Mobile Learning Week 2018
Opening Remarks
Brahima Sanou, BDT Director, ITU
Paris, 27 March 2018
Mr Getachew Engida, Deputy Director General, UNESCO
Mr Moussa Oumarou, Deputy Director-General for Operations and Partnerships, ILO
Mr Firmin Matoko, Assistant Director General for Africa, UNESCO
Honorable Ministers and Deputy Ministers of education and ICT here present
CEOs of Regulatory Bodies and representatives of Private sector and academia
Distinguished delegates Ladies and gentlemen,
I would like to welcome to the Symposium of Mobile Learning Week and thank UNESCO for hosting us. ITU is proud to partner with UNESCO for this year’s edition of Mobile Learning Week to explore how we can leverage the power of ICTs to ensure inclusive and quality education for all.
The history of ITU started here when the first International Telegraph Conference met in 1865 in this very city of Paris. It is a history and a story of innovation in the face of technological change as well as a story of international cooperation for bringing the benefits of information and communication technologies to everyone.
The last decade was a remarkable period of growth and progress for ICTs. People’s lives have been transformed. Information and communication technologies are now recognized as a key platform for development and as a powerful tool to help achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and every single one of the Sustainable Development Goals, including quality education.
That is why ITU has made developing digital skills and literacy one of its priorities. And we have been focusing our efforts on the most vulnerable amongst us.
It is imperative that, in today’s connected world, we provide people with the digital skills they need to fully participate in society. This is the theme of Mobile Learning Week 2018. However, as we speak, more than half of the world’s population is not using the internet, let alone the emerging technologies that are reshaping our digital landscape.
At ITU, we work to ensure that young people are equipped with the digital skills they need to benefit from new employment opportunities and thereby create an inclusive digital economy and society.
I am pleased to mention that with the “Digital Skills for Decent Jobs Campaign,” ITU and the International Labour Organization (ILO) are leading efforts to train five million young people globally with job-ready digital skills by 2030.
I am confident that it will help make a difference in the lives of the many young men and women across the world who are unemployed, or work but live in poverty. The discussion on digital skills will continue at the ITU Global ICT Capacity Building Symposium in Santa Domingo in June this year under the theme "Developing Skills for the Digital Economy and Society”.
At ITU, we also develop the international standards that will give shape to new technologies, from cloud computing to 5G to the internet of things and to artificial intelligence. And we will provide the necessary spectrum for their development. But while these emerging technologies will bring enormous opportunities, we as a society need to make sure they do not create inequalities.
In May, ITU will hold its second “AI for Good Global Summit” in Geneva. We are bringing all stakeholders together to identify practical applications of artificial intelligence with the potential to accelerate progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals.
At ITU, we are fully committed and we work hard to ensure that women and girls have equal opportunities to flourish in the world of ICTs. Each time we bring more women online, not only do we take one more step towards achieving gender equality, but we accelerate the implementation of all SDGs.
Ladies and gentlemen
Digital inclusion can only be meaningful and effective if and when everyone feels empowered to use the technology. Leaving no one behind is a central promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We also know that partnerships are crucial to achieving this agenda.
ITU and UNESCO know this first hand. When our two organizations launched the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development almost eight years ago, we believed in the power of ICTs to transform global development. And we have never stopped working very closely together ever since!
So let’s leverage the power of ICTs to ensure inclusive and quality education for all. And let us work together to move the 2030 Agenda from vision to action and transform the digital revolution into opportunities for all.
Thank you for your attention.
