TV Programs and Video Presentations On Information and Development in Egypt

Peter Knight has worked with the Cabinet Information and Decision Support Center, Arab Republic of Egypt (IDSC) and the Regional Information Technology and Software Engineering Center (RITSEC) in the production of English and Arabic language TV programs and video presentations. These TV programs and presentations are intended to:

• document Egypt's remarkable achievements over the past ten years in mobilizing information to accelerate and monitor socio-economic development,
• show the relevance of Egypt's experience for other developing and transitional economies;
• convince domestic and international audiences that Egypt is well-prepared to embark on a new stage in the development of its information infrastructure, using broadband, multimedia technologies to bring needed services directly to enterprises and families as well as to government agencies and decision-makers; and
• help mobilize international technical and financial resources to help Egypt build its broadband National Information Infrastructure, connect it to the Global Information Infrastructure, and apply this infrastructure to increase the effectiveness of its government, the competitiveness of its enterprises, and the wellbeing of its citizens.

The project was carried out by IDSC and RITSEC and South Productions (an Egyptian television production company), with support from the Electronic Media Center of the World Bank. A paper describes the project, and the initial work on a related Africa-wide project. The Egyptian project inspired a decision of the High Level Working Group on Information and Communications Technology in Africa, the first meeting of which was hosted by IDSC November 12-13, 1995, at IDSC in Cairo, to recommend the production of similar television programs and video presentations by other African countries and a summary program to present the main messages of the High Level Working Group's report, which was completed in March, 1996. Peter Knight, EMC Chief, was designated by the High Level Working Group to coordinate the production of these national and international television programs and video presentations. Parts of the footage shot in Egypt were later incorporated in the video/TV program Building Africa's Information Highway.

 Interview of Dr. Hisham El Sherif
[Chairman of the Advisory Board, IDSC]
by Effat El Shooky [Regional Cooperation Manager, RITSEC]

The following pictures are of the South Productions crew in action during the Third Annual Governor's Forum on Information and Development: