Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development

Final WSIS Targets Review: Achievements, challenges and the Way Forward.

 

The Partnership's work is closely related to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which called upon countries and international organisations to develop appropriate indicators and produce official statistics to monitor the Information Society. This was reflected in the WSIS Tunis Agenda for the Information Society which makes reference to the Partnership. Through its Task Group on Measuring the WSIS Targets, the Partnership took the lead role in monitoring progress towards the achievements of the WSIS Targets and is actively involved in the WSIS+10 review process and has taken the lead role in monitoring progress towards the achievements of the WSIS Targets.

Led by ITU, the Partnership prepared the Final WSIS Targets Review: Achievements, Challenges and the Way Forward. This report analyzes and discusses the achievements made on each one of the ten WSIS targets. It is based on available data for the 49 indicators identified in the Partnership’s 2011 Measuring the WSIS Targets: a statistical framework document. The report was launched in June 2014, at the WSIS+10 high-level meeting on the overall review of the WSIS, in June 2014.

 

In preparation for this final quantitative assessment report, and to assess the availability of country data on the WSIS targets, the Partnership sent out a Meta-data Questionnaire on the WSIS Targets Indicators (excel) at the end of 2012. The global response rate to the meta-data questionnaire was 30 per cent. The meta-data survey revealed a lack of awareness and visibility of the WSIS Targets. It further showed that many countries lack national coordination to collect data on the WSIS Targets, which cut across many different areas (health, education, e-government etc.). The results of the meta-data survey, which were presented at several WSIS events,  highlighted that data availability is higher for basic ICT infrastructure, access and household data and lower for data in the area of culture, content, language and education.

 

In July 2013, the Partnership, through the UN Regional Commissions, the OECD and UNCTAD (excel), sent out the WSIS Targets questionnaire (excel) to WSIS focal points in all (195) countries to collect data for the indicators identified to track the WSIS Targets. Thirty per cent of all countries responded to the questionnaire. The results of this questionnaire were used as an input to the Final WSIS Targets Review report.

NEW! Paragraph 117 of the WSIS+20 outcome document requests the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development, in cooperation with the WSIS Action Line Facilitators and with the support of the UN Statistical Commission, to undertake a systematic review of existing ICT indicators and methodologies and to report its findings to the 30th session of the Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) in 2027.

To support this process, the Partnership has launched the following survey: Systematic Review of ICT indicators – Fill out form.​

 

This questionnaire is open to all WSIS stakeholders, including governments, international organizations, the private sector, civil society, academia, and the technical community. It seeks views on the relevance of the Core List of ICT Indicators and related methodologies for measuring progress across the WSIS Action Lines, with a key focus on identifying additional ICT indicators that could better measure progress, including proposed indicator names, definitions, relevant Action Lines, possible data sources, and the feasibility of data collection. By completing the questionnaire, you will contribute to developing a meaningful and broadly accepted measurement framework. Inputs from WSIS Action Line facilitators and stakeholders will help ensure that information society indicators remain relevant to the WSIS Action Lines and broader international development goals, accurately reflect real-world developments across sectors, and support evidence-based policies, investments, and analyses for an inclusive information society.