Burkina Faso Wired?
Misha de Wilde
The Internet is a truly global communications technology that is expanding daily. The importance of it’s impact far exceeds what one would guess based on the number of users. But where are these users? It seems quite obvious that the grossly vast majority of Internet-heads are in the developed, industrialized world. In fact they have created the post-industrial world. So, what about the rest of the planet, the other 80% of the population? Well, they want the Internet too. The developing world is becoming wired quickly. What significance does the Internet have for the people of the developing world? The immediate impact of the Internet is not felt by the majority of people, but it has the potential to improve their standard of living. But at what expense?
Burkina Faso, as a case study, may be able to answer some of these questions. It is a small country of about ten million people in northwest Africa. Forty-eight percent of its population is under 15 years old and more than a third of the people live in rural villages. In 1993, the average electricity consumption was 17 kWh per capita per annum. The country essentially has no electricity. There are approximately 50,000 telephones in all of Burkina Faso. There is an average of one telephone for every 210 people. Personal computers, one might imagine, are not very widespread.
Despite these technological challenges Burkina Faso is on the Internet. It has it’s own homepage with links to many of the sites originating in the country and many of the country’s e-mail users. The site is made by Cenatrin or le Centre National de Traitement de L'Information, the National centre for the Processing of Information. The history of Cenatrin is relatively long. It was established in 1970 and became a commercial industrial public organization in 1977. In 1994 it became a state society with a 400,000,000 F CFA budget which is about $70,000 US. The CFA franc is issued by the Central Bank of West Africa and was worth $0.00175 US or 571.3 could by $1 US in June of 1997. Cenatrin’s purpose is to increase the use and accessibility of information technology in Burkina Faso especially for the businesses of the country and its administration.
The motivation behind promoting the Burkina Faso’s presence on the Internet seems to be exposure in the global economy. Matthew Friedman, in his book Fuzzy Logic, points out that this is a double-edged sword. He states that for the developing world the "great dilemma is that, while they must embrace the information revolution to participate in the global economy, it seems to mean accepting the transnationals’ technological domination." A quick search on the Internet reveals that the most prominent sites about Africa are developed and hosted far, far away from the borders of the not-so-dark continent. A perfect example of this is the African Yellow Pages. At the bottom of the page it reads "Africa Yellow Pages Incorporated website is hosted in the United States of America." It is a totally commercialized site promoting the malls of South Africa. "In effect, they may send out virtual trading fleets, but the ships are owned and operated by foreigners—the same people whose products and services they will buy," says Friedman.
A rural Burkinabe who lives without electricity and running water all her life will not notice the coming of the Internet unless it affects the prices and, therefore, volume of the food supplement she may receive. With the planet wide trend of globalization, economies are becoming ever closer linked. Because this works on such a macro scale, it has the potential to disenfranchise the local population. Friedman
continues to highlight the other edge of the sword when he states that "the increased transnational flow of data strengthens the world business system’s control over local markets and producers."
On the other hand, there does not appear to be a plan "B." A country like North Korea that attempted to side step the race for global connectedness has not provided an admirable model of development. Pursuing policies of globalization may be the lesser of two great evils. That is exactly what Burkina Faso, and many others like it, are doing.