Agenda

First part - ICTs and Healthy Ageing

Why is intergenerational discussion important for healthy ageing?

How can we accelerate digital uptake with older persons?

How will this impact young people?

From a digital perspective, when is the right time to start thinking and planning for healthy aging? Young people do not think that aging is a problem they have to deal with, they don’t use technology for monitoring health and are dismissive and shun older people who may help them to be better informed.  Older people feel marginalized, they feel lonely and disposable, reluctant to use technology for their health and may believe they are past the point of amending their health.  Both demographics may find themselves as care givers for older parents, or being cared for themselves, seeking tools to help them be more successful and wondering why they didn’t think of all this before. Questions abound like, why should I care now, as opposed to later; why am I so afraid of learning about technology; can I impact the digital divide by my actions or attitudes; what are the future job opportunities for young people addressing the needs of older people? Answers include the need for awareness, a broader understanding of the value of innovation, and a better partnership between generations and a revoking of ageist attitudes.  Bringing the ages together – in conversation and joint discovery – can surely help to move progress forward.

WSIS Forum continues to share knowledge through its café-structured conversations in which groups of people discuss an ICT-related topic at several round tables like those in a café. As part of this year's knowledge cafes, which are focusing on discussions that will further contribute to gender trendsetting in the ICT ecosystem, and future shaping towards WSIS+20 and beyond, the intergenerational discourse on healthy ageing with ICTs will for the first time bring two special tracks together: Youth and Older Persons.  For the first time we will have an opportunity to bring together these diverse WSIS communities and have them engaged in outcome-oriented discussions that shape calls for action, partnerships, pledges and other innovative mechanisms of international development. Although pre-defined questions have been agreed upon, outcomes or solutions are not decided in advance and will depend on those actively participating, with the assumption that collective discussion can shift people's conceptions and encourage collective action. 

Second Part - GIMUN Competition: Multilateralism in Digital Era

Announcement of the Winners

Young people today are frequent users of technology that redefines the way information is diffused, and the way communication takes place in society. These are tools that could help us transcend national boundaries, physical distances, and language barriers. They are also tools that create informational bubbles, eco chambers, and reinforce belief systems.

Through this multi-stakeholder collaboration, we hope to bring together the subjects of multilateralism and technology, which goes hand in hand. One of the aspects of multilateralism in the digital era is the constantly evolving socio-technical context, posing a greater challenge for collaboration whilst providing a possibility to do so on an unprecedented international level.

Today’s youth is aware of the digital era: its potential and challenges. We aim to amplify the voices of young people, who lie at the heart of both issues. That is why we have organized a global competition for the youth and university students: a call for digital media for the theme: ‘Multilateralism in a Digital Era’.

Participants were free to illustrate their ideas on the impacts of technology on multilateralism. We were especially interested in the way in which they express their ideas, and have highly encouraged their creativity, which is why submissions were made under all digital formats: written articles, series of images or graphical designs, short videos or films, or a combination of any of the above.