Dear WSIS Stakeholders, the WSIS Flash Newsletter provides you with the latest information on WSIS Process related activities, highlighting the role of WSIS Action Lines in accelerating the achievement of SDGs. The WSIS Team aims to keep you informed and connected. The WSIS Flash will also contain a lot of user generated content from stakeholders worldwide with the aim to enhance partnerships, collaboration and digital cooperation.

ITU along with the co-organizers of the WSIS Forum, UNESCO, UNCTAD and UNDP announced on 5 March 2020 that the WSIS Forum 2020 will be postponed to 31 August – 4 September 2020. This decision was taken as a precautionary measure to ensure safety and well-being of all staff and participants in the wake of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 virus.

The updated agenda and programme of the WSIS Forum 2020 will soon be released on WSIS Forum 2020 website, in accordance to the new dates. We thank stakeholders for their active contribution towards the WSIS Process.

The general Invitation Letter to the WSIS Forum 2020 is available on the website. Registration for participants who have already registered remains valid. The registration process will be made available online again on 22 June 2020.

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) Response – ICT Case Repository

How are you using ICTs to help your community respond COVID-19, ensuring the impactful use of the WSIS Action Lines in advancing SDGs? What projects and activities has your organization introduced during the Coronavirus disease to continue working efficiently and to create a social impact helping other stakeholders?

As a part of the WSIS Stocktaking ongoing efforts to promote the good use of ICTs in making social impact, and in order to provide useful, replicable and actionable information to all WSIS community and beyond, the platform is now available for collecting projects and activities on how ICTs are assisting stakeholders in their everyday life, work, and combating challenges caused by this extraordinary pandemic.

We invite you to also share and promote this call for innovative use of ICTs to respond to the coronavirus outbreak. #WSIS #COVID19

Due to the postponing of the WSIS Prizes 2020 Ceremony for the 31 August and announcement of the winning projects, we are in position to continue promote the achievements of our WSIS Prizes 2020 Champion projects - their implementation of WSIS Action Lines, contribution to Sustainable Development Goals, and overall statistics and analysis. Starting from this WSIS Flash edition, we will be featuring stories from the ground and present how ICTs impact social, economic, and environmental development. We will also be showcasing how are ICTs helping overcome challenges of the COVID-19, providing digital platforms for effective facilitation of social relationships, teaching and learning, conducting businesses and governance, and enriching our lives in these extraordinary times.

On the 17 of May, we celebrate the World Telecommunication and Information Society Day. This year the theme is “Connect 2030: Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for the Sustainable Development Goals”, which implies working together to achieve the Connect 2030 Agenda targets as well as to show the contribution ICTs are making to achieve all the 17 SDGs.

We invite you to visit our webpage https://www.itu.int/wtisd where you will find all relevant information and the possibility to submit any initiative you are planning to commemorate the day.

Specially these days, when we are asked to #StayHome and #StaySafe, connectivity is helping us to be informed, work, attend school and be near our loved ones; but still we need to think about those ones who are not connected. Any experience you could share will be much appreciated and promoted.

Access the link to see the message from the Secretary General of ITU: https://youtu.be/U45NioPQehA

The AI for Good Webinar Series is a free, live series of talks, interviews and panels, featuring inter-disciplinary experts whose ideas, insights and solutions can help humanity leverage AI for good. The series will draw upon expertise from the AI for Good Global Summit community to share the latest developments in AI, unique insights and promising use cases on global challenges from health to the environment and reducing inequalities.

23 April 2020 from 13:00 to 14:30 CET

Draft guidelines for utilization of the Global Cybersecurity Agenda (GCA) by the ITU have been formulated with the support of Chief Judge (Ret.) Stein Schjolberg, Norway (former Chairman of the 2008 High Level Expert Group), with the involvement of Member States and for consideration and approval by Council.

The Draft guidelines are now available on the GCA website at https://www.itu.int/en/action/cybersecurity/Pages/gca-guidelines.aspx for review by all stakeholders.

An Open Consultation of all WSIS stakeholders on the draft guidelines was scheduled to be held during the WSIS Forum 2020. Given that the WSIS Forum has been postponed, and considering the fast-evolving global health emergency situation, it has been decided to organize a virtual meeting for the GCA Open Consultation on 23 April 2020 from 13:00 to 14:30 CET. All WSIS stakeholders are invited to participate.

Registration and relevant information to participate in the virtual meeting is available on the GCA website. The Open Consultation will be held using the Zoom platform.

Help people to manage their health during COVID times! Free application to track covid like symptoms and share with doctors is available in several languages.

Help us to translate this important solution to other languages: contact@openhealth.cc.