The digital revolution in ICTs has already made a profound impact on how the world functions and interacts and will continue to shape the global future. Unfortunately the vast majority of the world remains unhooked from this phenomenon, while at the same time the chasm between knowledge and ignorance, between the rich and the poor among and within countries has also increased.

Bridging this digital and knowledge divide and avoiding the inequities of the past has taken on a real urgency in the aftermath of the devastating tsunami, hurricanes and earthquakes that have struck with devastating force in the past year. The use of communication devices saved many lives, but wider access to ICTs and early warning infrastructure could have saved many thousands more. Information and communication technologies - mobile telephony, SMS messaging and the Internet - have been critical in coordinating some of the largest international humanitarian relief efforts ever mounted. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has responded by, for example, making 15 satellite earth stations available for emergency deployment by countries most affected by the tsunami, and a further 55 available to victims of the recent South Asia earthquake.

In addressing these challenges of our times, ITU, which has helped enable and coordinate global telecommunications for 140 years, is once again pioneering new communication paths in the twenty-first century by laying the foundations for universal and equitable access to knowledge through information and communication technologies.

Mandated by the United Nations, ITU has taken the lead role in organizing the World Summit on the Information Society. The first phase of the Summit concluded in Geneva in December 2003 when global leaders from over 175 countries, including close to 50 Heads of State/Government and Vice-Presidents, agreed on a shared vision of the Information Society and set out an Action Plan for its implementation.

The vital second phase of WSIS, which will oversee agreement on implementation mechanisms for that ambitious plan, will held in Tunis in November 2005. Unique in the history of global summits, the two-phase format allows mechanisms to be established for concrete follow-up action and stocktaking. The Summit in Tunis will chart the future course of the Information Society and devise strategies to help achieve the development aspirations of all, as enshrined in the Millennium Declaration. WSIS is committed to “building a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society, where everyone can create, access, utilize and share information and knowledge, enabling individuals, communities and peoples to achieve their full potential in promoting sustainable development and improving their quality of life.”

From Policy to Practice:
ITU, ICTs and Quality of Life

• Developing countries around the globe are taking innovative steps to connect with the grassroots, combining traditional communication systems such as the postal service, with new methods of communications, such as e-mail. Bhutan Telecom, in partnership with the Government of India, ITU, WorldSpace Corp. and Encore (India), delivers e-post to the remote, mountainous regions of Bhutan using a V-Sat network based on solar power.
• In Bangladesh, Grameen (Rural) Telecom is dedicated to achieving the goal of providing a telephone in each of Bangladesh’s villages. Village phones, financed with microcredit, provide connectivity to more than 50 million people in 30,000 remote, difficult-to-access villages.
• The name of Timbuktu, located in the trans-Saharan desert 1000 kilometres from the capital of Mali, is often cited to express remoteness and to suggest something beyond a person's experience. But now Timbuktu High School is connected to the Internet, bringing the world of information to its students. This partnership project with Mali and Swisscom is part of ITU’s overall scheme to develop a large number of projects and connect as many schools as possible across the world to the Internet. At the same time, Malian schoolteachers attend a course in Switzerland to bring them up to date with the possibilities of the Internet in the framework of modern education.
• ITU projects in Central America are aiming to connect rural, semi-rural areas and urban locations in Honduras through Multipurpose Community Telecentres (MCT), which deliver training in the use of the Internet and its applications to citizens in the localities of Valle de Angeles, Santa Lucia, Las Trojas, Montana Grande and Tegucigalpa. This project, jointly carried out by ITU and the Honduras Telecommunication National Company, has made e-health, e-education, e-commerce, e-government and e-services programmes available to these remote communities. After the establishment of the first MCT four years ago, the project has achieved self-sustainability and it is attracting new partners with new applications.

ICTs: The 21st Century Knowledge Catalyst
Information has the power to dispel ignorance and empower people. Information has the power to bind the global community and to spread the common ideals of peace and tolerance, growth and development. While the basic needs of humankind are food, clothing and shelter, the time has come to add 'information' to that list, as information and knowledge - and the communication technology that delivers it - is essential catalysts for social and economic development.

Information and communication technologies alone will not solve the world's problems, but they are critical tools in the 21st century to help accomplish increasingly global challenges. Bridging the digital divide and investing in the new cyber-expressways to place the global development goals on the fast track to achievement will also provide new and viable business opportunities in the developing world at a time when the world’s developed markets are becoming saturated. Richard McCormick, speaking for the business community at WSIS in Geneva, stated that building the Information Society “requires investment, creativity and innovation, all of the things that business does best. And business stands ready to make those investments.”

Top Summit targets to be achieved by 2015 include connecting all villages, and bringing ICTs to all universities, colleges, secondary and primary schools, scientific and research centres, public libraries, cultural centres, museums, post offices and archives, as well as health centres and hospitals. Local and central government departments should also be connected and provided websites and e-mail addresses. By that same date, all primary and secondary school curricula should have been adapted to meet the challenges of the Information Society. Specifically, the scope for ICT applications is envisioned for e-health, environment, business, trade, and agriculture.

ITU and the Road Ahead: from Geneva to Tunis
Flowing from the Declaration of Principles and the Plan of Action agreed to by leaders at the Geneva Summit, the Tunis Phase will address a number of key areas, including E-strategies, Internet governance, regional integration, monitoring and measuring progress, financial mechanisms, cyber security, and the commitment to global engagement that will need to remain on the world’s public agenda for decades to come. ITU, which has been helping to build global communication networks since 1865, is providing the expertise needed to pave the road ahead.

E-Strategies: Governments, in dialogue with the private sector and civil society, are encouraged to develop and implement comprehensive, forward-looking and sustainable national e-strategies as an integral part of national development plans, including poverty reduction strategies. ITU is engaged in facilitating this process.

Internet Governance: As mandated by WSIS Geneva, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed a Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG), which submitted its final report to the Tunis Phase of the Summit on 18 July 2005. Following open-ended consultations with all stakeholders, the Report recommended four possible models for Internet governance. Negotiations on the best way forward in this increasingly complex and contentious area will be one of the focal points of discussions at the Summit.

Financial Mechanisms: The WSIS Plan of Action called for a thorough review of all existing financial mechanisms and their adequacy in meeting the challenges of ICT for development. The Task Force for this review was led by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) under the auspices of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and its report was submitted in December 2004. The second preparatory committee of WSIS, meeting in Geneva 17-25 February 2005, considered the Report of TFFM and welcomed the establishment of the Digital Solidarity Fund as an innovative and voluntary financial mechanism open to interested stakeholders with the objective of transforming the digital divide into digital opportunities.

Monitoring and Measuring Progress: The Summit has called for the development of realistic international performance evaluation and benchmarking mechanisms through comparable statistical indicators and research results to measure progress in the implementation of the Plan of Action. Following the initiative announced at PrepCom-2, the WSIS Executive Secretariat and ITU have conducted a ‘stocktaking’ exercise intended to fulfil the dual purpose of providing an inventory of activities undertaken by governments and all stakeholders in implementing the Geneva decisions, and of taking stock of the progress made in building the Information Society. The stocktaking was launched in October 2004 and continues to be updated. A ‘Golden Book’ will highlight new commitments made during WSIS.

Confidence and Security in the Use of ICTs: These are regarded as key principles of the Information Society. Cooperation is being promoted among all stakeholders at appropriate forums to enhance user confidence, build trust, and protect both data and network integrity. Guidelines are being developed keeping in mind ongoing efforts to prevent, detect and respond to cyber crime and the misuse of ICTs, for example by promoting effective investigation and prosecution of misuse, and strengthening institutional support and mutual assistance efforts at the international level for preventing, detecting and recovering from such incidents. In this regard, spam is already a significant and growing problem for users, networks and the Internet as a whole. Appropriate action at national and international levels was considered at a multi-stakeholder thematic meeting on spam organized by ITU in July 2004. A meeting on cybersecurity was organized by ITU in Geneva 28 June – 1 July 2005.

Regional Integration: Sustainable development can best be advanced when ICT-related efforts and programmes are fully integrated into national and regional development strategies. In this regard, the Summit welcomed the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and encouraged the international community to support the ICT-related measures of this initiative as well as those of similar initiatives in other regions. A regional meeting on WSIS was held in Accra, Ghana, in February 2005 seeking a strategic and interdependent digital partnership that will promote economic growth and human development in Africa. Other regional meetings were held in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, seeking to produce regional inputs to WSIS.

Cultural diversity: Women must be empowered to fully participate in all spheres of society and in all decision-making processes. At the same time, it is imperative that we address the needs of marginalized and vulnerable groups of society, including migrants, internally displaced persons and refugees, unemployed and underprivileged people, minorities, nomadic and indigenous people, older persons and persons with disabilities. Multilingualism and cultural diversity is essential to bridge the digital divide and ensure a cross-flow of information and knowledge.

Global Call for Action
While it is true that telephones will not feed the poor, and computers will not entirely replace teachers, ICTs can be used effectively as part of a toolbox for addressing global problems. The success of the Summit gives us the necessary momentum to achieve this. Building an inclusive Information Society requires a multi-stakeholder approach, and WSIS engages effectively with not just governments but with the business sector and civil society as well as with other organizations within the United Nations system.

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.

Looking ahead to Tunis and beyond, we must see the fruits of today's powerful knowledge-based tools in the most impoverished economies as the true test of an engaged, empowered and equitable Information Society — available to all humanity, not just the privileged few. To quote Mr Yoshio Utsumi, Secretary-General of ITU, “we are building the bridges to connect different peoples across geographic, knowledge and information divides. At the same time, we are beginning to connect the dots embedded in the WSIS Action Plan that will create a truly inclusive and equitable Information Society.”

WSIS is not the end; it’s just the beginning. Mr Utsumi optimistically noted, ‘I am convinced that a genuine multi-stakeholder approach is the only way, and the best way, forward. We all have to join hands and bring together our collective resources, which we all know are limited. We have to find new efficiencies within existing institutions, and we must avoid duplication at all costs. We know what needs to be done, and we have already begun the momentum to accomplish this task.’