In February 2003, in Geneva (Switzerland), within the framework of preparing for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), the idea of creating a Digital Solidarity Fund (DSF), funded by voluntary contributions, was proposed by President Abdoulaye Wade in his capacity as ICT Coordinator for NEPAD, during Prepcom 2. This proposal proved extremely controversial, and a long battle ensued between those for and those against it. The Digital Solidarity Fund was finally set up thanks to the decisive support of the local authorities that met for the World Summit of Cities and Local Authorities on the Information Society, in December 2003, in Lyon (France). Tentatively approved by the Geneva Declaration of Principles adopted on 12 December 2003 by the first phase of the WSIS and officially inaugurated in Geneva on 14 March 2005, a special session was held for the DSF and its creation was finally endorsed by the Tunis Agenda during the second phase of the WSIS, which took place in December 2005, in Tunisia.

The originality of the DSF lies in the fact that it is based on an innovative financing mechanism, christened the “Geneva Principle”. In December 2004, a decision of Geneva City Council laid the foundations for application of this principle within its local authority. More recently, the Senegalese parliament has voted in favour of a law making it the first nation to decide to apply the “Geneva Principle”, four-and-a-half years after its adoption. All that remains is to ensure that the decrees for application of this law are signed as quickly as possible, so that it can be fully implemented. Following the adoption in January 2008 of laws on the information society, the protection of personal data, electronic transactions and cybercrime, as well as the law on cryptology voted on 28 July 2008, not to mention the process of transposing into Senegalese legislation the directives adopted in relation to ICT and telecommunications by the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), this law strengthens the adaptation of the legal and regulatory apparatus to the new problems raised by the development of the information society in Senegal.

Today, it is essential to continue bringing the legal and regulatory framework in line with the new global environment resulting from the evolution of information and communication technologies and economic and social practices, in order to create conditions that allow the greatest majority to benefit from the opportunities offered by the information society. Although any action in this direction is valuable, simply transforming the legal reality is not enough.  It is important to implement, within the framework of an overall strategy, policies that will encourage Senegal to make quantitative and qualitative leaps towards an inclusive information society based on principles of solidarity, which is conducive to human development.


Amadou Top
President of OSIRIS