[WSIS CS-Plenary] News from Nairobi WSIS conference on implementation

[Ralf Bendrath]

A question to those of us who were there:

"During the conference, the CEO of the CTO, Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah,
presented a roadmap to help countries implement the WSIS recommendations
in their national ICT development agenda and successfully achieve their
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)."

Does anyone have this roadmap and could send it to this list or provide
a link?

Thanks!

More press releases from CTO on the event are here:
<http://www.cto.int/index.php?dir=04&sd=10>

Ralf

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http://www.cto.int/index.php?dir=04&sd=11&id=107

Press Release from the CTO 	 
 
African stakeholders approve CTO’s roadmap to implementing the WSIS
Action Plan
29 March 2004

The CTO’s proposed roadmap to implementing the WSIS Action Plan was
presented and approved at a major regional ICT conference held in
Nairobi, Kenya, from 25th to 26th March 2004, on “Implementing the WSIS
Action Plan”.

Ministers, heads of regulatory bodies, senior executives of businesses
and other organisations met at the 2-day gathering to discuss issues and
challenges they face in implementing the World Summit on the Information
Society (WSIS) Action Plan adopted in December 2003 in Geneva and decide
on the way forward. During the conference, the CEO of the CTO, Dr Ekwow
Spio-Garbrah, presented a roadmap to help countries implement the WSIS
recommendations in their national ICT development agenda and
successfully achieve their Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The
roadmap includes a framework of processes, systems and structures to
enable governments to achieve their MDGs/WSIS targets and a series of
milestones and performance indicators. It also stands as a tool for
international organisations and financial institutions for the
identification of areas of possible support and provides help to other
ICT stakeholders in each country to more readily identify support needs.

At the end of the conference, Dr Spio-Garbrah said: “The CTO, with
decades of experience in ICT development, understands the challenges
countries face in meeting their development goals and the gaps in
national circumstances. Our roadmap is no less than an effective tool
for all stakeholders to overcome these obstacles, and we are pleased for
the blessing it received at the conference. We are opened to collaborate
with all countries and the development community to deliver on each
stage of the roadmap presented.”

Recognising the progress and joint initiatives made by international
agencies (i.e. United Nations Development Programme, World Bank,
International Telecommunication Union) as well as the roles played by
different regional and sub-regional groupings (i.e. United Nations
Economic Commission for Africa, African Telecommunications Union,
African Development Bank, African Information Society Initiative, West
Africa Telecommunications Regulators Association, Telecommunications
Regulators Association of Southern Africa, Association of Regulators of
Information and Communications for Eastern and Southern Africa and other
groupings), the roadmap builds around MDGs/WSIS as the focal points for
action, while at the same time taking into account the capacity gaps in
some countries. It also offers a detailed framework for cooperation
between the CTO and other stakeholders and provides opportunities to
assist member countries and organisations.

The roadmap acknowledges the needs for coordination, harmonisation and
funding at regional and international levels, and focuses on detailed
national recommendations through the effective adoption of
forward-looking policy, regulatory, operational and social measures,
including a full assessment of national policies, identification of all
stakeholders, implementation cost, and the effective management and
evaluation of each individual project.

The CTO's roadmap is intended to serve as a strategic guide,
particularly for developing nations, to prepare for the second phase of
WSIS in Tunis, 2005, and further meet the development targets agreed by
the international community. It is based mainly on the premise that
achieving development through ICT in each country requires countries'
total compliance with the action lines agreed in the plan and their
ability to commit national resources and secure additional funding
within the recommendations of the plan. It also requires effective
national measures to implement an all-stakeholder inclusive development
strategy through international cooperation, cross-border initiatives,
national stakeholder partnerships and best practice.

For more information, please contact Marcel Belingue at
m.belingue at cto.int

About the CTO - The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO)
is the pre-eminent international information and communication
technologies (ICT) organisation dedicated to promoting social and
economic development in the British Commonwealth and beyond, by helping
to bridge the digital divide. It is a partnership between Commonwealth
and non-Commonwealth governments, business and civil society
organisations that provides developing countries with unique programmes
of ICT training and expert assistance in areas of business development,
policy and regulation, and social and economic development.