FRAmericas participated in the World Information Society (WSIS) +10 Informal Interactive Stakeholder Consultation, held in the ECOSOC Chamber at United Nations Headquarters in New York City, on 19 October 2015.
The meeting considered the Draft of a Resolution where WSIS position on issues of Digital Divide; ICT for Development; Human Rights; Internet Governance; and Cyberspace is represented.
FRAmericas focused on paragraphs 16, 17 and 18 covering the subject of “ICT for Development” :
Credit: Photo by Veni Markovski on Tweeter
ICT for Development
“16. The spread of ICT and accelerating global interconnectedness has great potential to accelerate progress across the economic, social, and environmental pillars of sustainable development. The Information Society will play a critical enabling role in achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, including the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
“17. We recognize that information and communications technologies have the potential to provide new solutions to development challenges, particularly in the context of globalization, and can foster sustained, inclusive and equitable economic growth and sustainable development, competitiveness, access to information and knowledge, poverty eradication and social inclusion that will help to expedite the integration of all countries, especially developing countries, in particular the least developed countries, into the global economy.
“18. Priority should be given to leveraging the critical role that ICT plays in enabling resource efficiency, particularly of energy and water, as well as sustainable urban development and the evolution of renewable technologies.
FRAmericas’ intervention in the meeting pointed out:
- That sufficient evidence exists today to demonstrate that ICT indeed has accelerated progress in terms of socio-economic development and provided new solutions to development challenges. Therefore, the use of the tentative wording “ICT has the potential to …” seems outdated. After fifteen to twenty years of experience of efforts in this field, ICT potential should be more than proved.
- Such evidence might not be adequately systematized or be dispersed, thus making it difficult to perform a clear assessment of ICT impact on development challenges.
- In that case, WSIS+10 should include among priority actions listed in par.18 the need to “support efforts to; (i) quantify and analyze the impact of ICT on development challenges; and (ii) analyze the comparative efficiency and effectiveness of alternative project implementers in the use of funding devoted to support ICT for Development, in particular NGO and other Civil Society organizations.