No FOSS? RE: [WSIS CS-Plenary] Final draft of the business plan of the Global Alliance for ICTs and Development

Thu Nov 30 17:48:09 GMT 2006

Dear Philip, 

Thank you for forwarding this document. Even though I have not been part of
the UN-GAID activities, but still as a stakeholder of the Information
Society and post WSIS action lines, I would still like to suggest the fact
that “Software For Humanitarian Social and Economic Development”, “Software
for Public Governance” and in particular “Free and Open Source Software
(FOSS)” is clearly missing from the UN-GAID business plan and agenda. 

With respect to some initiatives in Pakistan, research was underway on the
various costing models for using software in Telecenters under a World Bank
and Government - Universal Service Funded activity whereby Microsoft
proposed US$185 per license (more than the yearly income of citizens) in
Telecenters; it was researched into the fact that Free and Open Source
Software (FOSS) costs significantly less almost to US$0 (zero) licensing
costs significantly reducing costs and enabling that fund to further enhance
other badly needed Public and Civic development projects or further enhance
and extend the outreach of the Telecenter initiative.

Apart from helping nations by enabling ICT Production and Consumption, FOSS
provides open and inclusive freedoms to software copying, modification and
redistribution under protective and non-protective licensing. But money
aside, the strongest argument in favor of FOSS versus proprietary software
is that turnkey, commercial systems do little to help build local technical
capacities. FOSS, on the other hand, allows users to tinker with the
technology (software) and learn as they are doing so. 

Once I again, I certainly believe that Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)
should be a significant part of this agenda. I would also like to refer the
committee working on the Business Plan to please consult the following
important United Nations documents on FOSS with out neglecting the
significant research that United Nations has already put into this issue and
request to make it part of the business plan, neglecting this would only
result in realizing FOSS potential returning to the same issue at some
future point:

1. UNU-MERIT policy brief: Open Source and Open Standards: A New Frontier
for Economic Development? is a United Nations University Policy Brief that
examines the economic benefits of open source and open standards and
outlines some issues that public organizations should consider in developing
policy guidelines in this area. HYPERLINK
"http://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/pb/unu_pb_2006_01.pdf"http://www.meri
t.unu.edu/publications/pb/unu_pb_2006_01.pdf

2. General Assembly 59th Session Document Clauses 18-19 on FOSS. HYPERLINK
"http://www.unsystem.org/JIU/data/en/work_prog/Prog_work2004en.pdf"http://ww
w.unsystem.org/JIU/data/en/work_prog/Prog_work2004en.pdf 

3. Policies of United Nations System Organizations towards the Use of Open
Source Software (OSS) In the Secretariats by Louis-Dominique Ouédraogo,
Joint Inspection Unit, Geneva 2005. 

This report in the framework of using information and communication
technologies (ICT) for development, to contribute in raising awareness on
the potential role of open source software (OSS) for the achievement of
specific objectives set in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the
Plan of Action adopted in 2003 by the World Summit on the Information
Society (WSIS).

HYPERLINK
"http://www.unsystem.org/jiu/data/reports/2005/en2005_3.pdf"http://www.unsys
tem.org/jiu/data/reports/2005/en2005_3.pdf 

4. Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) and the Millennium Development Goals
(Mdgs): Roles of Cities and Local Authorities. Louis-Dominique Ouédraogo.
HYPERLINK
"http://www.it4all-bilbao.org/ponentes/Louis_Dominique_Ouedraogo.pdf"http://
www.it4all-bilbao.org/ponentes/Louis_Dominique_Ouedraogo.pdf 

5. UNDP-APDIP-International Open Source Network – IOSN FOSS E-Primers:
HYPERLINK "http://www.iosn.net/"http://www.iosn.net 

6. Telecenter Handbook (UNDP Europe & CIS). Chapter Section: Telecottage
Software Pages 44-48 

A practical guide to establishing a telecottage as well as a valuable source
of experiences and lessons learned, this report was prepared by members of
the telecottage movement. The Hungarian experience is used as a reference
point throughout the report's different themes and discussions. This
publication is intended for ICT professionals, community development
practitioners and public administrators who wish to improve social services
delivery at a local level, and who recognize that telecottages can be used
in service of individual, local and community poverty reduction. 

Issued by/Author: UNDP Europe and the CIS

Published: June 2006

HYPERLINK
"http://europeandcis.undp.org/?menu=p_cms/show&content_id=1EADFC88-F203-1EE9
-B04E2BCA1E266BB8"http://europeandcis.undp.org/?menu=p_cms/show&content_id=1
EADFC88-F203-1EE9-B04E2BCA1E266BB8 

7. UNESCO: Since the launch of its free and open-source software portal in
2001, UNESCO has also been both a practical and ideological leader in
supporting the Free Open-source Software (FOSS) development model. The
development philosophy of FOSS 174 EX/33 – page 9 encourages solidarity,
collaboration and voluntary community work among programmers, librarians,
scientists, researchers and computer users. The portal gives access to local
and remote documents as well as to websites which are hosting the most
popular and useful FOSS software packages in UNESCO’s fields of competence,
notably the public sector, higher education and research environment
(HYPERLINK
"http://www.unesco.org/webworld/portal_freesoft"www.unesco.org/webworld/port
al_freesoft); 

Source: HYPERLINK
"http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001437/143713e.pdf"http://unesdoc.une
sco.org/images/0014/001437/143713e.pdf 

Also the plan requires further detail on its mission and particularly the
objectives with a transparent timeline indicating what will be achieved in
the short and long-term; and how many funds will be allocated; and who will
be the monitoring bodies for management of transparent activities. A
business plan is only a business plan when the objectives identified have
clearly devised-detailed financial forecasts. Also the indicators to measure
success and impact need to be added.

Also ICT-Assistive Technology support through FOSS for the physically
disadvantaged/handicapped is still missing from the plan. I would also like
to suggest that still some expert members from the Free and Open Source
Software movement should be included in the UN-GAID committees for
appropriate expert level advice and direction whether they be from the UN
System, from stakeholder Governments or Civil Society. 

I hope my two cents on this topic will be useful for the concerned and I am
available for any further productive input on afore mentioned issues.

Regards
-----------------------
Fouad Riaz Bajwa
FOSS Advocate & ICT4D Advisor

Member of the Board (for Asia) SANTEC : Educational Technology for
Development HYPERLINK
"http://www.santecnetwork.org/"http://www.santecnetwork.org 

Member BytesForAll Network South Asia HYPERLINK
"http://www.bytesforall.net/"http://www.bytesforall.net 

General Secretary  FOSSFP: Free & Open Source Software Foundation of
Pakistan ® (Secretariat)
URL: HYPERLINK "http://www.fossfp.org"www.fossfp.org; 

Disclaimer:
This e-mail message is intended for its recipient only. If you have received
this e-mail in error, please discard it. The author of this e- mail or
FOSSFP: Free and Open Source Software Foundation of Pakistan (R) takes no
responsibility for the material, implicit or explicit.

   _____  

From: plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org [mailto:plenary-admin at wsis-cs.org] On Behalf
Of CONGO - Philippe Dam
Sent: Thursday, November 30, 2006 4:41 PM
To: plenary at wsis-cs.org; bureau at wsis-cs.org
Cc: 'Renata Bloem'
Subject: [WSIS CS-Plenary] Final draft of the business plan of the Global
Alliance for ICTs and Development

Dear all, 

Find attached the final draft of the Global Alliance business plan.

It might be released by the end of this week.

Feel free to forward us any comment in this regard.

Philippe Dam

Philippe Dam
Conference of NGOs (CONGO)
Program Officer - WSIS and Human Rights
11, Avenue de la Paix
CH-1202 Geneva
Tel: +41 22 301 1000
Fax: +41 22 301 2000
E-mail: HYPERLINK "mailto:wsis at ngocongo.org"wsis at ngocongo.org
Website: HYPERLINK "blocked::http://www.ngocongo.org"www.ngocongo.org 

The Conference of NGOs (CONGO) is an international, membership association
that facilitates the participation of NGOs in United Nations debates and
decisions. Founded in 1948, CONGO's major objective is to ensure the
presence of NGOs in exchanges among the world's governments and United
Nations agencies on issues of global concern.  For more information see our
website at HYPERLINK "blocked::http://www.ngocongo.org/" \nwww.ngocongo.org

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