[WSIS CS-Plenary] Digital Solidarity Fund in risk of disappearing: action required]

[NANA Delphine]

Chers Tous,

Je remercie le collègue Daniel Pimienta d'avoir porté le sujet à votre attention .  Nous avons essayé d'échanger sur le sujet dans un cadre restreint, dans l'espoir de voir le processus avancé tel qu'il avait été décidé à la réunion de Bamako, réunion à laquelle nous avons participé tous les deux en tant que société civile d'Amérique Latine et africaine. 
Néanmoins, la Société Civile Africaine pour la Société de l'Information ( ACSIS), membre fondateur du FSN est très préoccupée  . Nous avons signé, il ya quelque temps un MoU avec le FSN relatif au principe de 1% de solidarité numérique; dans certains pays d'afrique, ce principe a déjà  été voté au
 Parlement, d'autres
 pays d'afrique  sont  en pleine négociation pour instaurer ce même principe . Il serait triste de voir le FSN qui a impulsé une telle
 dynamique mourir
Nous restons très solidaires à toutes  les initiatives qui oeuvreraient pour sauver le FSN

Sincère collaboration

Delphine NANA MEKOUNTE 
Membre Fondateur et Présidente  ACSIS (African Civil Society for the Information Society) Network on ICT4D www.acsis-africa.org 
Directrice
Générale du CEFEPROD, Organisation dotée du Statut Consultatif Spécial
auprès  du Conseil Economique et Social des Nations Unies  (ECOSOC.) www.cefeprod.org 
Member Champions Network-UN-GAID www.un-gaid.org        
BP. 8376. Tél. (+ 237) 99 99 86 16 

        YAOUNDE-CAMEROUN 

 
 
--- En date de : Mer 15.4.09, Lohento <lohento at oridev.org> a écrit :
De: Lohento <lohento at oridev.org>
Objet: [Africa_Net] [Fwd: [WSIS CS-Plenary] Digital Solidarity Fund in risk of disappearing: action required]
À: "africa_net" <africa_net at reseauafricanet.org>
Date: Mercredi 15 Avril 2009, 8h06

Voir ci-dessous - Vers la disparition du fonds de solidarité numérique? 
Apparemment l'audit qui devait être réalisé pour mai n'a pas encore
été 
effectué et certains craignent qu'on n'aboutisse finalement à la mort
de 
cette institution qui, quel que soit ce qui peut en être dit, est le 
résultat international le plus concret du SMSI pour les pays en 
développement.

Ken L
-------- Message original --------
Sujet : 	[WSIS


 CS-Plenary] Digital Solidarity Fund in risk of 
disappearing: action required
Date : 	Mon, 13 Apr 2009 17:41:03 -0400
De : 	Daniel Pimienta <pimienta at funredes.org>
Répondre à : 	Virtual WSIS CS Plenary Group Space <plenary at wsis-cs.org>
Pour : 	plenary at wsis-cs.org, discuss at un-gaid.org

_______________________________________

Dear colleagues,

I shall report on the critical situation of the Digital Solidarity 
Fund (DSF) in my quality of Latin America & Caribbbean civil society 
member of the Board. I wish to report in the WSIS civil society 
plenary list as well as in G at ID discussion list, in the hope to 
trigger some positive dynamics in both communities (and I am also 
informing the DSF Board of that initiative).

The last couple of months have been of acute crisis after a change in 
the DSF Presidency and coordinated complains from the new DSF 
President and the

 President
 of Senegal (speaking as "historical 
father") on General Secretary management: basically they do not trust 
the 1% principle could be effective and wish a centering and hosting 
of the DSF on Africa, as an ICT4D project management organization.

On November 25th a stormy General Assembly was held in Lyon (France) 
and was unable to reach consensus on further steps. An extraordinary 
Assembly was then scheduled in Bamako, January 27th, 2009. More 
confused than stormy this Assembly decided that a strategical and 
finance independant audit shall be organized and its results 
presented to a last extraordinary Assembly to be scheduled prior to 
May 27th. This last Assembly would finally decide on the proposition 
of the President of Senegal to take over the management of the DSF 
(he was also given the responsibility to contract this audit and 
manage the interim period).

The investment made
 so
 far has
 reached some 6 millions of euros (a 
substantial part coming from developing countries) and one of the 
argument for not letting go the situation was the responsibility to 
protect that invested capital (which is no more in cash but hopefully 
some part has transformed into people and project experiences and 
institutional moves). Furthermore, it appears that the cashflow would 
allow to stand until the next Assembly but no more.

The situation as of today is that the audit has apparently not been 
launched and the risk is extremely high, due to the shortness of 
cashflow, that the DSF will just fade out without any decision taken 
and no audit results presented. This could be the worst scenario for 
one of the most concrete products the WSIS process has tried to 
launch and a shameful situation for our ICT4D community in regard to 
the lost investment...

In that context, I want to call
 upon
 global civil
 society to put 
pressure on stakeholders in order to try to save whatever is possible 
from the disaster. I am wondering, given the particular situation, if 
the best approach would not be to try to convince a UN related structure to
take over the DSF, conduct an audit which appears a mandatory 
requirement (if only for accountability of public money invested!) 
and assess the situation, trying to preserve, as far as possible, the 
initial principles (multistakeholder global fund to overcome the 
digital divide based on innovative sources).

ITU, G at ID or UNDP (which has been out of that field for some years 
now) are possible options. I am not sure that any of them is eager to 
take over a project in such a difficult situation; what I am quite 
sure is that it is my duty as a civil society involved actor to 
alert, inform and contribute to the search for a solution (I shall 
also
 remember as
 a possible
 contribution that Agence de la 
Francophonie had offered during the DSF Board debates to take 
responsibility to contract an audit of the DSF... although it was 
decided to do it another way).

Daniel Pimienta
Networks & Development Foundation
http://funredes.org
Member of APC Network
As LA&C civil society member of the DSF Board

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