Archived Newsroom • Press Release |
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WSIS Forum 2012 recognizes outstanding achievements in getting the
world connected
Geneva, 14 May 2012 - ITU Secretary-General Dr Hamadoun
Touré today announced the winners of 18 WSIS Project Prizes, as part of the
Opening Ceremony of the WSIS Forum 2012 event, which is taking place this week
in Geneva (14-18 May).
The prizes, which are being awarded for the first time this year, recognize
excellence in the implementation of projects and initiatives which further the
goals of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in improving
connectivity to information and communication technologies (ICTs) in line with
the 11 Action Lines laid out in the
Tunis Agenda
agreed at the UN World Summit
on the Information Society.
More than 170 projects from 50 countries were nominated. Submissions, which
were subject to a stringent multi-phase evaluation, came from governments,
international organizations, civil society, the private sector and individuals,
reflecting the multi-stakeholder nature of the WSIS process.
The winners, who are highlighted in the 2012 edition of the
WSIS Stocktaking
Report on Success Stories, also released today, are:
- The Association for Progressive Communications
(South Africa/international) with the project Global
Information Society Watch (GISWatch) in category C1:
The role of public governance authorities and all
stakeholders in the promotion of ICTs for development
- The National Information Center (Sudan)
with the project Sudanese Internet Exchange Point in category
C2: Information and communication infrastructure
- Computers to Educate (Colombia) with the
project Computers to Educate in category C3:
Access to information and knowledge
- The Ministry of Administration and Digitization
(Poland) with the project Lighthouse Keepers in category C4:
Capacity building
- Odessa National Academia of Telecommunications N.A.
Popov (Ukraine) with the project Building a
Safer Internet for Educational Institutions in category
C5: Building confidence and security in the use of ICTs
- Rural Technology and Business Incubator
(India) with the project Rural Technology and Business
Incubator in category C6: Enabling environment
- Network for Information & Computer Technology
(India) with the project Samadhan in category
C7: ICT applications - e-Government
- The Ministry of Commerce and Industry
(Oman) with the project One Stop Shop Business eServices
in category C7: ICT applications - e-Business
- The Ministry of Education (Saudi Arabia)
with the project Noor Program in category C7:
ICT applications - e-Learning
- Cognizant Technology Solutions (USA/India)
with the project Ruhanga – RealTime Remote Health
Monitoring in category C7: ICT applications -
e-Health
- The Human Resources Development Fund (Saudi
Arabia) with the project National Unemployment
Assistance Program in category C7: ICT
applications: e-Employment
- ICVolunteers (Switzerland) with the project
Green Voice in category C7: ICT
applications - e-Environment
- e-Agriculture Community (Food & Agriculture
Organization), with the project e-Agriculture Community
in category C7: ICT applications - e-Agriculture
- University of La Punta (Argentina) with the
project Automatic Meteorological Stations Network
in category C7: ICT applications: e-Science
- Telecentre.org Foundation (Philippines)
with the project Telecentre.org Community Learning
Programme in category C8: Cultural diversity and
identity, linguistic diversity and local content
- Video Volunteers (India) with the project
Building A Community Newswire Service in
category C9: Media
- The Ministry of Information Society and
Telecommunications (Montenegro) with the project
Promotion of the Information Society Among People with
Disabilities in category C10: Ethical dimensions of
the Information Society
- The Technology Organization of Iran (ITO) and Iran
University of Science, Technology and Information
(Islamic Republic of Iran) with the project WSIS
Cooperation: Research Study and Preparation of International
Strategic Documents for the Information Society in
category C11: International and regional cooperation.
The WSIS Project Prizes were developed in response to requests from
participants at the WSIS
Forum 2011 for a mechanism to evaluate and recognize individuals;
governments; civil society; local, regional and international agencies; research
institutions; and private sector companies for outstanding success in
implementing development-oriented strategies that leverage the power of ICTs.
The new WSIS Project Prizes are now an integral part of the
WSIS Stocktaking Process
established in 2004.
More information is available online at:
www.wsis.org/stocktaking/prizes.
Be part of the WSIS discussions and get the latest WSIS news on Twitter at
#WSIS.
Video interviews and photos of winners, along with live and archived event
webcasts and transcripts of speeches can be found at the event Newsroom at
www.itu.int/net/pressoffice/wsis/index.aspx, or on the main event website at
www.wsis.org/forum.
For more information, please contact:
Sarah Parkes
Media Relations, ITU
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Jaroslaw Ponder
Strategy & Policy Advisor, ITU
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About WSIS |
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The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) is a UN
process that was initiated in two unique phases in order to
create an evolving multi-stakeholder platform aimed at promoting
Information Society at the national, regional and international
levels. The goal of WSIS is to achieve a common vision, desire
and commitment to build a people-centric, inclusive and
development-oriented Information Society where everyone can
create, access, utilize and share information. The Final Review
of this process will take place in 2015.
www.wsis.org
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