[WSIS CS-Plenary] Global Alliance: Consultation

[Rik Panganiban]

Dear all,

Here are my notes from a briefing with Saburland Khan last week in New 
York with CONGO on the Global Alliance:

Saburland Khan, Director of the UN Division for ECOSOC Support and 
Coordination and head of the UN ICT Task Force, updated CONGO at its 
board meeting last week on the proposed "Global Alliance for ICT 
Development."

  Mr. Khan noted that the purpose of the Global Alliance would be to 
"integrate ICTs into the overall UN development agenda." So the 
alliance will bring together the WSIS implementation efforts with the 
Millennium Development Goals and the broader UN development agenda, as 
encompassed in the UN Millennium Declaration and the various UN 
conferences on women, sustainable development, population, social 
development, etc.

I pressed him on the question of what would happen if the WSIS did not 
formally recognize the Global Alliance as the overall coordinating body 
for the WSIS follow-up and implementation process. I noted that there 
were other "contenders for the crown" including the ITU.

  Mr. Khan replied that the Global Alliance was not going to be 
primarily about WSIS follow-up, but had a much broader purpose and 
agenda.

  In terms of process, Mr. Khan reported that the idea of the Global 
Alliance was introduced at the last UN ICT Task Force meeting in 
Berlin, and was initially well received. At the WSIS Prepcom II there 
were consultations on the Global Alliance concept, with large 
participation by civil society, as well as the private sector and 
governments.

Consultations will continue until mid-April with various stakeholders 
on the Global Alliance. At the next UN ICT Task Force meeting in April 
in Dublin, these consultations will be brought together.

  On 13 September they plan to hold a roundtable in New York on the 
Global Alliance, and then to formally launch the Alliance at the WSIS 
in November in Tunis.

Rik Panganiban

On Mar 10, 2005, at 4:52 PM, karen banks wrote:

> dear all,
>
> Some of you may recall the open meeting on the proposed 'Global 
> Alliance'.
>
> Several delegates expressed concerns about the proposal, made concrete 
> suggestions, asked probing questions and were keen to have further 
> information.
>
> The UNICT TF has created a space on it's website for feedback, 
> comments etc to the concept note
> posting here for your info.
>
> If you have any difficulties with the website, or have any other 
> questions, i imagine Serge Kapto who works at the secretariat, would 
> be happy to field questions (kapto at un.org).
>
> karen
>
>> Dear colleagues,
>>
>> During the Second Preparatory meeting (PrepCom2) of the WSIS, the Task
>> Force recently launched a series of open consultations on the idea of 
>> a
>> Global Alliance on ICT and Development. As part of this process, the
>> Secretariat of the Task Force prepared a "Note on issues for 
>> stakeholders
>> consideration". We encourage you, members of the Task Force Working 
>> Groups
>> and Regional Nodes, to take part in these consultations by reviewing 
>> the
>> above mentioned note which you can find at
>> http://www.unicttaskforce.org/perl/documents.pl?id=1443
>>
>> A space has been provided on the website through the link above to 
>> allow
>> posting of your comments/concerns/suggestions. Please let us know 
>> what you
>> think.
>>
>> Best regards,
>> Secretariat of the UN ICT Task Force
>
>
>
===============================================
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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