveloped of the country.

The project in Senegal will cost 400 000 000 f cfa (650 887 euros) and will be steered at the governmental level by an inter-ministerial council from the ministries of information, education and health.