The first meetings of the ITU-D Study Groups for the 2014-2018 study period, took place in Geneva from 15 to 19 September (Study Group 1) and from 22 to 26 September (Study Group 2).
"The findings of the ITU-D Study Groups are central to the work of the Sector," says Mr Brahima Sanou Director of ITU's Telecommunication Development Bureau (BDT) . "Sharing and learning from each other's experiences is at the core of the mandate of the ITU-D Study Groups," he explains. "Their reports and recommendations are very important for ITU and the future of ICTs: not only they support developing countries in achieving socio-economic development but they are also key to successful knowledge-sharing among Members."
The ITU-D Sector works through two study groups, one dealing with the enabling environment for the development of telecommunications/ICTs and the other one with ICT applications, cybersecurity, emergency telecommunications and climate change adaptation.
The Study Groups are responsible for developing guidelines, reports and recommendations, based on input from Members. Their work focus on specific questions of priority to developing countries.
Study groups gather information through surveys, contributions and case-studies. Outputs agreed on in the study-groups are used as input for the implementation of policies, strategies, projects and special initiatives.
They meet once a year over a four-year study period to harmonize approaches on a variety of issues.
At the World Telecommunication Development Conference, held earlier this year, it was agreed on new and revised questions for the 2014-2018 study period, which will start in September when the groups will hold their first meetings.
Ms Roxanne McElvane, Chairwoman of Study Group 1 says that "Building on the good results achieved previously, we look forward to productive collaboration with peers from around the globe and with the BDT on the issues identified by WTDC-14. We trust that our collective efforts will help increase access to ICTs in developing countries, which will benefit the global community as a whole."
"Development of telecommunications networks, services, and applications involves many interesting processes and challenges," notes Dr Ahmad Reza Sharafat, the new Chairman of ITU-D Study Group 2. "With the enthusiasm shown by highly qualified experts to the work of ITU-D Study Group 2, I am confident that the Study Group can deliver on and exceed the expectations set forth by WTDC-2014."
This year, the meetings of the Study Groups featured the following side events:
- 16 September 13:15 – 14:15 *World café exchange on "Broadband emerging trends"
- 17 September 13:15 – 14:15 *Lunchtime talk on "The changing economics of network deployments: Playing roulette with RoI"
- 23 September 13:15 – 14:15 *World café exchange on "Smart societies – opportunities for developing countries"
- 24 September 13:15 – 14:15 *Lunchtime talk on "Cybersecurity"
- 25 September 13:15 – 14:15 *Lunchtime talk on "ICT Statistics"
The presentations made at these events will be available on the Study Groups web page: http://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Study-Groups/2014-2018/Pages/side-events/2014/side-events-sept2014.aspx.
To find out more about the ITU-D Study-Groups, click here.
