ITU Telecom World 2009 In Review 2009 Geneva 5-9 October Highlights from the Declaration Participants in the Youth Forum “truly want to make a difference in the future of ICT”. This is the vision laid out in a Declaration they issued on 9 October 2009. It covers five main areas, beginning with the need to give everyone access to ICT. “The world tends to emphasize innovation in ICT development, rather than the widespread distribution of ICT technologies and services,” it says, but instead, “innovation should strive to match resources available to local com-munities and their needs”. This includes the development of renewable energy sources and green ICT, as well as equipment and services that are accessible to people with disabilities. Training and education are essential for progress and “the Youth Forum re-minds world leaders that education and basic access to the world’s knowledge is a primary human right”. The Declaration adds that “a united world can iden-tify the resources to meet Youth Forum Declaration this important demand and harness the power of ICT as a tool for education and social development”. It envisages a global network of universities that students can join online. And all countries should work together to train personnel in ICT skills who then go on to train others — leading to exponential growth in expertise. As well as the benefits of widespread connectivity, its risks are also mentioned in the Declaration, which stresses the need for cybersecurity and safety online. Raising awareness is the task of civil society, according to the Youth Forum, while “Internet service providers should provide solid solutions for child online safety”. It also proposes that safe use of the Internet should be made a com-pulsory part of the school curriculum and that ICT companies should help par-ents to become “more involved in communicating safe Internet usage to their children and to keep up with their children’s ICT expertise”. The Youth Forum called for sustainable ICT projects and initiatives. To achieve this, local people must be actively involved from the start, and be offered training in managing, financing and maintaining proj-ects after external experts have left. 172 Youth Forum Summary Report