Information Technology (IT) is a topic that has taken Namibia by storm in the last few years. But is the importance of this topic really understood by the top-level decision makers? The local IT industry experts need to be given the opportunity to practice their expertise in this field, but the role of political decisions is crucial.

The ability to use Information Technology strategically and effectively is an important source of building economically relevant skills and knowledge for developing countries like Namibia. The top-level decision makers don’t really understand the importance of strategic decisions made for the long run. Consulting the experts in these fields should be encouraged to make sure that the future strategic decisions are made based on accurate information. The topic is not completely new in Namibia due to the well established University, Polytechnic College and a few privately owned institutions that provide advanced IT training.

Much less known is the fact that there also is a group of Open Source developers and, of course, users who only get visible for the public at Open Source Software (OSS) workshops, such as the Pan-African OSS meeting that put Namibia in the focus of the “African Source” movement in March 2004.

“Africa Source” Conference Puts Namibia on the Map of the OSS Community

With the support of Open Society Initiative Southern Africa (OSISA), Open Society Initiative West Africa (OSIWA), OSI BUdapist, USAID, O´Reilly made it possible for the 1st pan-African Free and Open Source software developer’s event to take place in Namibia.The workshop attracted more than 60 participants from all over all over Africa. The aim of this gathering was to build a long term relationship among African developers.
More information on Africa Source can be accessed at http://www.tacticaltech.org/africasource.