Africa – Integra LLC

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Support for MCC Senegal Compact

In December 2022, MCC’s Board of Directors identified Senegal as eligible for a new regional country compact. Throughout 2023, under the MCC Economic Analysis (EA) BPA Constraints Analysis Task Order, Integra provided analytical support to aid the selection of the Compact’s sector of focus.

In late 2023, Integra was further engaged to support the co-design and developing concept notes for the Compact using a Problem Driven Iterative Adaptation (PDIA) process. The assignment was to utilize PDIA to help MCC and the Government of Senegal (GoS) jointly arrive at concepts for investment that are locally owned and driven, thereby increasing the likelihood of the long-term success and sustainability of projects and any associated reforms. The initial analytical support and the PDIA process built on existing research that fed into a Root Cause Analysis – resulting in a Compact that was evidence-based and supported throughout the ecosystem of stakeholders.

The primary objectives of the assignment were to identify restrictions to productivity and competitiveness within the selected sector – that are narrowly defined, highly detailed, have regional salience, and are well targeted to marginalized groups. This meant facilitation of a co-creation process between MCC and the GoS, through which the GoS generates a set of proposals for interventions that:

Promote inclusive economic prosperity for Senegal and the region – through the Blue Economy and selected sub-sector – as well as environmental sustainability,
are meaningfully linked to a set of separately developed “concepts” and
Enjoy strong support across the government and key stakeholders.

Additionally, given that the PDIA methodology is relatively new to MCC, a secondary objective was to build PDIA understanding and skills for select MCC staff members.

The Integra Team designed a custom PDIA process for the assignment based on the MCC and Senegalese teams’ unique operating environment, challenges, and strengths. The assignment began with 1) initial remote advisory support during an inception process of engagement and dialogue between MCC and the GoS, and the hiring of a Compact Development Team (CDT) in-country under the already hired National Coordinator, 2) in-depth analysis of large macroeconomic datasets to inform sub-sector selection within the Blue Economy, and 3) a kickoff workshop outlining PDIA roles and goals, building team cohesion and trust, and allowing stakeholders to ask questions or present their concerns or interests.

The assignment continued throughout 2024, with Integra providing ongoing PDIA support during subsector selection, stakeholder engagement, and problem identification. In May 2024, it included a week-long Root Cause Analysis workshop where the Integra team worked with MCC and key GoS representatives to develop fishbone diagrams and ensure that MCC investment criteria were considered.

The work concluded with a comprehensive final report on lessons learned and recommendations for PDIA at MCC. To ensure knowledge dissemination, a brownbag event is tentatively scheduled for August 2024 to share these lessons learned with the MCC EA division.

August 1, 2024/by jschur

Africa, Areas of Expertise, Environment & NRM, Integra News, REPLACE Update, Where we work

Integra Evaluates USAID’s STEWARD III Under REPLACE

As a Task Order under the REPLACE IDIQ, Integra has conducted a mid-term performance evaluation of the Sustainable and Thriving Environments for West Africa Regional Development Program (STEWARD III), being implemented for USAID/West Africa by the US Forest Service International Program in Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia, and Côte d’Ivoire.

June 20, 2014/by actualize

Africa, Areas of Expertise, Information and Communication Technology for Development, Integra News, Where we work

Government of Kenya Launches National Broadband Strategy

On July 23, 2013, at a high profile event in Nairobi attended by the US Ambassador, Kenya became only the second country in Africa to launch an elaborate National Broadband […]

July 26, 2013/by actualize

Africa, Agriculture, Food Security & Rural Development, Areas of Expertise, Economic Growth, Integra News, Where we work

Eric White, Integra LLC’s Lead Economist, to join panel at the World Bank Info Shop!

Eric White, Integra LLC’s Lead Economist and Managing Associate, will join a panel next Wednesday, May 15th at the World Bank Info Shop. At the event, entitled“Breaking the Rural – Urban Divide”, panelists will be discussing two books released by the World Bank Press; Structural Transformation and Rural Change Revisited and Financing Africa’s Cities. As a co-author of the former, Mr. White will take part in a discussion about the structural transformation process, from both a rural and urban perspective.

Communications Commission of Kenya releases National Broadband Strategy for public hearing

This past January the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) presented the draft of their National Broadband Strategy for public review. The strategy outlines a comprehensive plan for bringing communications services and ICT business development to all of Kenya. Expected to cost US$ 2.4 billion, 70% is budgeted for national infrastructure while the remainder will be used for capacity building and content development. Funding will be a combination of public and private sources and will include accessing Kenya’s capital markets. Read more …

April 19, 2013/by actualize

Africa, Areas of Expertise, Economic Growth, Information and Communication Technology for Development, Where we work

Massive New Submarine Cable to Bring High-Speed Broadband Access to West Africa

Bandwidth problems in West Africa may soon become a thing of the past when the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE) broadband submarine cable comes online this December. The US$700 million will interconnect a total of 23 countries in Europe and West Africa, including two Integra and GBI clients, Nigeria and Ghana. This massive infrastructure project aims to bring high-speed broadband internet to these developing countries in order to reduce the digital divide and serve as “a vector of social development and economic growth in Africa.”

Led by the France Telecom company, this broadband system will extend over 17,000 km to from Brittany in France to Cape Town in South Africa. Parts of Europe and 16 West African countries will be interconnected by the submarine cable. Connectivity will extend even to the landlocked nations of Mali and Niger who will be connected via their own terrestrial links.

The cable itself has an initial 1.92 terabytes per second (Tb/s) capacity that can be upgraded to a whopping 5.12 Tb/s. ACE will use cutting edge fiber optic technology developed by Alcatel-Lucent that offers a higher quality of high-speed broadband than satellite at a lower cost. Utilizing new wavelength-division multiplexing (WDM)technology, the ACE stations can be upgraded without any actual modifications to the cable itself. This is a significant increase in the broadband capacity for these countries. Gambia for example, is estimated to have an increase in capacity by a factor of 16.

Increasing bandwidth capacity is crucial for enabling increased broadband penetration rates within a county. In 2011, the Broadband Commission for Digital Development issued a report that identified broadband as a “tool of unprecedented power” in helping countries meet the millennial development goals in 2015. Additionally, a report from the World Bank showed that a 10% increase in broadband penetration in developing economies correlates with a 1.38% contribution to economic growth. With ACE online, West Africa will be able to access a plethora of new opportunities.

June 25, 2012/by actualize

Africa, Areas of Expertise, GBI Updates, Information and Communication Technology for Development, Integra News, USAF Updates, Where we work

A New Connectivity Strategy for Ghana

GIFEC Community Information Center at Bechem

Photo Courtesy of CIC Bechem Blog

Integra, under its Global Broadband and Innovations program, is supporting the government of Ghana to better promote broadband Internet use throughout the country. Ghana has a long and successful record of promoting ICT use – it was one of the first countries in Africa to establish a Universal Service Fund (in 2005) and was recently found to have the fastest Internet speeds in Africa. Yet with Internet penetration remaining at 10%, much work remains to be done.

The Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications (GIFEC) is tasked with expanding broadband Internet into unserved and underserved areas, and it currently oversees a broad portfolio of projects. GIFEC has installed over 200 public telecenters nationwide (called Community Information Centers) and set-up Internet access in a number of public libraries and schools throughout the country. Yet as mobile broadband speeds become faster and handheld devices become cheaper, GIFEC is considering changing its access strategy.

To effectively do this it needs to understand the unique nature of the digital divide in Ghana. What types of households and individuals access the Internet, and for what purpose? What are the information needs of those that do not, and what are their major constraints in accessing that information? GIFEC will implement a survey, with Integra’s support, that will inform a study that clarifies the challenges people face to accessing the Internet in Ghana. Integra will assist with the preparation of the study and will work with GIFEC to move from the study to a new strategic plan. The strategic plan will then be validated by the joint implementation of pilot connectivity projects between GIFEC and Integra.

The project is moving forward rapidly. This week a penultimate draft of the survey instrument was produced, and we foresee enumerators carrying out the survey before the end of May. We are aiming for pilot projects to be implemented before the end of the summer.

April 9, 2012/by actualize

Africa, Areas of Expertise, Asia, GBI Updates, Information and Communication Technology for Development, Integra News, Latin America and the Caribbean, USAF Updates, Where we work

Integra to Facilitate Creation of Regional USF Associations

This month Integra is embarking on a new project aimed at strengthening the enabling environment for telecommunications in countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as those in East Asia. By pursing partnerships with regional governance bodies and with national Universal Service Funds, Integra, under USAID’s GBI program, will facilitate the creation of two regional associations of Universal Service Fund managers.

Universal Service Funds exist in many countries around the world, and often they face the same challenges. How do they collect and manage all the necessary information needed to have an up-to-date understanding of the gaps in telecommunications coverage in a country? How do they properly evaluate the benefits of one project over another, or one bid over another? How do they build a strategic plan that will best achieve their goals of expanding telecommunications access? How do they ensure transparency and accountability in all of their processes?

These questions can be better answered when they are discussed in a group, when best practices are shared, and when ideas are exchanged. Currently, regional telecommunications bodies focus primarily on regulatory issues, and very few platforms for the strengthening universal service provision have been established at the international level. Integra aims to change this, and as a result improve telecommunications access in the developing world.

March 28, 2012/by actualize

Africa, Areas of Expertise, GBI Updates, Information and Communication Technology for Development, Integra News, USAF Updates, Where we work

Expanding broadband and universal service in Kenya

According to an agreement signed today between the Communications Commission of Kenya (CCK) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the US Government shall assist CCK in developing strategies to stimulate universal access to ICT services in underserved and un-served areas of the country.
The technical assistance covers the development of a national broadband strategy to underpin the deployment of modern broadband infrastructure to meet the needs of businesses, government and the entire economy. The assistance, which shall be provided through the USAID’s Global Broadband and Innovations (GBI) initiative, will also assist CCK in developing capacity in universal service Fund management, and universal service.

Addressing the media during the signing of the agreement at the CCK Centre, USAID’s Mission Director, Ms. Erna Kerst, said the US Government was happy to partner with Kenya in facilitating enhanced access to ICT services.

She said Kenya was ahead of many sub-Saharan African countries in the level of development of ICTs, particularly in the area of mobile applications.

“Kenya is leading the way in ICT innovations and in the development of applications that are changing the lives of people in Kenya and elsewhere in the World,” she said.

In his address, Ag. CCK Director-General Mr. Francis W. Wangusi said the development of universal access and broadband strategies would invigorate the growth of the ICT sector and thus accelerate the development of other sectors of the economy, including provision of e- and m- government services.

Citing the ICT Access Gaps Study undertaken by CCK last year, Mr. Wangusi said close to 1,120 sub-locations out of the total of 7,149 in the country had no access to basic communication services. This situation, he added, called for urgent regulatory interventions to facilitate the transition of a sizeable number of Kenyans to the digital age.

The Director-General decried the prevailing low penetration of data/internet services in Kenya, saying the country had only 5.2 million Internet subscribers, of which 2.33% were broadband. He said the strategies to be developed through USAID’s technical assistance would play a key role in improving access to communications services in all parts of the country.

March 10, 2012/by actualize

Africa, Areas of Expertise, GBI Updates, Information and Communication Technology for Development, Integra News, USAF Updates, Where we work

Integra provides telecom training in Tanzania

Robert Otto shakes hands with Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete

As a part of its contract with USAID, Integra led the GBI team to successfully host a panel and workshop for Universal Service & Access Fund administrators in Sub Saharan Africa on Friday in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The sessions were part of the annual Connecting Rural Communities Forum held by the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization (CTO). GBI’s Project Manager for its USAF Initiative, David Townsend, facilitated the sessions, which were attended by over 100 people from across the continent.

Integra’s Eric White spoke to the conference attendees twice – first to describe the USAID program for digital development, and second to deliver survey results collected from participating African USAF administrators.

The conference, which was officially opened by Tanzanian President Jakaya Kikwete, and hosted by the Minister of Communications, Science and Technology, Makame Mnyaa Mbarawa, lasted three days, and brought together telecommunications professionals from more than 2 dozen African countries. Sessions topics included policy and regulatory issues, equipment and technology, and applications and content.

These sessions mark just part of GBI’s overall support for telecommunications infrastructure in the region, for which Integra is the sole contractor. In addition to support for Universal Service & Access Funds, GBI provides support and technical assistance for legal, regulatory and competitiveness counseling as well as research and support for low cost/low power technologies. Please visit our Current Activities page for more information about GBI.

September 9, 2011/by actualize

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