Highlights December 2022
12-16 December
Digital inclusion: Asia and the Pacific
On 12-13 December 2022, the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunication, Pakistan (MoITT) and ITU organized Digital Inclusion week: Meaningful ICT for All Pakistan in Islamabad, Pakistan. The event was officially launched by His Excellency Mr. Syed Aminul Haque, Federal Minister of MoITT.
The event brought together various stakeholders and partners to highlight the three ongoing digital inclusion initiatives including the Girls in ICT Day Pakistan 2022, Child Online Protection, and Accessible Cybercafe for all.
As a next step, it was proposed to set up three working groups around Girls in ICT, accessible ICT for persons with disabilities, and Child Online Protection to discuss the plans and possible collaboration and scale up on the efforts highlighted during the ITU-Pakistan Digital Inclusion Week.
Digital inclusion: Global
On 8 December, the EQUALS Global Partnership held its annual flagship event, the EQUALS in Tech Awards, during the Partner2Connect annual meeting at ITU headquarters in Geneva. The awards celebrate initiatives with powerful vision, significant impact, and regional importance in bridging the gender digital divide. The 2022 winners were selected from 155+ nominees representing 54+ countries.
The winners for each category are:
- ACCESS: App Morada (Mexico)
- SKILLS: Czechitas (Czech Republic)
- RESEARCH: Education Digital Equity Initiative (Nigeria)
- LEADERSHIP IN SME: Tech-Driven Entrepreneur (Zimbabwe)
- LEADERSHIP IN TECH: Women Technopreneurs Forum (Sri Lanka)
- EQUALS PARTNER SPECIAL RECOGNITION: W4 (Women’s Worldwide Web) (France/Global)
Learn more about the winners on the EQUALS website.
Digital inclusion: Africa
On 6-7 December, the joint ITU-EIF-EQUALS initiative “Tech as a driver of women’s economic opportunity” organized a digital fashion industry workshop in Bujumbura, Burundi, focusing on the critical tools needed for the industry, led by an expert from the textile and fashion sector.
Also, as part of this joint initiative and in collaboration with the Government of Burundi, nine women entrepreneurs from the coffee and tea sectors attended the Organic & Natural Products Expo Dubai 2022 from 13-15 December. In preparation, the women were able to meet potential buyers and partners and create potential international business leads through a dedicated online platform. These interactions were continued in-person throughout the three days where they were able to showcase their products and improve their business development skills, thereby demonstrating the essential link between digital skills and entrepreneurial growth for women in LDCs.
Digital innovation ecosystems:
On 7 December, the Women Entrepreneurship Accelerator (WEA) - the multi-partnership initiative on women’s entrepreneurship convening six United Nations agencies (ILO, ITC, ITU, UNDP, UN Global Compact and UN Women) and Mary Kay Inc. to empower 5 million women entrepreneurs by 2030 - celebrated its third anniversary at ITU in Geneva.
During the event, there was a fireside chat on applying a gender-lens to Agenda 2030, participated by International Trade Centre (ITC) Executive Director, Pamela Coke-Hamilton, and Agi Veres, Director of UNDP Representation Office in Geneva. UN agencies from the WEA initiative also presented their solutions to advance women entrepreneurship.
The celebration concluded with the launch of the ITU-led WEA Digital Innovation Challenge: Building Enabling Ecosystems for Women Entrepreneurs. The deadline for applications is 20 January 2023. Apply here.
Digital services and applications: Asia and the Pacific
A Digital Transformation Strategy Consultation Workshop was organized in Samoa by the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), ITU, and UNDP on 12 - 14 December 2022. ITU and MCIT started the needs assessment for identified Smart Islands in Samoa (Manono) during the consultation.
Emergency telecommunications
The Emergency Telecommunications team was invited to meet with the BDT Director and Ms. Mami Mizutori, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR), to discuss the new UN Early Warning for All initiative (EW4A). Launched in March 2022, the UN Secretary General set up EW4A which stipulates that “in 5 years, every person in the world should be protected by an early warning system”. WMO is the overall lead of this initiative; ITU is leading on the pillar on ‘Warning Dissemination and Communication’. The objective of the meeting was to discuss how UNDRR and ITU can coordinate their work and to discuss topics such as financing, advocacy and legislation.
PRIDA: Africa
Focal points and Technical Committee (TechCom) meetings were held back-to-back from 13 -14 December and 15-16 December respectively in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A priority was given to 5G issues and Spectrum pricing and valuations, whereas the ongoing activities on Spectrum engineering, auditing will take place at a later date, taking into consideration the requests on direct assistance and trainings. Proposals on microwave links and Broadband networks models will be considered for 2023. The trainings on maritime and aeronautical and HCM4A will be planned for early 2023.
5-9 December
Cybersecurity: Asia and the Pacific
The ASEAN-ITU 2022 CyberDrill was held virtually from 5-9 December. The CyberDrill began with a discussion on the state of cybersecurity in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and cooperation between Computer Incident and Response Teams (CIRTs) and law enforcement. Participants underwent training and scenario-based exercises, enhancing their cybersecurity capacity and capabilities.
Digital inclusion: Asia and the Pacific
The EQUALS Her Digital Skills Workshop on Cybersecurity was organised in Australia and the Pacific Islands by ITU and EQUALS partners on 9 December. It was a beginner-friendly cybersecurity workshop for women and aspiring female leaders in tech.
Digital inclusion: Africa
On 24 November, 30 young women participated in the EQUALS Her Digital Skills workshop on web development in Muzinda province, Burundi.
Environment
The Environment team attended the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) Forum’s “EPR Grand Challenge” in Brussels on 7 December. The team presented its work on e-waste data and policy, as well as the findings of its newest thought paper on the global and complementary actions for electronics
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR). The event brought together industry and chief executives of Europe’s leading producer responsibility organisations as well as Members of the European Parliament and senior policymakers in public administrations, including representation from the civil society and academia.
Giga: Global
ITU participated in the online UNESCO International Forum on AI and Education and addressed the Plenary Session 4 on “Global partnership for centring the most marginalized with priorities for Africa” on 6 December. ITU gave a presentation on how Giga scales AI to map every school on the planet. The presentation also highlighted how a data-centric model development approach is used to identify, map and connect schools in the world and overcome the connectivity challenge. This Plenary session
aimed to ally policy makers and partners to steer policies, actions and resource mobilization to centre the most marginalized and ensure that AI will be a common good for all to advance equity, inclusion and gender equality. Priority focused on Africa, Small Island Developing States (SIDS), and other marginalized learners.
Other: CIS
The Generation Connect CIS Youth Group (GC-CIS) was created in the context of the ITU Youth Strategy with the aim to involve young people in ITU's work. Maksim Buryanov was among the programme participants and shared his experience in the group and the steps he had taken to achieve this goal. Read more about Maksim's inspiring story here.
Other: CIS
A roundtable dedicated to the International Day of People with Disabilities was held in Moscow, Russia, on 7 November. The theme was Education, Learning and Vocational Training for Persons with Disabilities - Accessibility and Inclusion. ITU presented the direction of digital inclusion at the global and regional levels.