[WSIS CS-Plenary] CONGO Statement at Global Alliance Meeting today

[Rik Panganiban]

Comment from Rik Panganiban on behalf of the Conference of NGOs in 
Consultative Relationship with the United Nations
on the proposed “Global Alliance for ICT Policy and Development”
21 February 2005


The Conference of NGOs has over 50 years of experience as a bridge 
between civil society and the United Nations.  We are a diverse network 
of over 500 member organizations from around the world, many of whom 
represent international and national networks in their own right.  We 
welcome this initial consultation on the idea of a “Global Alliance for 
ICT Policy and Development,” and lend our support with what limited 
resources we have for as deep and wide a consultative process as 
possible.

While the comments I make over the next few minutes are in line with 
the overall mission and experience of CONGO, these ideas and proposals 
are my own and not intended to represent any official position of the 
organization or its members.

I should note that it is the nature of institutions to seek to 
perpetuate themselves, even long after their initial mandate has 
run-out.  Thus we welcome the open and creative approach taken by the 
UN ICT Task Force to see that the important issues of ICT policy 
development continue to move forward, while not simply extending the 
mandate of the body that has done so much to keep them on the forefront 
of global policy agenda.

On the question of the mission of the Global Alliance, let me suggest a 
two-stage orientation.  On one level, the mission of the Alliance could 
be to create a stable platform for the existing actors in government, 
the private sector and civil society who are already deeply involved in 
ICT policy making to interact and collaborate on an ongoing basis.  
This would serve the important objectives of policy coherence and 
resource sharing.

On another level, the mission of the Alliance could be to to bring into 
the process those stakeholders not already involved in the policy 
making process whose views are nonetheless critical for the formation 
of effective and widely-supported ICT policy.  I refer in particular to 
those in Global South, marginalized communities, those on the other 
side of the Digital Divide.  Both of these missions are important, and 
the Global Alliance should get us closer to achieving them together.

On the modus operandi of the Global Alliance, I would like to see as 
rich and creative a discussion as possible take place over the next 
months on the structure and operations of the Alliance.  In  
particular, the various multi-stakeholder experiments from other UN 
processes (from the “Major Groups” approach of the UN Commission 
Sustainable Development to multi-stakeholder consultations of the 
Financing for Development process) should be examined and tested for 
the best “fit” with the ICT policy-making arena.   Beyond the United 
Nations, the most innovative practices in collaborative policy making 
from around the world should be collected and considered.

Thank you.

===============================================
RIK PANGANIBAN       Communications Coordinator
Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations 
(CONGO)
web: http://www.ngocongo.org
email: rik.panganiban at ngocongo.org
mobile: (+1) 917-710-5524 
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