​​​​​ITU Area Office CIS, Communication Administration (CIS countries), UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies, and CISCO Network Academy​

Moscow, Russia, 2012, April 19​
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On 19-20 April 2012, in the ITU Area Office for the CIS (Moscow, Russian Federation), the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) with support of Communication Administration of the CIS countries and in collaboration with UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies (IITE) and CISCO Network Academy organized the seminar dedicated to International Girls in ICT Day (26 April) and World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (17 May). The seminar was attended by representatives of 9 CIS countries: Azerbaijan, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Ukraine, the RCC Executive Board, the IITE UNESCO, and CISCO Networking Academy. The seminar was also attended by the mass media.

At the opening ceremony, the seminar participants were welcomed Ms. by Natalia Tokareva, Chief of section of IITE UNESCO on behalf of Mr. Dendev Badarch, Director of UNESCO Moscow Office and Acting Director of IITE UNESCO, Ms. Tatiana Trukhan, the RCC Executive Board Deputy Director General. The seminar participants also saw a vide address of the ITU BDT Director, Mr. Brahima Sanou. All the welcoming speeches were greeted with applauds.

At the seminar , 8 presentations were made: 2 by Mr. Orozobek Kaiykov, 2 – by Ms. Natalia Tokareva, 2- by Ms. Elena Onishko, 1 – by Ms. Gajane Valchevskaja, 1 – by Mr. Andrei Untila, and 1 – by Ms. Sabina Babeva, Director of  the BBTV Communication (Azerbaijan). At the request of Azerbaijanian Delegation, the presentation "Women of Azerbaijan" and video clip "Azerbaijan Today" were included into the seminar programme. Thanks to the presentations, the seminar participants obtained detailed information on the United Nations and its specialized agencies ITU and UNESCO and their activities in the world and the CIS. In particular, the participants learned the history of ITU creation, about ITU role in development of information society, its structure, latest decisions, including the Resolution 70 (Guadalajara 2010) of the ITU Plenipotentiary Conference, about principles of decision-making in ITU. The seminar participants were also informed about ITU activities in the CIS Region in 2011-2012.

Ms. Natalia Tokareva told the seminar participants about activities of UNESCO and IITE UNESCO, about role of women in this work, about cooperation between UNESCO and ITU Area Office for the CIS and projects completed within recent years. In particular, she told about the project realized in Armenia "Internet Centre for Blind and Partially Sighted Persons", which was highly appreciated by citizens and government of Armenia.

All the seminar presentations were dedicated to the role of women in the ICT and considered possible ways of a more active involving of women in this sphere. The speakers told about prospective of ICT-related professions, which, until recently, had belonged to exclusively men professional sphere.

Between the presentations, a video clip was showed, specially prepared by the ITU General Secretariat.

In conclusion of the seminar, a roundtable was carried out under the chairmanship of Ms. Tatiana Trukhan, the RCC Executive Board Deputy Director General. At the roundtable, the CIS delegates unanimously supported the Resolution 70 (Guadalajara 2010) and expressed themselves for regular carrying out of Girls in ICT events. Within the framework of the roundtable, the seminar participants told about their histories of coming into ICT, about their work and the way the gender issue is settled in their countries. All the speakers noted that in the CIS, many women are involved in the ICT, however just a few of them occupy decision-making posts. As a rule, women make a career quite quickly till certain level, but when it goes about a management post, the decision is in most cases taken in favour of a male candidate. The Kyrgyz CA representative informed her colleagues that there is a state programme  in her country to involve women in bodies of government, while in the Parliament, there is a special quote for women. The Kyrgyz approach was applauded by the seminar participants.

Within the framework of the roundtable, Ms. Irina Sineva, Head of Division for International Programmes and Projects  of Moscow Technical University of Communications and Informatics (MTUCI) made a short presentation on Analyses of Gender Imbalance in the ITU Management (attached to the report). Ms. Sineva regretted to note that most of management posts in the ITU General Secretariat are occupied by men and thanked the Secretary General, Dr. Hamadoun Touré for his bravery in raising the Girls in ICT issue and his efforts to more actively involve women in the ICT sphere.

The workshop participants thanked the ITU, the ITU Area Office for the CIS for the seminar organized in Moscow and opportunity to discuss a row of very important issues. Based on the seminar results, the seminar participants accepted and address to the ITU Secretary General, Dr. Hamadoun Toure (attached to the report). The address contains only the thoughts of the seminar participants, which are result of the 2-day discussions on the women involvement in the ICT.

After the roundtable, ITU certificates and small gifts from Azerbaijanian Communication Administration were presented to the seminar participants and a group photograph was made.

Within the framework of the seminar, a short cultural programme was arranged by the ITU Area Office for the CIS with support of UNESCO and CISCO Networking Academy. On 19 April, the seminar participants enjoyed Lover Boy play by Alexander Ostrovsky in Moscow Academic Art Theatre named after Maxim Gorky.

On 20 April, the seminar participants visited one of the most well-known museums of the world, which is located in Moscow – the Tretyakov Gallery. In the evening, the seminar participants attended a reception organized on behalf of ITU.

Referring to the participants impressions, the event was well organized with a hard-driving and very interesting programme. According to the seminar participants, the Moscow seminar is one of the best event they have ever attended. They expressed their thanks to ITU and to the ITU Area Office for the CIS. 

Additional document: report_on_the_girls_in_ict_19-20_april russian fed 2012.doc