Highlights – October 2022
24-28 October
Network and digital infrastructure: Americas
Brazil became the first country to make their ITU transmission map data (fibre links and nodes) available to the public, making the announcement during PP-22. Open data has the power to foster innovation while connecting the unconnected through relevant data on the presence and lack of infrastructure. More information on how to access the data set can be found under the following link.
Emergency telecommunications: Global
On 22 October, ITU gave a presentation at the conference “The UN Global Early Warning Initiative for Climate Adaptation: Early Warnings for All” conference, organized by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The conference highlighted the importance of ICTs, in particular mobile networks and services, in developing effective early warning systems. The purpose was to explore global early warning systems and to develop strategic partnerships in support of a coordinated action plan for this initiative. ITU is currently leading the effort on warning dissemination and communication, which is a vital pillar in early warning systems.
Environment: Global
For International E-waste Day (IEWD) on 14 October, ITU partnered with the Waste Electrical and Electronic (WEEE) Forum and Solving the E-waste Problem (StEP) Initiative to produce a thought paper, “Global and complementary actions for electronics extended producer responsibility.” The paper presents complementary solutions and concepts to propel e-waste collection rates in line with extended producer responsibility (EPR) based regulation, whilst also delving into the perceived need for an international regime on EPR to assist with harmonization efforts. ITU also participated in IEWD with social media posts, including a video message from the BDT Director on the urgent e-waste problem.
Environment: Asia and the Pacific
ITU presented its regional priorities at the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) strategic planning session in Bangkok on 28 October. The meeting paid a special focus to climate change and e-waste, upon request by UNOPS. A presentation was delivered by the ITU Regional Office, followed by a questions and answers session. UN Women and USAID were also invited as external guests on the panel.
Network and digital infrastructure: Asia and the Pacific
ITU attended the Sub-3GHz Network Evolution Summit on 26 October in Bangkok. The summit was organized by Huawei in partnership with GSMA and GTI. During the session, “Spectrum & Industry Policies and Network Standards to narrow digital divide and promote sustainable development”, ITU delivered a presentation on “Universal connectivity and digital transformation”.
Policy and regulation: Asia and the Pacific
ITU participated in the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Roundtable on Digital Infrastructure on 26 October, which was organized by GSMA and HUAWEI in Bangkok. The roundtable looked at how policymakers can enable a more connected, inclusive, and trustworthy digital nation. It also explored what policy options and regulatory approaches are available to regulators to ensure continued growth, and looked into how new business models can play a role in updating regulatory frameworks.
Giga: Europe
On 25 October, ITU participated in Digital Cooperation Day, a discussion focused on contributions of Geneva-based organizations to the Global Digital Compact. The event was organized by the Geneva Internet Platform (GIP), the Permanent Mission of Switzerland to the United Nations Office in Geneva, and the Federal Office of Communications (OFCOM). Doreen Bogdan-Martin’s keynote message highlighted Giga as key to advancing the SG’s High-level Panel on Digital Cooperation, Our Common Agenda and the Transforming Education Summit (TES) Call to Action. She reiterated her commitment to collaborate with partners to shape an impactful and effective Global Digital Compact, and an inclusive digital world in which everyone is connected to the transformative power of digital possibility.
I-CoDI: Global
The Accelerated Innovation Workshop for Facilitators in Dubai, hosted by the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority and I-CoDI HQ team, provided colleagues tools and techniques to launch innovative activities within their current portfolio. The intensive learning workshop was based on the I-CoDI Playbook, a resource guide and toolkit developed to accelerate action and innovation within multi-stakeholder environments.
17-21 October
Digital services and applications: Americas
ITU participated in a workshop to help build El Salvador’s work following the Transformation Education Summit. El Salvador Ministry of Education, UN agencies, universities and others participated in the workshop.
Capacity development: Asia and the Pacific
ITU co-organized a Centres of Excellence (CoE) training on technology, standardization, testing and application scenario in cellular vehicle-to-everything (C-V2X) with the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, China, under the auspices of CoE ICT applications programme in Asia and the Pacific. Participants explored the advantages and practical experiences in industries such as V2X, connected vehicles and smart transportation.
Capacity development: CIS
From 18–21 October, ITU representatives met with young people and shared the organization’s mission, experiences and past activities. The Generation Connect CIS programme is now in the selection stage and will soon share the selected candidates.
Cybersecurity: CIS
The ITU’s 5G training was successfully completed in Uzbekistan from 19–21 October with more than 100 specialists from various sectors. The training focused on various aspects of the implementation of 5G/IMT-2020 networks at the national level, including approaches on the allocation of new radio frequency bands and the use of spectrum for 5G.
Cybersecurity: Americas
ITU was invited to meet with Fundación Salvador del Mundo (FUSALMO) through UNICEF El Salvador to present the ITU Child Online Protection Initiative. The meeting was held on 8 September.
Digital inclusion: Asia and the Pacific
ITU participated virtually in the High-level Intergovernmental Meeting on the Final Review of the Asian and Pacific Decade of Persons with Disabilities, 2013–2022, held from 19–21 October. The meeting was convened by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and hosted by the Government of Indonesia to review the progress made in the past 10 years, share good practices and forge consensus on new strategic direction for the next decade. Over the three-day meeting, ministers, officials, and stakeholder-group representatives from 41 countries delved into innovative strategies for the region to promote accessibility and inclusion of all people and remove disability inclusion barriers while responding to emerging challenges, such as population ageing, digital transformation and climate change.
For more information, visit: https://www.unescap.org/events/2022/high-level-intergovernmental-meeting-final-review-asian-and-pacific-decade-persons Access multimedia content: https://bit.ly/HLIGMD
Digital inclusion: Global
On 20 October, Generation Connect held a session at YOUNGA, as part of the Working Group for the Future of Education and Work. The ‘#GenerationConnect: Building Digital Skills for the Jobs of the Future’ fireside chat included a Q&A where youth asked questions https://youngaforum.com/
Digital inclusion: Global
On 13 October, ITU participated in the “Mainstreaming knowledge on ageing: From Engagement to Action in the Protection and participation of older persons” event, organized and hosted by UNITAR. The event represented an opportunity for ITU to identify various good practices, initiatives, and challenges related to the participation and protection of older people in the socio-economic and digital world, in order to create more inclusive environments for everyone, with the scope of including the information in ITU-D’s work related to older persons.
Digital services and applications
ITU, through the GovStack Initiative, participated in the Tallinn Digital Summit by organizing and participating in a multistakeholder session focused on digital government services. The GovStack team also visited TalTech University to follow up on the collaboration with researchers and graduate students, who are doing research related to the GovStack Implementation Playbook. As a community driven initiative, the GovStack Estonia team hosted a community gathering with Estonian experts participating in the GovStack technical working groups.
Digital services and applications
GovStack Initiative efforts were highlighted at the United Nations University’s 15th International Conference on Theory and Practice of Electronic Governance (ICEGOV) in Portugal. ITU as a co-founding partner together with the Government of Germany, Estonia and the Digital Impact Alliance (DIAL) contributed to the roundtable session on “Ensuring coherent and effective investments in Digital Government.” The round table was organized by the OECD. During the session, ITU highlighted the work of the SDG Digital Investment Framework as a way to improve the quality and sustainability of digital government investments and ensure meaningful operational and benefit savings.
Emergency telecommunications: Global
On 13 October, the UN International Day of Disaster Risk Reduction, ITU participated in the “WSIS & SDG Talk X: ICTs and Disaster Risk Reduction” to highlight the importance of ICTs in delivering alert messages to people at risk and opportunities brought by mobile networks and services in achieving the new UN goal of covering every person in the world with early warning systems within five years.
Emergency telecommunications: Global
Following the request from Nicaragua, ITU is deploying 10 Iridium satellite phones and 10 Inmarsat Broadband Global Area Networks (BGANs) to support the country in their relief efforts following Hurricane Julia. Two members from the ITU Emergency Telecommunications Roster were deployed to deliver equipment and train the local teams on how to use it. They will also visit the affected area and support the response on the field.
Environment: Africa
The ITU, UNITAR and East African Communications Organisation (EACO) held an East Africa regional e-waste data validation workshop to ensure harmonization of data collected at the national level in Kenya, Burundi, Uganda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Rwanda, including from household and business surveys piloted in Kenya and Burundi. This will help facilitate the preparation of the East Africa E-waste Baseline report which will include the validated data from this workshop. The data will help to improve comparability between countries and is an important step towards addressing e-waste challenges, since statistics help to evaluate developments over time, set and assess targets, and identify best practices for policies.
Network and digital infrastructure: Americas
The Regional Office for the Americas met with Telecommunications Authority in Nicaragua (TELCOR) to discuss the Transition to Digital Television (TDT) roadmap.
Partner2Connect: Americas
On 22 September, the ITU Central America Area Office participated in a panel at the 6th Internet Governance Forum of Guatemala IGF. The panel focused on the state of regulations in Central America for the promotion of meaningful connectivity; ITU tools and initiatives were presented. Partner2Connect, the Digital Transformation Wheel and regulatory tools were some of the initiatives shared during the panel.
PRIDA: Africa
The African Union Commission (AUC) Policy and Regulation Initiative for Digital Africa (PRIDA) project track on regulation organized the second regulatory cooperation meeting from 18–21 October. Four working groups have been set up to tackle thematic regulatory issues such as consumer protection and harmonization of policies. The working groups reviewed their respective mandates and approved workplans. Reports will be delivered for AUC consideration and publication by the end of 2022.
Other: Africa
UN Day was celebrated all week. A conference, organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cameroon, was chaired by ITU on behalf of the Resident Coordinator. The conference addressed the challenges of the UN Cooperation framework in four retained themes: structural transformation of the economy; industrialization, environment and innovation; employment and professional education; decentralization, and good governance (2022-2026). A live TV news interview was carried out on 21 October.
Other: Asia and the Pacific
The new premises for the ITU Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific were officially inaugurated on 20 October. ITU hosted an Open House Day with the support from the Office of The National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC), Thailand, with more than 60 guests from the Government of Thailand, diplomatic community, UN agencies, ITU members, academia and partners.
Policy and regulation: CIS
The Regional Forum on Development Issues in the CIS Region was held on 26 October, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan. At the event, ITU Members shared information on ongoing projects and the results achieved in the implementation of the Regional Initiatives approved at WTDC-17. The new Regional Initiatives were discussed.
10-14 October
Digital Inclusion: Global
From October 3-7, ITU-D participated in two events that focused on the (digital) inclusion of older persons.
The first event, the Vienna Commemoration on the “Resilience and Contributions of Older Women” highlighted the resilience of older women who face environmental, social, economic and lifelong inequalities. It also raised awareness of the importance of improving the worldwide collection of data disaggregated by age and gender. With a global representation of older women, stakeholders and UN representatives, the event featured a panel discussion, which underlined relevant actions and efforts taken to improve the inclusion of older persons in all aspects of societal development.
ITU emphasized the importance of having the necessary access and knowledge to use ICTs in a digital world, especially for ageing populations and raised awareness of the need for policies and actions on inclusive and accessible ICTs. ITU also shared the “Ageing in the digital world: from vulnerable to valuable” report, and the free-of-charge online self-paced training on “Beyond smart cities equals ‘Smart for all’: towards building inclusive and digitally accessible environments and communities to meet the needs of present and future generations.”
On October 4, an UNGA virtual side event was held on “Having a roof over one’s head is not enough: older persons’ right to adequate housing”. Different experts from NGOs and public and private organizations, including ITU, discussed the lack of adequate and affordable housing for older people. ITU highlighted the importance of smart cities and affordable and accessible housing for older people, and stressed that ICTs that can help older people live independent lives in a digital era
Cybersecurity: Global
The end of September marked the end of the five-month Women in Cyber Mentorship Programme, which focused on building the capacity of women and young girls from the Africa, Arab States, and Asia and the Pacific regions to grow as successful cybersecurity professionals. Throughout 2022, the programme supported over 200 mentees in 69 countries in collaboration with over 80 mentors from across public and private sectors globally. Over the two editions in 2021 and 2022, the programme reached 73 countries and engaged nearly 400 participants, to bridge the gender gap in this traditionally male-dominated sector, and empower a new generation of women to break the glass ceiling in cybersecurity.
Emergency telecommunications: Global
ITU met with both the World Bank’s disaster-risk management team from the Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR) and their digital development team, to present ITU’s work on early warning systems and discuss possible future steps that can be taken to achieve the new UN goal on Early Warning Systems, which aims to cover every person in the world by 2027. ITU is working closely with partners to develop an action plan for the UN initiative, and is part of the working group on warning dissemination and communication pillar of multi-hazard early warning systems. This working group is led by the World Meteorological Organization and the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Cresent Societies.
3-7 October
Cybersecurity: CIS
The ITU Regional Office for the CIS participated in the UNESCAP sub-regional forum held from 7-8 October in Kazakhstan. The forum provided a regional perspective on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda by identifying trends and consolidating and sharing best practices. ITU presented the Union’s activities on digital infrastructure with a focus on 5G, future networks, broadband access, and critical infrastructure protection.
Digital inclusion: Asia and the Pacific
The EQUALS Her Digital Skills workshop was organised on 1 October 2022 in the Philippines by GSMA, Women’s WorldWide Web (W4), ITU, Verizon, and Children of Asia with support from the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the Department of Education at Mabolo High School in Cebu. The workshop aimed to improve the tech skills of young women and girls between the ages of 18 and 25, helping them learn how to develop a mobile application and become digital creators. The workshop introduced an essential digital skills training programme on mobile app development.
Digital innovation ecosystems: Asia and the Pacific
ITU conducted a workshop together with the Authority for Info-communications Technology Industry (AITI) and the E-Government National Centre (EGNC) in Brunei Darussalam from 3-5 October. This workshop focused on developing Brunei’s Digital Innovation Profile and included brainstorming and co-creation activities aimed at advancing the country’s ICT innovation ecosystem.
Emergency telecommunications: Global
On 29 September, an interactive session on the UN’s Global Early Warning Initiative was held by the WMO. The session focused on how to strengthen the “warning dissemination and communication” pillar in the Multi-Hazard Early Warning System Value Cycle to ensure the effective reach of the alerts. ITU highlighted that it is imperative to take advantage of the reach of mobile network operators (MNOs) to achieve the universal reach of early warning systems. ITU is working with WMO and other partners such as the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC), Risk-Informed Early Action Partnership (REAP), and Climate Risk and Early Warming Systems (CREWS) to propose steps forward and develop an “action plan” to achieve this new UN goal. The action plan will be presented at COP27 in November.
Network and digital infrastructure: Asia and the Pacific
The ITU Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific organised the Last Mile Connectivity (LMC) training for the ASP region on 6-7 October. The virtual advanced level training covered exercises on the LMC tool for infrastructure connectivity (access, middle, and last-mile calculations) and a session on mapping the unconnected.
Giga: Global
Giga has connected children to the internet in two remote locations that are geographically worlds apart: the Village of Zarlady, in the mountainous region of Southern Kyrgyzstan, and Kiwayu Island, which is part of an archipelago of islands on the remote northern part of Kenya’s coastline in East Africa. Giga is working to connect every child to the internet, no matter how hard they are to reach.
Giga: Global
On 3 October, ITU participated in a panel discussion at the HRC51 “Realising the Right to Education worldwide through Digital Transformation” joint side event, hosted by the African Union and the European Union at Palais des Nations in Geneva. The ITU presented the latest ITU statistics on connectivity and called upon the international community and regional organizations to elevate the connectivity challenge and ensure a joint approach.
Giga: Europe
On 4 October, ITU pitched Giga at the Building Bridges Village in Geneva, explaining how the joint ITU-UNICEF initiative works to connect every school in the world to the internet and give children access to digital opportunities. The new Giga video on “last- mile connectivity” was showcased. On 6 October, Giga was also a co-host of the closing reception with H.E. Jürg Lauber, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the UN. After an introduction from Ambassador Lauber, ITU explained Giga and stressed its key role in “building bridges” for impact.
Building Bridges is a joint initiative, launched in 2019 by Swiss public authorities, the finance community, the United Nations and other international partners to accelerate the transition to a global economic model aligned with the SDGs. At the core of the initiative is the recognition that the scale and complexity of the transition require “building bridges” between multiple stakeholders in the finance, government, and international development communities. (https://www.buildingbridges.org/2022-edition/building-bridges-village/ )
Giga: CIS
From 6-7 October, the ITU Regional Office for CIS took part in the 2022 Central Asia Symposium (CASIE) organised by UNESCO. The event served as a sub-regional platform to facilitate high-level discussions on the use of ICTs in education, and address challenges and opportunities in Central Asia. ITU spoke about the implementation of the initiative and its results, and shared experiences in using ICTs to deliver accessible, quality, and inclusive education at the CASIE.
I-CoDI: Arab States
I-CoDI is growing globally! The Accelerated Innovation Workshop for Facilitators was hosted by the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA) as part of the UAE’s Partner2Connect Pledge to support I-CoDI and the I-CoDI Regional Hub for Arab States, in particular. An I-CoDI discussion, represented by the I-CoDi Regional Focal Points, took place at the Gulf Information Technology Exhibition (GITEX) in Dubai on 10 October. The 45-minute session featured expert opinions and insights on organizational efforts to accelerate connectivity and digital transformation in the Arab States, Africa, Asia and Pacific, Americas, and European regions. The panel was followed by a 4-day ‘’Accelerated Innovation Workshop for Facilitators’’, which empowered 18 regional and headquarters focal points with the accelerated innovation journey methodology as featured in the I-CoDI Playbook. ITU’s senior management has expressed their full support for the initiative and has committed to providing the enabling environment to facilitate the success of each new initiative.
I-CoDI: Global
Join the 2-day co-design workshop in a hybrid format, on 2-3 November (3 hours each day) with ITU staff to establish an ITU Digital Knowledge Platform. You can help shape the functionalities and user experience of the ITU-D Digital Knowledge Platform- a project led by the Digital Knowledge Hub Team- that aims to offer easy access to automatically curated and insightful products for ITU-D members and ITU staff. Participation is limited to 20 participants. Please send your expression of interest to participate to: i-codi@itu.int till 22 October.