BDT Director Doreen Bogdan-Martin participated in a video dialogue with the United States ITU Association, and shared insights on ongoing work to leverage ICTs for development.
While discussing ITU-D study groups, Ms Bogdan-Martin expressed hope to inject younger voices into the work of Study Groups- ''young people have a grasp of technology – what it can achieve and how it could be used – that most members of my own generation simply cannot match. I believe we're not yet fully harnessing the power of young voices in our work, and I hope to redress that through the comprehensive Youth Strategy we're in the process of developing within BDT.''
The COVID crisis has underlined importance of broadband, and placed connectivity at the top of governments' agendas. Ms Bogdan-Martin called for the ICT4D community to harness this unprecedented tide of political will. Acknowledging the challenges in raising investment for broadband connectivity, she stated the need to be creative, look at bold new regulatory and financing models, and collaborate further.
''Old paradigms that prioritize single-entity network ownership and fastest possible return on investment for private sector players won't work, as we strive to connect the second half of the planet,'', she noted, while calling for D-Sector members to be open to new approaches that maybe don't deliver as fast results, but which instead deliver a more sustained, longer-term revenue stream.
Ms Bogdan-Martin emphasized the critical work of the TDAG Working Group on WTDC reform, and recognized the active participation of all 6 regions in consultations held in this context. Working Group members have generally agreed on the need to boost the diversity of WTDC participants- in addition to ICT ministers, participants could include ministers from other government departments, to acknowledge the critical role ICTs now play across the board. There have also been suggestions to bring in more investment-oriented entities, such as regional development banks.
Highlighting the importance of an effective preparatory process and proactive preparation for a constructive conference, Ms Bogdan-Martin underscored, “'through a fit-for-purpose WTDC, we have a unique chance to make huge strides forward in connecting the unconnected. Squandering this opportunity is simply not an option.''
