UN Broadband Commission affirms new focus on Sustainable Development Goals
Broadband networks and services can act as a powerful catalyst to
accelerate development actions and transform lives and communities
New York, 26 September 2015 – The power of broadband to
leapfrog development roadblocks and bring access to education, healthcare and
employment opportunities should put high-speed information and communication
technology (ICT) network roll-out at the top of every country’s SDG strategy,
according to members of the
UN
Broadband Commission for Digital Development, which met in New York
today.
This week’s adoption of the 17 SDGs sees the Commission enter a new phase,
with
22 new members drawn from a range of sectors including the
global technology industry, government ministers, leaders in education and
healthcare, and two additional UN bodies who join existing Commissioners from
ITU, UNDP, UNESCO, UN-ORHLLS, WIPO and the UN Foundation.
Established in 2010, as a top-level advocacy body promoting broadband as an
accelerator of global development, the group is chaired by President Paul Kagame
of Rwanda and Mexico’s Carlos Slim Helú, with ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao
and UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova as co-Vice Chairs.
“The UN Sustainable Development Goals will stimulate action over the next
fifteen years in areas of critical importance for humanity and the planet,” said
ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao. “All three pillars of sustainable development
– economic development, social inclusion and environmental protection – need
ICTs as key catalysts. That is why the Commission believes that ICTs, and
particularly broadband, will be absolutely crucial for achieving the SDGs.”
The Commission’s annual State of Broadband report, released earlier this
week, reveals that household Internet access in developed countries is close to
saturation, with more than 81.3% of households connected. But while the
proportion of households in the developing world with Internet access has
increased from 31.5% to over 34.1%, it remains well short of the
Commission’s target of 40% by 2015. Household connectivity
figures also mask strong disparities; in the 48 UN Least Developed Countries
fewer than 7% of households have Internet access, while in sub-Saharan Africa
only 1 in 9 households is connected.
“To succeed, the new Agenda will draw on all accelerators of inclusion, all
multipliers of poverty eradication and sustainability, and our message is that
broadband, and new technologies, are a transformational force, to build
inclusive knowledge societies,” said UNESCO Director-general, Irina Bokova.
“This goes beyond mere advocacy for networks and services. This is about opening
new paths to create and share knowledge, about enhancing freedom of expression,
about widening learning opportunities, especially for girls and women, about
developing content that is relevant, local and multilingual – this message has
never been so important.”
Speaking at the opening of the Commission session earlier today, President Paul Kagame stressed the importance of putting technology at the heart of development. President Kagame said: "Four billion people still have no Internet access. There is an urgent need to reverse this trend. Fewer than seven per cent of households in the Least Developed Countries are connected. This is a problem, of course, but it is also means there is a lot of room for growth. In Africa, we are determined to seize this opportunity. An example is the Smart Africa initiative, which encourages nations to invest more in infrastructure, innovation, and entrepreneurship."
President Kagame invited Commissioners to attend the Transform Africa Summit taking place in Kigali on 19-21 October, adding that the summit will be a time to forge the way forward towards further implementation of smart and sustainable ways to harness ICT for Africa’s development.
This 12th meeting of the Commission also welcomed a number of special guests,
including H.E. Luis
Guillermo Solís, President of Costa Rica; distinguished British filmmaker
and activist Baroness Beeban Kidron; and Klaus Schwab, Executive Chairman of the
World Economic Forum.
“The proposed set of 17 SDGs provide a clear and solid framework for human
development,” said Broadband Commissioner Dr Carlos M. Jarque, who also
represented Co-Chair Carlos Slim at the meeting. “Broadband represents a
powerful way to accelerate progress towards their attainment. We need to look at
innovative cross-sectoral strategies that can leverage the power of high-speed
networks to improve education, healthcare and the delivery of basic social
services to everyone, and especially the poorest in the world who need them
most.”
The 2015 edition of the Broadband Commission State of Broadband
report, along with report Highlights can be
downloaded
here. The report includes the latest country-by-country
rankings based on broadband access and affordability for over 160 economies.
Photos of the full meeting of the Commission can be downloaded from Flickr
at: http://bit.ly/1Lm3pSH.
View the Commission’s new video on how ICTs can power SDGs:
www.itu.int/en/sustainable-world
A full list of new Commissioners can be found
here.
Follow the conversation on Twitter: #broadband
#ICT4SDG #ICT4D
For more on the Broadband Commission, visit:
www.broadbandcommission.org
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www.facebook.com/broadbandcommission
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https://twitter.com/UNBBCom
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