Economic information literacy and the development of Sub-Saharan Arican countries

Abstract

It has been proven that information availability is a key factor in the development of a society. Brooding and Mayer-Schonberger (2000) summaries this in the following words: 'indeed, accurate and reliable information is a key element for sustainable development'. This means that for any society to attain economic growth, fight poverty, reduce disease, hunger, and improve on the life style of its people; information needs to be given enormous attention. This attention is needed in the identification of the kind of information required for development in that society and strategies need to be put in place to make that information available to members of that society in order to convert the societies into what Thioune (2003) calls 'the knowledge society'. This requires a good information infrastructure. The ability to identify the necessary information, have access to it, interpret it and use it productively is what is referred to as information literacy. To assemble this kind of information requires a lifelong information literacy programme.