Sudan opens first Information Center for Development

H.E. Peter Adok, Sudan’s Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, presided Thursday over the official opening of the Information Center for Development (ICD). Held at the Development Studies and Research Institute (DSRI) at the University of Khartoum, the event was well attended by academia, donors, students, policy makers, and journalists.

The ICD enjoys a friendly and easy accessible atmosphere at the heart of the University of Khartoum which has more than 26,000 students and the most distinguished scholars in the country. The Center is a partnership between the World Bank administered Sudan Multi-Donor Trust Fund-National (MDTF-National) and the DSRI.

The combined facility provides the public with a one-stop shop for information resources on a wide variety of development topics. The Center also provides a special collection of Sudan’s socio-economic publications and project documents co-financed by the Government of National Unity and the MDTF-National. The Center puts into effect the commitment of the Government and MDTF-N to enhance transparency and understanding of development work by providing the Sudanese public with information about the country’s on-going pro-peace and pro-poor agenda.

“I would like to congratulate the management of the DSRI and to thank the World Bank and donors for this great achievement,” Adok said in his keynote speech. “I will take advantage of this opportunity as chairman of the National Council of Higher Education to invite all academia, researchers, and policy makers, inter alia, to make use of this important facility as a means of pushing ahead the wheel of socio-economic transformation of our society and to build a culture of understanding and tolerance toward each other.”

In his speech, R. Gregory Toulmin, World Bank Country Program Coordinator for Sudan and Ethiopia, reaffirmed the commitment of the World Bank and MDTF-N to enhance transparency and understanding of development work by providing the Sudanese public with the latest development information.

“This Center is an example of our effort to reach out to a wider Sudanese public,” he said.

The ICD services include eight computer stations with Internet access and linkages to databases, and are provided free of charge to all local community users including academia, government agencies, the professional community and the general public.

“The Center is not a conventional library that contains books and publications to serve only researchers and students,” said DSRI Director Dr. Ismail ElKhalifa. “It aims to provide linkages between academic institutions and the community through dissemination of knowledge and sharing of development information through community dialogue and public events.”

The key theme of the inauguration; Development and Social Accountability was introduced to the event’s invitees by Nada Amin, the World Bank’s Communications Specialist in Sudan, as one of the most successful projects that was sponsored under the Bank Civil Society Fund last year under the theme of Social Accountability. The introduction was followed by a presentation by Ms. Omayma Sayed Ahmed, Director of Delta Africa Consultancies, and was accompanied by an art exhibition, multimedia show, and launching of web site and social blogs on development and social accountability.