WSIS Action Line Facilitators/Moderators consultation meeting, 24 February 2006, Geneva
A consultation meeting of potential WSIS Action Line Facilitators/Moderators was held in Geneva, at the Palais des Nations, on 24 February. The meeting was convened and co-chaired by ITU, UNESCO and UNDP as leading facilitating agencies for the multi-stakeholder implementation of the WSIS Plan of Action, as outlined in paragraphs 108-110 of the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society. The consultation meeting was open to all WSIS stakeholders and attended by around 130 representatives from governments, international organizations, business entities and civil society. The meeting decided on a provisional list of focal points for each Action line of the Tunis Agenda, as well as on Terms of Reference for the facilitators and for the leading facilitating agencies (ITU, UNESCO and UNDP). The summary and the discussed documents as well as the list of participants are published on the WSIS website.
 

Consultation on WSIS Action Line C2, 9 March 2006, Doha, Qatar
In conjunction with the World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC-06), held in Doha, Qatar, the International Telecommunication Union organized on 9 March 2006 a consultation meeting on WSIS Action Line C2 (Information and Communication Infrastructure). The purpose of the meeting was to exchange information and to discuss the WSIS multi-stakeholder implementation process in the field of information and communication infrastructure. The meeting was open to all WSIS stakeholders. The Summary record of the meeting is available here. For more information on implementation of WSIS Action line C2 please go to the WSIS website.
 

Internet Governance Forum: consultation meeting, 16-17 February 2006, Geneva
A consultation meeting on the convening of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) was held in Geneva 16 - 17 February 2006. About 300 participants representing all stakeholder groups attended the meeting. The participants addressed a wide variety of issues, such as IGF's scope of work and substantive priorities as well as aspects related to its structure and functioning. The aim of the consultations was to develop a common understanding among all stakeholders on the nature and character of the IGF. While there was an emerging convergence of views on some aspects related to the IGF including IGF’s scope of work and substantive priorities, there were some open questions that needed further discussion, as the need for a multi-stakeholder group to prepare for the IGF meetings, as well as the question of which public policy issues should be addresses at these meetings. More information on the consultation meeting can be found at the IGF's website. Greece, as host country of the first IGF meeting, has set up a portal. 
 

IGF Secretariat in Geneva
On 2 March 2006, the UN Secretary-General announced his decision to establish a small Secretariat in Geneva to assist in the convening of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF). For more information, please see the UN press release.
 

Informal inter-agency meeting on the CSTD, 13 February 2006, Geneva
An informal inter-agency meeting was held in Geneva on 13 February 2006 to brainstorm on the follow-up process to WSIS, in particular that of the Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD). It was recalled that paragraph 105 of the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society requests the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to oversee the system-wide follow-up of the Geneva and Tunis outcomes of WSIS and to review, at its substantive session of 2006, the mandate, agenda and composition of the CSTD, including considering the strengthening of the Commission, taking into account the multi-stakeholder approach.
The purpose of the informal meeting on 13 February 2006 was therefore to initiate preliminary discussions among United Nations agencies on the follow-up process to WSIS. Another more consultation with all stakeholders is planned to be held on 16 May in Geneva.
 

WSIS Stocktaking
The Summit noted with appreciation the importance of the WSIS Stocktaking exercise during the Tunis Phase and encouraged ITU to continue its activities in this field. ITU is maintaining and improving the web-based Stocktaking Database, encouraging all WSIS stakeholders to submit descriptions of projects and establishing the necessary links with Action Line moderators/facilitators to share and exchange information efficiently. Since the Tunis Summit, the database has received several new entries with more than three thousand project descriptions available in the Stocktaking system as of 20 March 2006. Further information is available on the WSIS website.  
 

WSIS Golden Book officially released
The WSIS Golden Book was officially launched on 24 February 2006 during the consultation meeting of WSIS Action Lines Facilitators/Moderators in Geneva. Following the Swiss initiative announced at WSIS PrepCom-3, the book was published by ITU as a permanent record of the new commitments pledged by stakeholders during the Tunis Phase of the World Summit on the Information Society. All WSIS stakeholders at the Summit were invited to respond to an online questionnaire with details of their activities announced during the Tunis Phase. These activities had been planned or were already being undertaken to implement the WSIS Plan of Action. The Golden Book also serves as a tool in helping to coordinate implementation of the 11 Action lines and to avoid duplicating efforts. The online version of the book is available on the WSIS website, as well as more information.
 

UNESCO opens online platform for planning multi-stakeholder implementation of WSIS Plan of Action
UNESCO has opened an online platform to facilitate initial contacts among stakeholders and to launch activities under the Action Lines of the Geneva Plan of Action that are in the area of competence of the organization. This includes the following action lines: C3: Access to information and knowledge; C7: E-learning and e-science; C8: Cultural diversity and identity, linguistic diversity and local content; C9: Media; C10: Ethical dimensions of the Information Society.
 

Upcoming WSIS events :

31 March 2006, launching of new portal “ICT Success Stories”
On 31 March 2006, ITU will launch its new portal, “ICT Success Stories”, with a “hands-on” demonstration at its Headquarters in Geneva, as part of its post-Summit work.
The portal serves to exchange fresh ideas and learning experiences about creative uses of ICTs in different cultural contexts to improve health, education, governance and incomes, while empowering communities and promoting peace and human values and freedoms. The key message is that there is no “one size fits all” approach to using new technologies to promote people-centred development; rather, in the trial-and-error process of learning to use ICTs effectively, the insights of projects and development activities gained from experience can be extremely valuable. The portal allows users to search ITU’s extensive database of ICT success stories and experiences by theme, criteria, country or stakeholder to exchange ideas, insights and contact information. This should enrich the work being undertaken to integrate ICTs into development approaches, overcoming some of the difficulties project leaders face in implementation, and helping to catalyze fresh thinking and new projects.
 

9-11 May 2006, Geneva, Global Symposium on Promoting the Multilingual Internet
ITU and UNESCO are convening a global symposium on promoting the multilingual internet as a follow-up of the Tunis phase of WSIS, highlighting the importance of multilingualism for bridging the digital divide (WSIS Tunis Agenda Action line C8). The symposium will examine issues highlighted in paragraph 53 of the WSIS Tunis agenda, including: a) options for advancing the process for the introduction of multilingualism in a number of areas including domain names, e-mail addresses and keyword look-up; b) options for implementing programmes, also in cooperation with other appropriate organizations, that allow for the presence of multilingual domain names and content on the internet and the use of various software modes in order to fight against the linguistic digital divide and ensure the participation of all in the emerging new society; c) options for strengthening cooperation between relevant bodies for the further development of technical standards and to foster their global deployment. More information is available on the ITU website.
 

12 May 2006, Geneva, consultation meeting on WSIS Action line C8
On 12 May 2006, UNESCO will organize in Geneva a moderators/facilitators meeting on WSIS Action line C8 (Cultural diversity and identity, linguistic diversity and local content). The meeting will take place in the Palais des Nations, room XX, from, 10h00 - 18h00 hours, and is open to all WSIS stakeholders. More information will be available soon at the UNESCO website.

15-16 May 2006, Geneva, consultation meeting on WSIS Action line C5
ITU will organize a consultation meeting on WSIS Action Line C5 (Building Confidence and Security in the use of ICTs). The purpose of the meeting, which will take place 15-16 May 2006 at ITU Headquarters in Geneva, is to discuss the WSIS multi-stakeholder implementation process for this action line. The consultation is open to all WSIS stakeholders. Further information is available on the WSIS website.
 

STOP PRESS: New general WSIS contact e-mail address
Please note that due to spam overflow, we had to change the general e-mail address of the WSIS Executive Secretariat. The new general contact address is available on the WSIS website. Please avoid copying this address on your websites, to prevent spammers from harvesting the address.