Document(s) 3 of 16

During my previous and current working experience I learned a lot from Africa and Africa changed my life... As happened to many before me, and will still happen after, Africa conquered me and many friends consider myself "African by adoption"....

I wish therefore to thank all the people I met in my "learning journey", and especially during my many travels across Africa.

In particular, I wish to thank Prof Tijjani Muhammad Bande, former Director General of the African Training and Research Centre in Administration for Development (CAFRAD), where I spent three unforgettable years, and all CAFRAD's "family" and all other "African" colleagues, as well as Mr. Guido Bertucci, Director of the Division for Public Administration and Development Management of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), and Ms Haiyan Qian, Chief of UNPAN, my supervisors during the two years I spent as Associate Expert serving the UN.

I also wish to thank Prof Matthias Finger and especially my friend Dr Pierre Rossel of the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) for their mentoring during my Executive Master first and, afterward, as colleagues in the implementation of the Master itself, and for the common development of a new conceptualisation of e-governance as well as the establishment of a platform for global knowledge dissemination.

I am grateful to Prof. Mike Martin and his wife Bernadette for reviewing my text, and for most valuable comments and, of course, a special thanks go to Jo Okpaku, that accepted to write the foreword of the book. It enriches enormously my work, and I am delighted to be associated with one of the most relevant scholar on ICTs for Development in Africa.

Of course, I also need to thank "my government", Souad, and all my family for the patience and the support they provided me during my professional and research activities.

Last but not least, I wish to thank the International development Research Centre (IDRC) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) which gave me the opportunity to conduct this research and supported me throughout its execution, and allowed me to travel again,...from e-Africa to... LOG-IN Africa, the Research Network on Local Governance and ICTs for Africa, approved for funding by IDRC and executed by CAFRAD, established under my leadership, in 2006.

Document(s) 3 of 16