A complete transformation is sweeping the modern industrial society of the 20th century, paving the way for the information society of the 21st century. With this premise, the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society, hosted by the government of Switzerland, was held in Geneva during 10-12 December 2003.
The summit provided a unique opportunity to all those who, whether directly or otherwise, hold stakes in the burgeoning information society. The idea was to develop a better understanding at the highest level about the information revolution and its possible impact on the global community. It brought together Heads of State, Executive Heads of United Nations agencies, industry leaders, non-governmental organizations, media representatives and civil society in a single high-level event.
A broad range of issues concerning the information society was discussed. At the end of the summit a Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action was issued. The next phase will take place in Tunis hosted by the Government of Tunisia, in November 2005.
“Telephones will not feed the poor, and computers will not replace textbooks. But ICTs can be used effectively as part of the toolbox for addressing global problems. The Summit’s successes now give us the necessary momentum to achieve this,” said Yoshio Utsumi, Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union. He was speaking at the closing of the first phase of the World Summit on the Information Society. The government of Switzerland hosted the event.
He further added, “Building the inclusive information society requires a multi-stakeholder approach. The challenges raised — in areas like Internet governance, access, investment, security, the development of applications, intellectual property rights and privacy — require a new commitment to work together if we are to realize the benefits of the information society”.
Eleven Heads of State, Prime Ministers, Presidents, Vice-Presidents and 83 ministers and vice-ministers from 176 countries came together in Geneva to endorse a Declaration of Principles — or a common vision of an information society’s values – and a Plan of Action which sets forth a road map to build on that vision and to bring the benefits of information and communications technologies (ICTs) to underserved economies.
The three-day Summit was the first multi-stakeholder global effort to share and shape the use of ICTs for a better world.
The Summit offered a genuine “venue of opportunity” in a unique meeting of leaders, policy-makers, ICT business people, voluntary and non-governmental organizations of every possible kind, and top-level thinkers and speakers.
A total of 297 events took place during this summit. While none of them were any lesser in significance than the other, inadequate time at the disposal of the participants compelled many of them to miss out on several of these. While we humbly acknowledge that it is not possible to cover all that happened in Geneva in a single effort, we will attempt to bring to our readers the other aspects of the summit, including issues and implications thereof, in subsequent issues of our magazine.
In this coverage of the World Summit on Information Society, we focus on some of the approaches and insights from the global players in ICT – many of which have been instrumental towards the organization and success of the summit.
ICT4D platform
Notwithstanding critics and intellectuals who consider this platform a display of the wider digital divide prevailing across the regions and continents, the ICT4D Platform emerged as the single largest parallel event of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), held in Geneva. Jointly organized by the Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) of Malaysia and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), the platform was an important learning opportunity.
The event was held at Hall 4 of the Geneva Palexpo – where over 16,000 square meters, larger than a football field – was transformed into a microcosm of the global village. The theme for the event was “Connecting People for a Better Life”. For the five days of its duration between December 9 -13, the event attracted a total of over 38,000 visitors which included delegates and the Swiss public.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan visited the ICT4D platform on December 10, just hours before the summit opened next door. Likewise, several heads of state, governments ministers, members of civil society, business leaders and delegates used this unique opportunity to see for themselves how ICT – from a simple radio lamp to a telemedicine truck to the next generation of the Internet – can be used innovatively to reduce poverty, generate income and to empower people.
A village buzzing with life
The Platform was designed as a village with a market square in the centre into which five streets converged. Each of these five streets was dedicated to a particular theme. Abuzz with life, the village hosted hundreds of discussions, debates covering macro to micro level issues. Meanwhile, cultural performances from various regions of the world added colour and rhythm to the intellectual and technological exchanges.
About 265 organizations showcased their projects; success stories, products and services all related to harnessing information and communications technologies for development. Amongst them were government agencies, civil society groups, private sector companies, donor agencies and inter-governmental organizations. More than 80 countries were represented. While it was encouraging to see countries like Ghana, Samoa, Bolivia, the absence of more than 100 countries at this platform depicts the darker side of the ICT4D arena. Among them were poorer countries like Somalia and Burundi. It was pledged to ensure that by WSIS 2005 at least 40 more countries joined this platform. The WSIS action plan aims to have universal ICT access by 2020.
The many and diverse offerings at the platform included open-source software, community radio projects, e-learning initiatives, tele-medicine hardware and television documentaries. The success stories and case studies of how various ICT tools are being used for solving practical problems related to food, shelter, health, education, transport and other development concerns, were of special interest for many.
“The ICT4D Platform embodies the true multi-stakeholder nature, spirit and knowledge-action orientation of the GKP,” according to Rinalia Abdul Rahim, Executive Director of the GKP. “We were pleased to offer the platform as a contribution to the summit to illustrate and emphasize the people-centered development dimension of ICTs.”
Multi-stakeholder collaborations and partnerships were evident everywhere. Grassroots activists and government officials rubbed shoulders with entrepreneurs and scientists to share knowledge, experiences and perspectives. Hundreds of discussions and debates took place-covering macro to micro level issues.
Visitors had a dazzling array of displays, events and experiences to choose from to get an idea how ICTs – from simple transistor radios to high-tech computer systems – can be used innovatively to reduce poverty and promote development.
Inaugurating the platform on December 9, Micheline Calmy-Rey, the Foreign Minister of Switzerland, described the process set in motion at the Summit as “the biggest community village worldwide”. She hoped the process would produce ‘tangible results’.
Stella Hughes, chief of UNESCO’s Media Development Section, said that the platform exceeded all expectations in terms of the impact within the overall framework of the WSIS. “It has become the concrete manifestation of the theoretical issues at the plenary sessions of the summit. It has become as important as the summit itself.”
“We just could not keep track of all the partnerships and exchanges that are taking shape,” said Ambassador Walter Fust, Director General of SDC and Chairman of the GKP. “We set out to create a common platform for the multitude of players who are interested in the development dimension of ICT. This is a market place for ideas, and we hope it will be a catalyst for new and innovative projects.”
The GKP Pavilion within the Platform has been the cynosure of activities with most of its 90 member organizations from 40 countries around the world making presentations and engaging in discussion.
The culmination of GKP Day – observed across the platform on December 11 – was the GKP Awards Celebration to recognize and honour 23 winners of ICT4D awards – now dubbed the ‘Cyber Oscars’. The awards, representing a combined worth of US$ 60,000, are aimed at promoting specific, targeted applications of ICT in four thematic areas: gender, media, poverty reduction and youth.
In addition to the special guest countries of Bolivia, Finland, Mali and Malaysia, many other countries had their own pavilions. Among the private sector participants were companies such as Nokia, Hewlett-Packard, Microsoft, NTT DoCoMo, Siemens, Toshiba, Linux Professional Institute, Microsoft and Panasonic. On the development front, UN agencies, the World Bank and regional organisations were represented.
On the sidelights, local media was abuzz with news that the Swiss had a somewhat lukewarm response to the event. It was even alleged that corporate giants like Microsoft had hijacked the agenda of the summit. Therefore, as a mark of protest, Swiss people would not favour the summit. Besides, the amount of carbon dioxide released during this five-day event would significantly affect Swiss climate, was another interesting news circulating on leaflets.
The effort that the GKP has made towards promoting ICT4D activities in Asia, Africa and Latin America is commendable. It reflects the notion that few good individuals or organizations, with their limited resources but undeterred motivation, can make difference.
UNESCO perspective
Sharing UNESCO’s perspective at WSIS, the Assistant Director General for Communication and Information, Dr. AW Khan, said, “This Summit has provided an exceptional framework of opportunities to enlarge the debate on the future of the Information Society. Our events aimed at promoting the concept of inclusive knowledge societies that empower people to use and transform information in creative, productive and innovative ways”.
UNESCO’s main event was a high-level symposium on “Building Knowledge Societies - from Vision to Action”. It brought together heads of state, ministers, Nobel Prize laureates, and leading academics, who highlighted the fact that ICT had brought about a third technological revolution, in which services and products, based on skills, knowledge and know-how, are playing a central part. Dr. Khan emphasized the need to capitalise on these digital opportunities and to address the associated knowledge divide, focusing on capacity building.
Gender Caucus
During the preparatory Video Conferencing in September, 2003 a concern was raised about removal of the text on Gender in WSIS preparatory document. Though it was included again after the strong lobbying by the Gender Caucus. In this context it was interesting to see intensive activities of Gender Caucus in the summit.
The WSIS Gender Caucus has been working for last two years since its formation. The caucus argues that their work to transform the ICT sector has only just begun, but will also continue. By the end of the first phase of the summit, the gender proponents have been able to achieve many strategic objectives and have made a significant contribution to shaping the vision of an Information Society. Some of the notable contributions include; active participation in influencing the negotiations by contributing language for the Declaration and Action Plan; organising a series of events and activities, enabling decision makers to interact with gender advocates and scholars on alternative visions of the information society; showcasing projects on women’s applications of ICT for mobilization, peace and conflict resolution, enterprise creation, trade, education, and health.
The recognition that an information society serves humanity requires different resource allocation mechanisms. To this effect, UNIFEM through its Digital Diaspora Initiative has announced the setting up of an ‘E-Quality’ Fund for African Women and Innovation. This fund will provide flexible funding to ensure that African women have opportunities for capacity development and economic security in the Information Society that is emerging.
The development of a portal containing useful resources on gender equality advocacy in the ICTs arena was appreciated. The portal is aimed at energizing and focusing of a committed group of gender advocates who are committed to working with all partners, including governments, international agencies, the private sector and civil society to build an information society that benefits all of humanity. It comprises of an organised network of gender equality advocates who have support from core Nordic partners (Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden) and UNIFEM to intervene in both phases of the Summit.
The portal serves as a global platform for reporting back to the development community and women’s organisations so that governments can be made accountable for the commitments made during the summit.
World Electronic Media Forum
At the reporting session to the summit on February 12, 2003, Mr. Jean Stock, the President of the World Electronic Media Forum portrayed a realistic picture of the current media situation around the world. He narrated a brief but real story about an Australian journalist, Taras Protsiuk, who died in Iraq in March 2003. He was one of the 123 journalists to have lost their lives since the beginning of the year while doing their job, that is gathering information. He said, “We have been 621 people here, representing a total of 374 organizations from 112 countries, attending between Tuesday and today the World Electronic Media Forum organized in conjunction with Shashi Tharoor, UN Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, his staff in New York and Geneva, and the Swiss authorities”.
This media forum was a unique achievement for the fact that for the first time in media history the heads of the world’s broadcasting unions have adopted a joint platform, which was handed to the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Kofi Annan.
Drawing attention of the participants towards the work that followed the declaration from the broadcasters, he made five conclusions:
- There is no conflict between software and hardware, between the content and the carrier. One cannot exist without the other and consequently one must respect and valorize the other. We, the electronic media, are prepared to provide the content.
- In many territories of the emerging countries, the new media of the information society is radio.
The figures speak for themselves:
- There are 6.5 billion people on Earth,
- 700 million own a computer,
- 1.4 billion a mobile phone,
- 3.5 billion a television set,
- And 4.5 billion owns a radio.
Radios are above all local media. They are the voice of a rural community. Ten years ago in Sub-Saharan Africa there were just 10 independent radio stations; now there are thousands.
- The Web may be worldwide but its success relies on the organization of the local connection facilities. To achieve this aim, consulting and creating websites via the radio using WiFi connections is now the quickest, cheapest way to enable communities to use the Web in their own language.
- Local productions can also present a real interest at worldwide level. We would like to see every country authorize the unlimited uplinking of pictures and sound from their territories via satellite, just as has been done in Europe for over 50 years with Eurovision. In addition to information, this technique must also allow local, regional and national cultures to be spread around the globe. This is the role Euroradio has already been playing in Europe for more than 10 years for music exchanges.
- Radio and television feed cultural identity and diversity. They are, therefore, a forum for democratic debate. And to fulfill this mission, broadcasting needs the editorial independence that guarantees its credibility. Yet to be credible, a journalist needs to be trained. We would therefore like to emphasize to you the importance of training for journalists and those who provide them with information in your name.
The Summit had many facets ranging from the deliberation of countries who’s who to our own dynamic and vibrant civil society. Corporate entities and global guardians like Microsoft, World Bank, UN agencies, were among the most prominent faces but civil society organizations and representatives were not far behind.
Civil Society
The civil society declaration adopted at the end of the first phase of the summit strongly pronounced, “It is people whom primarily form and shape societies, and information and communication societies are no exception. Civil society actors have been key innovators and shapers of the technology, culture and content of information and communication societies, and will continue to be in the future. Human rights stand at the center of our vision of the information and communication society. From this standpoint, action plans, implementation, financing mechanisms and governance must all be shaped by and evaluated on the basis of their ability to meet life-critical human needs. Host countries and institutions contributing to and participating in the post-Geneva WSIS process should fully respect the principles enunciated in the Declaration adopted at the Geneva Summit, including those relating to human rights that are fundamental to the information and communications society. These include, but are not limited to
the freedoms of expression, association and information”.
Promoting ICT for human development in Asia 2004
An important development at this summit was an exclusive preview event of a forthcoming Regional Human Development Report on Promoting ICT for Human Development in Asia: Realising the Millennium Development Goals, which was held at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva on 11 December 2003 at the ICT4Development Platform. This event saw the release of the summary of key research findings towards a pioneering Regional Human Development Report. An effort has been made in the report to go beyond the hype surrounding the potential and promise of ICT for developing countries especially. The research across nine countries in Asia — China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mongolia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam - is a systematic study exploring the potential of ICT towards human development, using the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as a benchmark. The strength of this research lies in its attempt to combine both qualitative and quantitative linkages between ICT and the eight MDGs, making a significant contribution to the dialogue on the subject. The report has been jointly prepared by UNDP’s Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme (APDIP) and the Asia-Pacific Regional Human Development Reports Initiative (APRI) and Human Development Resource Centre.
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Telephones will not feed the poor, and computers will not replace textbooks. But ICTs can be used effectively as part of the toolbox for addressing global problems
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Almost for a year prior to the summit, the media had critically covered the event. Even during the event, the picture was no different. An interesting fact was that almost all the participating organizations especially the agencies from the UN and World Bank have produced a large number of print publications focusing on various aspects of development like education, health, governance, etc. How far these publications can be interrelated is something yet to be explored and analysed. This assumes greater importance from the perspective that all the organizations have expressed interest in a coordinated effort.
Rest for Tunisia 2005
But then this was an integral rather practical part of the summit. Both the quality and the quantity of ICT for development innovations showcased during this grand event were, generally, commendable. Interestingly, the Declaration of the Principles on December 12, 2003 by the summit contains plethora of promises and idealistic statements. The Plan of Action carries the burden of keeping those promises. The second phase of the summit in Tunisia 2005 provides an opportunity to evaluate to what extent we have fulfilled our promises or implemented what we visualised. Will the Vision become a reality?
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