Education and Information, communication and computer technologies (ICTs)

Dialogue on how to meet MDG 2 and the other internationally agreed education goals by increasing access and enhance the quality of the use of ICTs

During this thematic workshop CoNGO aims at facilitating a dialogue on different ICT approaches and solutions that are being used successfully and on innovative ideas that could be implemented.

Panellists and participants will also discuss how to further mobilize civil society and decision-makers at all levels to increase access and reach out to all sectors of society including those that are marginalized and excluded.

Moderator: Mr. Cyril Ritchie CoNGO President

The Internet has now been in existence for several decades and has provided a wide range of benefits to individuals, states and the global community as a whole. Particularly with the recent boom of smart-phones and table PCs, we have again experienced how our lives can be dramatically changed with new technologies.

However, as use of the Internet grows, so do the risks it presents, especially to children and young people. Many young people already spend large amounts of time in the online environment as active participants or early adopters of new technologies. But the threats youth and children face online are becoming more complex and multifaceted. Moreover, the legal, technical and institutional challenges emerging in cyberspace related to the protection of children are becoming even more global and far-reaching.

This session aims to discuss the new challenges of protecting children online in the new media era, which allows people to be always on connected with their new communication devices, and to identify further actions to be undertaken within the COP Global Initiative for social and national benefits.

Moderator: Professor Julia Davidson, PhD, Professor of Criminology, Kingston University, UK

Oman offers universal health care to its citizens. As all hospitals are integrated in the same organisation, it makes sense to integrate and digitize health information too. Maintaining an audit trail of records in the Al-Shaifa hospital information system saves time and resources, as prior patient information will not have to be located each time a patient is admitted for treatment. Al-Shaifa also offers SMS and email services, appointment management and billing.

Patient record is time consuming for the medical to trace and piece the information of the patient as there are many versions of the statistical and administrative reports. The problem of manual Medical Records is quite complex. Previously in Oman, there was no way for auditing and tracing these reports as there was a lack of raw data available for due to significant number of lost files and duplications as a result of manual record keeping. The introduction of Al Shaifa, a system that maintains an audit trail of records, resulted in 60 % of time saving in tracing the personnel who last treated the patient for clarification and follow-up. The system integrates among others SMS and e-mail services, appointment management and billing module. The workshop will focus on reviewing different challenges that have been overcome by Oman.

Moderator: Mr. Talal Sulaiman Al-Rahbi, Deputy CEO for Operations, ITA;

The workshop will demonstrate the Urban Gateway, a new online community that aims to help cities and urban practitioners across the world unite to share knowledge and take action for sustainable cities in a rapidly urbanising world. The social site, www.urbangateway.org, launched in April 2011, is the first internet based urban platform of its kind. It provides a central repository of urban knowledge, is a collaboration and networking hub, a market place with urban jobs, awards and funding opportunities, and a platform for campaigning for better cities. The next phase will add spatial features to allow users to zoom into a particular city and find out about urban conditions, such as access urban services, and innovations to tackle city problems.

The Abu Dhabi Systems & Information Centre Mandate ADSIC

The Abu Dhabi Systems & Information Centre (ADSIC) was established in December 2008 by Law No. 18.It started as a far-reaching services transformation programme that transcends all Government departments, authorities, and administrations.

Since its inception, ADSIC has embarked on the development of an Abu Dhabi e-Government Strategy supported by a High-Level implementation plan. It developed a government-wide service improvement and e-Government strategy along with an implementation master plan. This was achieved following a six-step development framework that functionally analyzed the gaps between the current state of service delivery in all government entities and the service-oriented target state, Proposed a number of initiatives for the identified action areas required, and documented the implementation plan covering financial and human resource requirements.

Moderator: Eng. Suleman Bakhsh, Senior ICT Analyst, TRA, UAE

The contemporary global communications order is characterized by a significant increase in the number and variety of governance arrangements. Traditional multilateralism has been supplemented by plurilateral, regional, and bilateral intergovernmentalism; and by unilateralism, co-regulation, industry self-governance, multistakeholder governance, and the coordinated convergence of independent practices. These ordering mechanisms vary greatly in terms of the collective action problems they address and the institutional attributes they possess.

How do we conduct a principled evaluation of alternative models’ relative merits and potential “fit” with current and emerging governance challenges? What are their respective strengths and weaknesses in terms of cross-cutting objectives like equity, efficiency, transparency, accountability, inclusiveness, development-friendliness, and public interest orientation? Are there any generalizable lessons that they could learn from one another? How well do today’s mechanisms cohere into a strong and effective global governance architecture? This workshop will seek to advance the holistic assessment of these and related questions and to assess them in relation to key cases of contemporary ICT global governance.

This session plays out a mock investigation of a botnet that has compromised systems of a multinational pharmaceutical company. Multiple jurisdictions are involved and the actors play through the legal differences between jurisdictions where compromised systems reside, dropzones are located, and where the botmaster resides. The session will highlight the key issues complicating the tracking, tracing, and prosecution of cybercriminals due to a highly divergent global legal framework of cybercrime laws.

Scenario

A botnet is stealing highly sensitive data from a pharmaceutical company, “Pharmacopa.” Pharmacopa’s systems have been compromised in the U.S., India, and Pakistan. Dropzones for the pilfered data are located in Belarus and Bangladesh. Individual computers are infected as people go to websites loaded with malicious software or click on links. The infected machines functioning as bots are spread around the globe. The botmaster(s) is believed to be in Latvia. Several corporations have sought the assistance of the law enforcement and retained their own forensic investigators. Can the bad guys get caught?

Session Manager:

• Mock Investigation Introduction: Jody Westby, CEO, Global Cyber Risk LLC & Co-Chair, World Federation of Scientists Permanent Monitoring Panel on Information Security
• Philip Victor, Director, Policy & International Cooperation, IMPACT, Cyberjaya, Malaysia
• Anuj Singh, Director, Global Response Center, IMPACT, Cyberjaya, Malaysia
• Steve Santorelli, Director of Global Outreach, Team Cymru
• Bernhard Otupal, Dell Corporation, Lyon, France To be confirmed
• Officer Kathy Macdonald, M.O.M., Calgary Police Department, Calgary, Canada (not acting in official capacity)
• Ilias Chantzos, Director EMEA & APJ Government Relations, Symtantec Corp.
• Jody Westby, CEO, Global Cyber Risk LLC & Co-Chair, World Federation of Scientists Permanent Monitoring Panel on Information Security
• Company: Pharmacopa

To celebrate 40 years of ITU Telecom and 10 years of Youth Forum, there are going to be some changes in the format and style of this year's event.

From October 24-27th, in Geneva WORLD 2011 will provide a large, influential and amplified platform for debate. How can we make sure the right frameworks are in place to connect the world and what commercial and social benefits would this reap?

This debate would not be complete without the fresh thinking of the social entrepreneurs and digital innovators that are using connected technologies to change the world.

At the end of May we are going to launch a number of outreach programmes to invite participation from thought leaders, digital talent and change-makers across the world.

This interactive workshop will tell you about these changes and invite you to become a co-creator.

The aeDA was established in 2007 by theTelecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) as a regulatory body and registry operator for the .ae domain name. It is responsible for establishing and enforcing all policies regarding operations of the .ae ccTLD as well as operating the registry system.

The role of the aeDA is to:

• Create and execute policy to grow, develop and market the .ae namespace.
• Accredit and manage .ae registrars.
• Educate the public by delivering and promoting the .ae domain name.
• Facilitate the .ae Dispute Resolution Policy.
• Represent .ae at international forums

Moderator: Eng. Naser Al Rashedi, Manager - ITU Affairs, TRA, UAE

The session of “Child Online Protection in Africa” aims to explore the experiences of child online protection especially in the African continent by dealing with specific issues of the vulnerability of children and the youth in Africa.

This session has been prepared based on requests from different stakeholders, asking about issues such as: ICT as support of development of entrepreneurship in youth environment in Africa; the challenges facing the African young people in their efforts for contributing for the Millennium Development Goals; the progress of ICTs for youth in Africa; and the use of ICTs to empower rural communities for youth in poverty reduction.

The discussion will focus on the challenges of protecting children online in Africa, compare its situations/environments to other countries, and discuss how international communities can support the children and youth in Africa.

Moderator: Mr Anjan Bose, Program Officer, ICT and child protection, ECPAT International

The Sultanate of Oman is employing significant amounts of foreign labour in its economy to supplement its own workforce. Administration of work permits and issue of resident and labour cards was previously done manually at significant costs to Omani companies and government, who is also a big employer of foreign labour. Through the creation of a national manpower IT system, case management for each work permit has been cut from up to three months to just one week.

Before the implementation of the Manpower System, the work permit and application process for the hiring of foreign talent was tedious, time consuming and labour intensive. The Sultanate of Oman has a total of 1,051,252 (2009 November statistics) foreign workers to complement the current workforce. Previously the normal time to obtain approval for the work permit could be between 1-3 months under the manual system. With the introduction of electronic Manpower Registration System in Oman, the Ministry of Manpower managed to improve customer service to the companies and other ministries organizations. Today, it takes only 1 week to obtain a work permit for a foreign worker and through the system the companies can easily update the foreign workers information regularly. Thanks to this system, ministry is able to save on huge operational costs on paper and better utilization of its staff. Other governmental organizations were hugely benefitted from the system. The big advantage of this system was to gather statistics easily. The database of Manpower System is now serving many government entities in the country in their daily operations. As an example, Royal Oman Police (ROP) is using this information in the issuance of Resident cards (previously ROP and Ministry of Manpower was issuing separate cards namely Resident Card and Labour Card respectively.)

The workshop will focus on reviewing the impact of this change in the labor market, that is to say in terms of employment, productivity and lastly, growth and will present the analysis from the point of view of Oman.

Moderator: Mr. Talal Sulaiman Al-Rahbi, Deputy CEO for Operations, ITA

The development impact of ICT4D partnerships?

Members of the ICT4D Collective have recently completed a systematic review for the UK’s Department for International Development on the impact of ICT4D partnerships, and this has thrown up many unanswered questions, as well as challenges for future research and implementation in this arena. The overall theme of the WSIS Forum this year is Working Together Towards 2015, and this presents a timely opportunity to build a workshop around some of these conclusions, especially that:

Success is increased when detailed attention is paid to the local context and the involvement of the local community in partnership implementation.

It is important for such partnerships to have clear and agreed intended development outcomes, even where constituent partners may themselves have different reasons for being involved in the partnership.

Sustainability and scalability of the intended development intervention need to be built into partnership design at the very beginning.

Successful partnerships are built on trust, honesty, openness, mutual understanding and respect.

A supportive wider ICT environment needs to be in place, both in terms of policy and infrastructure, if such partnerships are to flourish and deliver effective development outcomes.

These themes will provide the central focus for the workshop, which will draw on participants experiences and expertise to provide a series of practical recommendations concerning the implementation of these agendas.

Workshop Agenda:

16.30

Opening Welcome (Tim Unwin)

16.35

Overview of DFID Systematic Review report (David Grimshaw)

16.45

Four sub-groups to discuss (under the following chairs: Paula Uimonen, SPIDER; Dorothea Kleine, Royal Holloway, University of London; and others to be confirmed):

• How can we best ensure that local communities and interests are involved in partnership implementation
• How to ensure that intended development outcomes are addressed (DK)
• How to build sustainability and scalability into ICT4D partnerships from the very beginning (PU)
• What mechanisms can be used to ensure that trust, honesty, openness, mutual understanding and respect

17.20

Reporting back from sub-groups

17.30

Plenary discussion

17.45

Future action points for participants

18.00

Close

For 10 years, the Global IT Report from the World Economic Forum has provided data and thought leadership on the readiness of countries to drive national competitiveness through technology. The Report has been used by ICT ministries globally to benchmark their progress and as a platform for private-public dialogue.

As ICT becomes ubiquitous, the debate is shifting from access to impact. Technology is no longer the exclusive concern of the ICT ministry. In almost any domain, new national strategies must include a technology component – whether it is health, education or social inclusion. Interest in technology is no longer just driven by efficiency, but by its potential to have a transformative impact.

But this very ubiquity creates a unique challenge in how we can frame, capture and measure the transformation. How can we go about measuring and benchmarking this impact? What should we be measuring? What dialogue is needed to overcome the challenges?

This interactive workshop will be hosted by the World Economic Forum.

2012 will be the “International Year for Sustainable Energy for All”. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for a “global clean energy revolution – a revolution that makes energy available and affordable for all”.

Information and Communication Technologies have brought new ways of managing energy distribution through smart grids, new ways of managing energy consumption through smart metering, smart billing or electrical mobility. ICT is currently transforming the whole electricity business and will be a key to developing other new services and sectors in the coming years (electric car, etc.) by enhancing existing processes, enabling new ways of working and transforming behavior and helping to create a lower-carbon economy which are crucial for minimizing climate risks and meeting the Millennium Development Goals.

Looking forward to the Rio+20 Conference, this session will look at the ICT industry efforts to increase energy efficiency in the ICT sector, where energy savings are particularly envisaged for the ICT infrastructure, and will provide an overview of energy efficiency in all areas of production and consumption, in which ICT can help to achieve more effective energy production and distribution as well as energy consumption by end users.

ITU will also provide an overview of a set of methodologies that are being developed within ITU-T Study Group 5 to measure the life cycle impact of the ICT Sector, both in terms of its own greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the savings created through ICT applications in other industry sectors.

Moderator: Dr. Eunsook Kim, Vice-Chairman of Working Party 3 of the ITU-T Study Group 5 “ Environment and Climate Change”

Contact: Ms Cristina Bueti – cristina.bueti@itu.int
See: http://groups.itu.int/wsis-forum2011/Agenda/Highlights/EEnvironmentDay/FullProgram.aspx

ICT is a huge enabler and source of empowerment, allowing individuals to take some, albeit limited, control of their own destiny within the chaotic framework of a crisis, natural disaster or post-conflict situation. From the SMS/text messages of Haitian earthquake victims and refugees in Darfur to Rwandan farmers checking grain prices on-line, ICT provides a tool with which individuals can share and obtain information. In some cases this can mean the difference between life and death, economic survival or abject poverty. In turn, the compilation of all these pieces of data on crowd-sourcing platforms and other databases provides an overall picture of a given situation, which can be very useful to humanitarian responders and governments in times of crises, war, conflict and state-building.

Approaching humanitarian relief, with an increasing emphasis on ICT, brings with it hope for a better future but at the same time significant challenges. How can the humanitarian community and other actors physically assess the mountains of data that come in? What steps does the humanitarian community need to take in order to manage this process? How can the accuracy of the information coming into a given platform be validated, in particular in conflict situations where misinformation is often used as a weapon? How can individuals in conflict situations, who provide valuable information, be protected?

Another important series of issues also need to be discussed about the responsibility and role of technology providers. What responsibility do technology platform providers have? What happens when collected information cannot be acted on? How can the links between the information gathering and implementation be improved? How can responders ensure that new systems uphold the “do no harm” principle of the humanitarian community? What criteria exist, or should exist, for ICT providers (including crisis mappers and social media) to determine which crises they should address or “map”?

At the end of the day, the question remains as to whether or not we will be able to use improved ICT in such a way so as to significantly improve the situation for victims of crises. Does increased ICT ability and use really mean progress and reduced loss of life? To date, the jury is out but at a minimum new technology provides an opportunity to re-think how we respond to crises, how we prepare communities for disasters and we manage conflict and post-conflict situations.

Meeting organized by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) in cooperation with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

Proposed programme

The one-day workshop on “Government 2.0: The Next Generation in Public Service Delivery” will include one plenary and three thematic sessions on selected topics on Government 2.0. Each session will include presentations followed by open discussions. The sessions will include the following:

• Plenary: Discussion on overall approaches, trends, best practices and key challenges in Government 2.0 as the next generation in public service delivery.
• Session I: m-Government: Benefits and Outcomes for Citizens, Government and Business.
• Session II: Open (Linked) Data and Social Networks Services for Public Services Delivery.
• Session III: Strategies for ubiquitous, inclusive, equitable and efficient public service delivery.

Communities and citizens around the globe are realizing the role information and communication technologies (ICT) can play in transforming their lives. Governments, like other sectors, are looking to ICT as a key instrument for their own transformation agendas. Whether they are seeking to create new governance processes through citizen engagement initiatives, reduce corruption by providing new levels of transparency and accountability, improve the quality of life of the chronically underserved, or contribute to the green economy by simply making traditional government services more efficient in the use of resources and reducing the carbon footprint, ICT-based strategies are recognized as a powerful agent of transformation.

The low entry cost and the ease of use of modern ICTs and mobile devices especially are removing barriers in telecommunications and empowering citizens to connect to government and public service providers in entirely new ways. The low barriers to entry present opportunities not just to extend access to existing services, but to fully reconsider the whole spectrum of public services provided to people. Reconsidering governance and service delivery, in terms of a citizenry empowered with ICTs, allows entirely new levels of civic engagement and government accountability and transparency, which in turn enhance public service delivery and the use of public resources. We must think anew about how ICTs can be used to ensure broader access to public services and information, in particular promoting inclusiveness and equity for those who do not have access to traditional channels, but who can be well served through innovative uses of ICTs. To these aims, we must develop new understanding of how political, socioeconomic and cultural contexts must be taken into account by Government 2.0 policies and strategies to be developed.

One of the current trends for electronic/mobile-government development is active and strong citizens’ and businesses’ involvement in public services delivery. This possibility is based on an unprecedented accessibility and openness of public administrations’ data and innovative possibilities for citizens and businesses to get value from public services offered through e/m-government. However, one of the challenges for governments to is to better understand the opportunities and challenges they face, and to count on reliable sets of indicators and methodologies to measure new emerging effects of Government 2.0 development.

The intrinsic value and the potential benefits of e/m-government seem reasonably clear, although still our collective imagination can be widened by active exchanges of ideas and experiences. What is even more challenging is to look at how governments at every level – national, regional, local – initiate, sustain and build capacities for ensuring that the potential of Government 2.0 are realized. This requires strengthening the capacity of public administrators as well as stakeholders from civil society to initiate, implement, and evaluate innovative and sustainable forms of Government 2.0 services.

The growing global consensus on the importance of e/m-government as a component of public governance by enhancing public service delivery and citizen engagement – is reflected in various resolutions and decisions of the United Nations. Notably, GA 65/141 , 20 December 2010, reaffirms “the need to harness the potential of information and communications technologies to promote the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals, and sustainable economic growth”. Furthermore, GA A/65/L.1 underlines “Strengthening public-private partnerships in order to close the large gaps that remain in access to and affordability of ICT across countries and income groups, including by upgrading the quality and quantity of existing telecommunication infrastructure, particularly in the least developed countries, to support more modern ICT applications and greatly increase connectivity, access and investment in innovation and development and the effective use of innovative ICT applications and e-governance tools; and in this regard encouraging further operationalizing of the voluntary Digital Solidarity Fund”.

For this purpose, the Division for Public Administration and Development Management of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DPADM/DESA) in cooperation with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), is organizing an international Workshop on “Government 2.0: The Next Generation in Public Service Delivery”, to take place in Geneva, Switzerland, on 19 May 2011, during the 2011 annual meetings to follow-up on the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS). The workshop will serve as an enabling platform of WSIS, for an international and multidisciplinary (public officials, academia, civil society and private sector stakeholders) group of experts, and national practitioners, to share their experiences and exchange practices on e/m-government, including strategies for designing, implementing, and evaluating Government 2.0 services, that have proven viable and brought about lasting development results in different socio-economic and cultural contexts. The workshop sessions will provide opportunities for participants to interact with speakers to develop new capacities for designing and implementing successful programmes and policies in e/m-government, as well as to create or strengthen international networks of stakeholders and practitioners of Government 2.0.

Objectives

The Workshop has the following objectives:

• Strengthen the participants’ capacity in policy and programme formulation, implementation and evaluation of e/m-government and e/m-public service delivery.
• Accelerate participants’ learning on how ICTs are being adopted and adapted across the range of governmental, socio-economic and cultural contexts, and assess the structural policy and organizational changes needed at the national, regional, city, and local levels to develop and implement new e/m-public services.
• Understand the value created for governments, citizens, civil society, and the business community, by innovative uses of ICT in public service delivery.

The workshop is expected to produce a comprehensive report, outlining major findings and recommendations and containing case studies resulting from the workshop. The report will be published online for maximum global outreach in an environmental friendly fashion at minimum cost.

Thematic Workshop on “ICT and Road Safety”

On 11 May 2011, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched a global initiative to increase actions to save lives on the world’s roads: the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020. It is startling that some 1.3 million people are estimated to die on the world’s roads each year, while as many as 50 million are injured. Although many governments have already programmes in place to reduce road deaths and injuries the number of road fatalities is increasing, and if current trends continue, road crashes are predicted to become the fifth leading cause of death by 2030.

In its ninth plenary meeting in April 2010, ITU Council noted that information and communication systems, including intelligent transportation systems (ITS), provide mechanisms for vehicular and passenger safety. Council also considered, however, that the proliferation of integrated in-vehicle ICT and nomadic devices, including navigational information and electronic data communications devices, may contribute to driver distraction, and are among the leading contributors to road traffic fatalities and injuries.

This thematic workshop will bring together advocates of road safety from intergovernmental organizations, governments, civil society and the private sector to discuss road safety, and how ICT can impact or increase road safety.

Meeting organized by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) in cooperation with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

Proposed programme

The one-day workshop on “Government 2.0: The Next Generation in Public Service Delivery” will include one plenary and three thematic sessions on selected topics on Government 2.0. Each session will include presentations followed by open discussions. The sessions will include the following:

• Plenary: Discussion on overall approaches, trends, best practices and key challenges in Government 2.0 as the next generation in public service delivery.
• Session I: m-Government: Benefits and Outcomes for Citizens, Government and Business.
• Session II: Open (Linked) Data and Social Networks Services for Public Services Delivery.
• Session III: Strategies for ubiquitous, inclusive, equitable and efficient public service delivery.

Communities and citizens around the globe are realizing the role information and communication technologies (ICT) can play in transforming their lives. Governments, like other sectors, are looking to ICT as a key instrument for their own transformation agendas. Whether they are seeking to create new governance processes through citizen engagement initiatives, reduce corruption by providing new levels of transparency and accountability, improve the quality of life of the chronically underserved, or contribute to the green economy by simply making traditional government services more efficient in the use of resources and reducing the carbon footprint, ICT-based strategies are recognized as a powerful agent of transformation.

The low entry cost and the ease of use of modern ICTs and mobile devices especially are removing barriers in telecommunications and empowering citizens to connect to government and public service providers in entirely new ways. The low barriers to entry present opportunities not just to extend access to existing services, but to fully reconsider the whole spectrum of public services provided to people. Reconsidering governance and service delivery, in terms of a citizenry empowered with ICTs, allows entirely new levels of civic engagement and government accountability and transparency, which in turn enhance public service delivery and the use of public resources. We must think anew about how ICTs can be used to ensure broader access to public services and information, in particular promoting inclusiveness and equity for those who do not have access to traditional channels, but who can be well served through innovative uses of ICTs. To these aims, we must develop new understanding of how political, socioeconomic and cultural contexts must be taken into account by Government 2.0 policies and strategies to be developed.

One of the current trends for electronic/mobile-government development is active and strong citizens’ and businesses’ involvement in public services delivery. This possibility is based on an unprecedented accessibility and openness of public administrations’ data and innovative possibilities for citizens and businesses to get value from public services offered through e/m-government. However, one of the challenges for governments to is to better understand the opportunities and challenges they face, and to count on reliable sets of indicators and methodologies to measure new emerging effects of Government 2.0 development.

The intrinsic value and the potential benefits of e/m-government seem reasonably clear, although still our collective imagination can be widened by active exchanges of ideas and experiences. What is even more challenging is to look at how governments at every level – national, regional, local – initiate, sustain and build capacities for ensuring that the potential of Government 2.0 are realized. This requires strengthening the capacity of public administrators as well as stakeholders from civil society to initiate, implement, and evaluate innovative and sustainable forms of Government 2.0 services.

The growing global consensus on the importance of e/m-government as a component of public governance by enhancing public service delivery and citizen engagement – is reflected in various resolutions and decisions of the United Nations. Notably, GA 65/141 , 20 December 2010, reaffirms “the need to harness the potential of information and communications technologies to promote the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals, and sustainable economic growth”. Furthermore, GA A/65/L.1 underlines “Strengthening public-private partnerships in order to close the large gaps that remain in access to and affordability of ICT across countries and income groups, including by upgrading the quality and quantity of existing telecommunication infrastructure, particularly in the least developed countries, to support more modern ICT applications and greatly increase connectivity, access and investment in innovation and development and the effective use of innovative ICT applications and e-governance tools; and in this regard encouraging further operationalizing of the voluntary Digital Solidarity Fund”.

For this purpose, the Division for Public Administration and Development Management of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DPADM/DESA) in cooperation with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), is organizing an international Workshop on “Government 2.0: The Next Generation in Public Service Delivery”, to take place in Geneva, Switzerland, on 19 May 2011, during the 2011 annual meetings to follow-up on the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS). The workshop will serve as an enabling platform of WSIS, for an international and multidisciplinary (public officials, academia, civil society and private sector stakeholders) group of experts, and national practitioners, to share their experiences and exchange practices on e/m-government, including strategies for designing, implementing, and evaluating Government 2.0 services, that have proven viable and brought about lasting development results in different socio-economic and cultural contexts. The workshop sessions will provide opportunities for participants to interact with speakers to develop new capacities for designing and implementing successful programmes and policies in e/m-government, as well as to create or strengthen international networks of stakeholders and practitioners of Government 2.0.

Objectives

The Workshop has the following objectives:

• Strengthen the participants’ capacity in policy and programme formulation, implementation and evaluation of e/m-government and e/m-public service delivery.
• Accelerate participants’ learning on how ICTs are being adopted and adapted across the range of governmental, socio-economic and cultural contexts, and assess the structural policy and organizational changes needed at the national, regional, city, and local levels to develop and implement new e/m-public services.
• Understand the value created for governments, citizens, civil society, and the business community, by innovative uses of ICT in public service delivery.

The workshop is expected to produce a comprehensive report, outlining major findings and recommendations and containing case studies resulting from the workshop. The report will be published online for maximum global outreach in an environmental friendly fashion at minimum cost.

Meeting organized by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) in cooperation with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)

Proposed programme

The one-day workshop on “Government 2.0: The Next Generation in Public Service Delivery” will include one plenary and three thematic sessions on selected topics on Government 2.0. Each session will include presentations followed by open discussions. The sessions will include the following:

• Plenary: Discussion on overall approaches, trends, best practices and key challenges in Government 2.0 as the next generation in public service delivery.
• Session I: m-Government: Benefits and Outcomes for Citizens, Government and Business.
• Session II: Open (Linked) Data and Social Networks Services for Public Services Delivery.
• Session III: Strategies for ubiquitous, inclusive, equitable and efficient public service delivery.

Communities and citizens around the globe are realizing the role information and communication technologies (ICT) can play in transforming their lives. Governments, like other sectors, are looking to ICT as a key instrument for their own transformation agendas. Whether they are seeking to create new governance processes through citizen engagement initiatives, reduce corruption by providing new levels of transparency and accountability, improve the quality of life of the chronically underserved, or contribute to the green economy by simply making traditional government services more efficient in the use of resources and reducing the carbon footprint, ICT-based strategies are recognized as a powerful agent of transformation.

The low entry cost and the ease of use of modern ICTs and mobile devices especially are removing barriers in telecommunications and empowering citizens to connect to government and public service providers in entirely new ways. The low barriers to entry present opportunities not just to extend access to existing services, but to fully reconsider the whole spectrum of public services provided to people. Reconsidering governance and service delivery, in terms of a citizenry empowered with ICTs, allows entirely new levels of civic engagement and government accountability and transparency, which in turn enhance public service delivery and the use of public resources. We must think anew about how ICTs can be used to ensure broader access to public services and information, in particular promoting inclusiveness and equity for those who do not have access to traditional channels, but who can be well served through innovative uses of ICTs. To these aims, we must develop new understanding of how political, socioeconomic and cultural contexts must be taken into account by Government 2.0 policies and strategies to be developed.

One of the current trends for electronic/mobile-government development is active and strong citizens’ and businesses’ involvement in public services delivery. This possibility is based on an unprecedented accessibility and openness of public administrations’ data and innovative possibilities for citizens and businesses to get value from public services offered through e/m-government. However, one of the challenges for governments to is to better understand the opportunities and challenges they face, and to count on reliable sets of indicators and methodologies to measure new emerging effects of Government 2.0 development.

The intrinsic value and the potential benefits of e/m-government seem reasonably clear, although still our collective imagination can be widened by active exchanges of ideas and experiences. What is even more challenging is to look at how governments at every level – national, regional, local – initiate, sustain and build capacities for ensuring that the potential of Government 2.0 are realized. This requires strengthening the capacity of public administrators as well as stakeholders from civil society to initiate, implement, and evaluate innovative and sustainable forms of Government 2.0 services.

The growing global consensus on the importance of e/m-government as a component of public governance by enhancing public service delivery and citizen engagement – is reflected in various resolutions and decisions of the United Nations. Notably, GA 65/141 , 20 December 2010, reaffirms “the need to harness the potential of information and communications technologies to promote the achievement of the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals, and sustainable economic growth”. Furthermore, GA A/65/L.1 underlines “Strengthening public-private partnerships in order to close the large gaps that remain in access to and affordability of ICT across countries and income groups, including by upgrading the quality and quantity of existing telecommunication infrastructure, particularly in the least developed countries, to support more modern ICT applications and greatly increase connectivity, access and investment in innovation and development and the effective use of innovative ICT applications and e-governance tools; and in this regard encouraging further operationalizing of the voluntary Digital Solidarity Fund”.

For this purpose, the Division for Public Administration and Development Management of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DPADM/DESA) in cooperation with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), is organizing an international Workshop on “Government 2.0: The Next Generation in Public Service Delivery”, to take place in Geneva, Switzerland, on 19 May 2011, during the 2011 annual meetings to follow-up on the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS). The workshop will serve as an enabling platform of WSIS, for an international and multidisciplinary (public officials, academia, civil society and private sector stakeholders) group of experts, and national practitioners, to share their experiences and exchange practices on e/m-government, including strategies for designing, implementing, and evaluating Government 2.0 services, that have proven viable and brought about lasting development results in different socio-economic and cultural contexts. The workshop sessions will provide opportunities for participants to interact with speakers to develop new capacities for designing and implementing successful programmes and policies in e/m-government, as well as to create or strengthen international networks of stakeholders and practitioners of Government 2.0.

Objectives

The Workshop has the following objectives:

• Strengthen the participants’ capacity in policy and programme formulation, implementation and evaluation of e/m-government and e/m-public service delivery.
• Accelerate participants’ learning on how ICTs are being adopted and adapted across the range of governmental, socio-economic and cultural contexts, and assess the structural policy and organizational changes needed at the national, regional, city, and local levels to develop and implement new e/m-public services.
• Understand the value created for governments, citizens, civil society, and the business community, by innovative uses of ICT in public service delivery.

The workshop is expected to produce a comprehensive report, outlining major findings and recommendations and containing case studies resulting from the workshop. The report will be published online for maximum global outreach in an environmental friendly fashion at minimum cost.

Objectives of the meeting:

• Informing the participants on the contribution of the ITCs in the eradication of poverty and the improvement of the economic and social standard of living through practical cases since the end of the Summit of Geneva in 2003 and Tunis in 2005;
• Promoting and encouraging the good practices of cooperation of North–South technology transfers and South–South;
• Analysing the stakes of the numerical culture on the level of marginalized populations in the rural areas and showing the role of the ITC in the implementation of the MDG.

Contact: Biro Diawara, CECIDE Representative, Geneva
Tél. +41-227326716 - + 41 76.467 98 66 - Fax : +41 22-751 23 48 Email: cecide.icde@gmail.com

Led by: Stalin K., Director, Video Volunteers

What is the role of' community voice' in international forums? What can we do to bring rural and slum communities into inter-governmental dialogs as active participants? What are the barriers that prevent this from happening, and are new technologies like the internet, facebook and skype bridging the divide or making it worse for those left on the other side of the digital divide? These and more questions related to the citizen journalism will be explored in this session.

Video Volunteers is an organization working in India and Brazil to empower a network of citizen journalists from the most voiceless communities. It has built one of the largest networks anywhere in the world of poor people producing news and documentaries on their issues, and then reaching the content out to hundreds of thousands within slums and villages, online and on television. Stalin K., a leading documentary filmmaker and human rights activist from India, will explain some of the best practices in using media to empower people to take action, to reduce corruption, to create local leadership, provide critical information and promote community-led change. He will share impacts from the projects Video Volunteers has been involved in and lay out scenarios for how community media can scale to become a significant force in the mainstream media, and in policy-making.

About Video Volunteers: Video Volunteers is local journalism at its best. The non-profit organization trains men & women in India as news producers who report stories directly affecting their communities. These citizen journalists, who give voice to people who traditionally have had none, include former rickshaw drivers, diamond cutters & so-called “untouchables.” Stories range from girls “recruited” as temple prostitutes to villagers who died because of a bridge left unfinished by corrupt politicians. In many cases, the stories have informed people of their basic rights, shaming local politicians into doing the right thing. They’ve also had a profound health impact on women who have been encouraged to seek important medical care. And this is just the tip of the iceberg. Several times a month, the stories are shown in public squares in numerous villages and slums across India. Functioning as a community news network, a kind of grassroots Reuters or Associated Press, community producers earn income and the films made by communities are sold to news stations and other media buyers. The work has been recognized by the Knight News Challenge, Echoing Green, TED, the King of Belgium, UNDP, UNESCO, the Tech Awards, the Development Gateway Awards, the Junior Chamber International, Waldzell, and Youtube, among others.

www.videovolunteers.org.

11.30 – 11.40

Introduction:

Mr C.T. Clarke, ADG, Culture and Creative Industries Sector, World Intellectual property Organization (WIPO), Geneva

Mr Constance Bommelaer, Senior Manager, Strategic Global Engagement, Internet Society (ISOC), Geneva

11.40 – 12.00

Sharing national experiences:

The Role and Responsibility of Internet Intermediaries in the Field of Copyright in Egypt
Mr M.refat Ahmed, Manager Telecom Services Monitoring, National Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (NTRA), Cairo

The Role and Responsibility of Internet Intermediaries in the Field of Copyright in the Republic of Korea
Mr Kiseok Oh, Senior Researcher, Korea Copyright Commission, Seoul

12.00 – 12.30

International perspectives: Brief Overviews of Studies:

ISOC Study – Perspectives on Policy Responses to Online Copyright Infringement–An Evolving Policy Landscape
Christine Runnegar, Senior Manager of Public Policy, Internet Society (ISOC), Geneva

WIPO Study - The Role and Responsibility of the Internet Intermediaries in the Field of Copyright
Professor Lilian Edwards, Professor of Internet Law, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, United Kingdom

WIPO Study – Comparative Analysis of the National Approaches to the Liability of Internet Intermediaries
Professor Daniel Seng, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore, Singapore

12.30 – 13.00

Open discussion with participants