WSIS FORUM 2010


FINAL EXECUTIVE BRIEFING

DRAFT
(VERSION 1.1)

This document serves as a draft version 1.1 of the Final Executive Briefing on WSIS Forum 2010. Additions to this report will be made as and when submissions are received from session organizers and focal points.

Table of Contents

The Tunis Agenda for the Information Society states that the WSIS implementation mechanism at the international level should be organized taking into account the themes and action lines in the Geneva Plan of Action, and moderated or facilitated by UN agencies when appropriate. It also states that ITU, UNESCO and UNDP should play a leading facilitating role in the implementation of the Geneva Plan of Action.

WSIS Action Lines

• С1. The role of public governance authorities and all stakeholders in the promotion of ICTs for development

• С2. Information and communication infrastructure

• C3. Access to information and knowledge

• C4. Capacity building

• C5. Building confidence and security in the use of ICTs

• C6. Enabling environment

• C7. ICT Applications:

  • E-government

  • E-business

  • E-learning

  • E-health

  • E-employment

  • E-environment

  • E-agriculture

  • E-science

• C8. Cultural diversity and identity, linguistic diversity and local content

• C9. Media

• C10. Ethical dimensions of the Information Society

• C11. International and regional cooperation

Each year, during the WSIS Forums held in May, the WSIS Action Line Facilitators :

• Provide reports on the year's activities on their respective Action Lines

• Organize Interactive Action Line Facilitation Meetingss on their respective Action Lines.

This chapter provides a report of all the Action Line Facilitation meetings held during the WSIS Forum 2010.

Participants exchanged information and extensively discussed progress in implementing three of the eleven WSIS Action Lines, namely the role of international organizations, public governance authorities and other stakeholders in the implementation and promotion of ICT for development (Action Line C1); ICT applications - e-government (action Line C7); and international and regional cooperation (Action Line C11).

The Meeting provided a solid platform to inform the participants on activities related to the respective actions lines during 2009 and underlined the importance to invigorate the current platform on the exchange of information and experiences for implementation of the Action Lines; and the building up of synergies and involvement of different stakeholders, especially from the developing countries for more effective knowledge sharing and enhanced of collaboration in order to ensure the implementation of WSIS at the international, regional and national levels. It was proposed to explore an opportunity to set up an interactive portal/blog for each sub group to be able to initiate the world wide interaction on activities, projects, research and development programs of the respective theme of the sub-group under the umbrella of WSIS Forum.

Among information on activities, programmes, projects and initiatives during 2009, it was mentioned that the ability of e-government to handle speed and complexity can also underpin regulatory reform. While technology is no substitute for good policy, it may give citizens the power to question the actions of regulators and bring systemic issues to the fore. E-government can add agility to public service delivery to help governments respond to an expanded set of demands even as revenues fall short. Effective strategies and legal frameworks can compensate significantly, even in least developed countries. Those who are able to harness the potential of expanded broadband access in developed regions and mobile cellular networks in developing countries to advance the UN development agenda have much to gain going forward. A notable progression of the last few years is seen in the adoption of national e-government strategies and multi-year action plans. From the most to the least developed, countries can be seen responding to expectations that governments both participate in and enable the information society by communicating and interacting more effectively with increasingly technology-savvy citizens.

AGENDA OF THE SESSION:

Interactive Facilitation Meeting on WSIS AL C2 (Infrastructure) (11 May 2010, 11:00 - 13:00)

Pursuant to the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society, ITU is playing a facilitating role for the implementation of the WSIS Action Line C2: Information and Communication Infrastructure. The purpose of this meeting is to discuss the work carried out in the area of ICT Infrastructure under Action Line C2 and the way forwards.

It is important to consider if National ICT Policies and Worldwide Broadband Implementation levels are aligned with WSIS Connectivity Goals. The questionnaire feedback that was sent out to Administrations in early 2010 will help to answer these questions, among others concerning the status of implementation of Action line C2 outcomes.

ICT Infrastructure Update midway towards 2015

The meeting will focus the discussion on the following aspects:

• Where do the 12 outcomes of Action Line C2 stand

• ITU roadmap update & feedback from the questionnaire sent to Administrations.

• Presentation of new ITU/BDT Web Gateway for C2

• Presentation : Broadband Internet Access in Rural Areas of Slovakia

• Presentation : Connect a School/Connect a Community

• ICT Infrastructure Development: Challenges and way forwards till 2015

Moderator: Mr. Behdad Emamgholi, Chief of PRI, BDT, ITU

Opening Remarks: Mr Sami Al-Basheer, Director of BDT, ITU

Panellists

• H.E. Mr. Hassam Baryalai, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), Afghanistan

• Mr. Adel Gaaloul, CEO of SOTETEL, Tunisia

• Mr. Ivan Istvanffy, Director General of the Section of the Foreign Financial Assistance Management and Implementation of the Office of the Government of the Slovak Republic

• Ms. Susan Schorr, Head, a.i. Special Initiatives Division, BDT, ITU

OUTCOMES OF THE SESSION:

It was highlighted during the initial presentation on the status of the Action Line C2 outcomes that more feedback is needed from the administrations. About 15% of administrations sent back the completed questionnaire on implementation levels that was sent out to them, with a good balance on the returns between regions and levels of development. This is a good start as for relevant status updates, but we should continue to receive feedback through this questionnaire continuously, to enable further updates for WSIS-related reporting on the way to 2015.

IF YOU ARE AN ADMINISTRATION THAT HAS NOT YET FILLED OUT AND RETURNED THE QUESTIONNAIRE, PLEASE DO SO WHENEVER POSSIBLE, AS IT WILL GREATLY ENHANCE OUR CONTINUOUS UPDATING & REPORTING OF THE IMPLEMENTATION LEVELS AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, WE WILL SEE WHERE THE GAPS NEED TO BE FILLED! THE QUESTIONNAIRE CAN BE FOUND FOR DOWNLOAD UNDER STATISTICS, ON THE WEB GATEWAY.

The new web gateway for WSIS Action Line C2 activity reporting was presented to the audience, which serves as the active repository for the roadmap of ITU's ongoing and planned activities, as well as feedback (through the answers to the questionnaire) from the administrations on best practices, calls for assistance, or general comments. Statistics, upcoming events, reports, etc. can also be found on the new web gateway, which can be found here: www.itu.int/ITU-D/wsis/C2/

ICT infrastructure projects that have been implemented by partnerships is the way forward according to several interventions by the chairman and panellists. One example out of many is the project that was implemented recently on establishing the main laboratory for ICT education and development in Afghanistan, for which the Deputy Minister of Afghanistan expressed his gratitude, as the ITU and the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran partnered in achieving this.

Tunisia presented comments on mobile broadband infrastructure development in Tunisia, showing how the implementation of digital TV, now covering 90% of the country, will enable the re-allocation of the unused frequency spectrum 862-790 Mhz (Digital dividend) in order to develop Mobile Broadband next generation networks.

The presentation by Slovakia on Rural broadband connectivity presented an interesting relation statistically between regions that were the most un-connected and levels of un-employment. Some remarks from the audience and panellists stated that these kind of studies should be undertaken in other countries as well, to see how far the relevance goes between un-employment and access or not to broadband.

There was an intervention from Algeria, about the implementation of broadband in rural areas of Slovakia. "What has been done in some countries is not directly replicable in countries that are vastly different geographically and economically, so that the approach to broadband network implementation needs to be done on a case by case scenario".

Concerning the presentation of 'Connect a School - Connect a Community' several comments were made from the audience and from the panel that wherever possible and necessary, schools make a great starting point in connecting a larger community, as this is were there is a captive audience and where lies the future of each and every given area. Efforts should be sustained and developed to connect all schools in underserved or un-served areas as this will benefit the local communities at large.

An intervention from the African Union stated that more harmonization needs to take place on implementing infrastructure projects across Africa, between all partners involved, as there seems to be notable duplication of efforts in some areas and countries.

Finally, it was reminded that all stakeholders are expected to play their roles and make concerted efforts at national, regional and international levels in order to meet Action Line C2 requirements.

As you are aware, the WSIS outputs on capacity building emphasized that "each person should have the opportunity to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge in order to understand, participate actively in, and benefit fully from, the Information Society and the knowledge economy."

In particular, ICTs can contribute to achieving universal education worldwide, through delivery of education and training of teachers, and offering improved conditions for lifelong learning, encompassing people that are outside the formal education process, and improving professional skills.

The WSIS outputs identified a number of key initiatives that should be undertaken to promote capacity building vis-à-vis ICTs. During this session, some of the key trends that have emerged since WSIS and how ICTs are being used for education, learning and development were discussed by three panellists followed by a plenary debate.

These panellists were:

• Prof. Wojciech CELLARY, Head of Department of Information Technology, Poznan University of Economics, Chairman of the Informatization Council, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Administration, Poland

• Mrs. Blanca GONZALEZ, Head of Area, Spanish State Secretariat for Telecommunications and Information Society (SETSI), Spain

• Prof. Jean-Henry MORIN, Senior Scientist, Dept. of Information Systems, University of Geneva, Switzerland

The three presentations made by the panellists are available on the WSIS Forum website.

During the discussion, it was noted that we are witnessing an extraordinary change in the way education is delivered around the world, and this is perhaps the biggest shift in the way knowledge is transmitted across generations since the founding of the first European Universities in Bologna, Paris and Oxford at the end of the 11th century. In particular, it was also noted that the growing access over the Internet to open educational resources (OER) and other training curricula is leading to an unbundling of the four elements of education: the design of a course, delivery of a course, delivery of credit and delivery of degree.

During the presentation by Prof. Cellary, he discussed issues relating to how the knowledge economy should be financed, particularly with regard to the education sector and this phenomenon. He argued that there is no knowledge economy without the right financial model and that the growing and wide availability of free educational curricula potentially represented a threat to the development of an innovative and local knowledge economy workforce. He asked what was the role of the public sector in continuing to support education as a public good.

During the presentation by Mrs. Blanca GONZALEZ, she spoke of the successes of Spain's Plan Avanza and its initiatives to provide broadband connectivity to educational institutes as well as low cost PCs to students. Today, 99% of primary schools are connected to the Internet and the same percentage of the population have available access to broadband services. She also spoke of Spain's cooperative projects with the ITU Academy initiatives on ICT capacity building for developing countries - in particular, the Centres of Excellence initiative in Africa.

In his presentation, Professor Morin spoke of the enabling factors and opportunities that ICTs are bringing to education and lifelong learning. He discussed three key issues. First, the impact of the growing economic significance that "fair use" (in other words, what copyright leaves unregulated) is having in the digital age. Second, the growing polarization over digital rights management into two extremist camps with the need to reinstate the user in his rights and to reverse the "distrust assumption". Third, the impact that new devices like the iPad or other slate-like devices may have on teaching, learning and interaction among students. These three issues, argued Professor Morin, required that we start thinking "out of the box" and try new approaches.

The presentations were followed by an active multi-stakeholder plenary discussion on these topics and other issues related to the relationship of ICTs and capacity building.

In his opening remarks to the session, the Director of the BDT, Mr. Sami Al-Basheer noted that former South African President Nelson Mandela has said "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world."

It was clear from the debate and interest in the topic of capacity building that the key interest of all participants reflected the spirit of the related WSIS outputs which emphasized that all stakeholders should undertake efforts to make sure that capacity building efforts try to bring the best of the world's knowledge, education and lifelong learning to the greatest number of people.

Content will be available soon.

Content will be available soon.

In line with the WSIS principle of multistakeholder participation on an equal footing, and within the framework of WSIS Action Line C5 - Building confidence and security in the use of ICTs, sessions were held during WSIS Forum 2010.

A high-level debate on Cybersecurity, Thematic Workshops and the traditional WSIS Action Line Facilitators Meeting (ALFM) brought together leaders and experts from Government, Industry, International Organizations and Civil Society.

During these sessions (ALFM, Thematic Workshop and High-Level Debate), participants emphasized the following:

International cooperation must be strengthened as the challenges faced by the citizens of the information society can only be adequately addressed through building synergies between national and regional initiatives within a framework of international cooperation.

The importance of partnerships between various stakeholders, especially governments, industry and civil society, was highlighted.

The issue of new threats, the exponential increase in the number and level of sophistication of these threats, and the potential dangers of malicious conduct in disrupting critical services through Control Systems were emphasized.

Some participants stressed the importance of an international treaty on cybercrime under the auspices of the United Nations where all nations are invited to participate in the elaboration of this framework. Others considered that a treaty will be a lengthy negotiation and other measures need to be taken. The need for a treaty and using other measures in parallel were not considered mutually exclusive.

As sole facilitator for WSIS Action Line C.5, the framework launched by ITU for international cooperation, the Global Cybersecurity Agenda (GCA) and its Child Online Protection (COP) were strongly endorsed by the participants. The Guidelines for COP and report on activities undertaken by COP partners were considered vital for building a common understanding on the issue, for exchanging best practices among all stakeholder groups and for forging partnerships and alliances aimed at addressing challenges related to the protection of children online.

Further progress was made in the Global Cybersecurity Agenda (GCA) with new agreements for partnership and an increase in the number of countries interested in participating in the ITU-IMPACT deployment of solutions for Cybersecurity. At the end of both events, some 60 countries are now part of what is today the largest framework for international cooperation bringing together academia, governments, civil society, international organizations and industry.

Participants of this fifth meeting of the WSIS Action Line C5, stressed the importance for concrete actions, an increase in efforts to strengthen international cooperation and the need for enhanced cooperation between all stakeholders in working together and building synergies with the objective of building confidence and security in the use of ICTs.

Summary Report

Facilitation Meeting On WSIS Action Line C6, 10 May 2010, ITU Headquarters
"Broadband Policy At The Crossroads:
How To Achieve Enhanced Collaboration Among Stakeholders"

1. SUMMARY OF THE MEETING

The Facilitation Meeting on WSIS Action Line C6 (the Enabling Environment) took place on 10 May and attracted about 80 participants. As in previous years, the meeting was organized as an interactive panel discussion, involving multiple stakeholders. A number of questions were taken directly from the floor, resulting in an open debate fully driven by stakeholders. The overall theme of shaping modern broadband policies stayed in the heart of the debate and stimulated an insightful exchange of ideas and experiences among stakeholders.

In his opening remarks, the Director of BDT, Mr. Sami Al-Basheer set the scene for the discussion stressing that recent market developments have shaken up regulatory regimes enormously. Today, regulators and policy makers face many pressing questions, such as how to address convergence of the telecom and the broadcasting sectors, how to democratize access to broadband services, and ultimately, how to boost investment. Innovative thinking and new-generation policies are needed to ensure sustained growth in ICT markets, diverse service offerings and accessible applications.

In his key note, Dr Mongi Hamdi, Head of the Science, Technology and ICT Branch/DTL, UNCTAD echoed that providing access to advanced and affordable access to ICTs and to broadband in particular remains a major challenge. With the impressive take up of fixed and mobile broadband over the last 5 years, the digital divide has taken a new dimension. Gaps in access to basic services persist, especially outside main urban areas. But even more importantly, the growing broadband divide results in true handicaps for many developing countries, both for individuals and businesses.

In order to set a sound framework for making decisive progress in creating an enabling environment for investment, competition and innovation, ITU has created a Roadmap for the implementation of WSIS Action Line C6 (available at: www.itu.int/wsis/implementation/2010/forum/geneva/ifm/ifm_1.html). This roadmap catalogues a wide range of ongoing ITU activities in the area of policy and regulation. It is intended to evolve as a living document and will be updated on a regular basis with new activities and initiatives.

During the panel discussion, there was a common understanding that regulatory reform is getting an ever more complex task. The balance between the various ingredients of an efficient policy and regulatory framework is essential for achieving a level-playing field for businesses while ensuring accessible and affordable services for consumers. Competition, together with privatization and the establishment of a separate regulatory body remain the pillars of market-focused strategies of Governments to meet social and economic goals, such as increased access to broadband and revenue from ICT services.

With the advent of light-touch regulation and the move from imposing obligations to creating incentives for all stakeholders in the ICT environment, enhanced cooperation among governments, regulators, industry and consumers appears to be a viable solution for bringing broadband policies to the next level. Many participants stressed the central role of multi-stakeholder alliances (such as Public-Private Partnerships, etc.), which can work as enablers of meaningful reforms and sustained growth.

Panellists and participants were unanimous that decisive progress still needs to be made towards achieving the WSIS goals, and those related to the creation of an enabling environment. Nevertheless, the general feeling was clearly positive. In the early 2000, very few were those who anticipated the "mobile miracle", which allowed connecting an expected 5 billion mobile subscribers by the end of 2010. Likewise, broadband technologies and wireless broadband in particular, offer opportunities to design new network and business models, and leapfrog towards a connected, inclusive and sustainable Information Society.

Which strategies are likely to be the most successful in stimulating broadband growth? There are likely to be as many answers as there are countries and stakeholders, because broadband growth is specific to different national contexts, policy goals and market structures. Nevertheless, this year's facilitation meeting on the Enabling Environment reached consensus that multi-stakeholder partnerships (including public-private and private-private partnerships) are the shortest way to a broadband world.

2. SPEAKERS AND PANELLISTS

• High-level speakers
  • Sami Al-Basheer Al-Morshid, Director, BDT-ITU (opening remarks)
  • Dr Mongi Hamdi, Head, Science, Technology and ICT Branch/DTL, UNCTAD; Head of the Secretariat of the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development (key note)
• Moderator
  • Mario Maniewicz, Chief, BDT's Policies and Strategies Department, ITU
• Panellists
  • Fabio del Alisal Sánchez, Director International Department of CMT, Spain

  • Dr Krisnadi Iwan, Commissioner, Indonesian Telecommunication Regulatory Authority

  • Pierre Lucante, Head of Sector Project, ICT for Development, GTZ, Germany
  • Gabriel Solomon, Senior Vice-President, GSMA
  • Rajesh Aggarwal, Chief, Business & Trade Policy, International Trade Center, Geneva

3. FOLLOW-UP

• A website dedicated to the facilitation of WSIS AL C6 will be created and will be developed as a one-stop-shop for best practices in the area of creating the enabling environment, drawing on ITU's work www.itu.int/ITU-D/treg/bestpractices.html as well as on the work of other stakeholders, in particular of private sector.
• Contact for questions and/or requests related to facilitation on WSIS AL C6 or to direct assistance in the area of regulation: bdt-rme@itu.int.