Building Partnershipsfor

Knowledge Societies

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Abdul Waheed Khan, UNESCOUnited Nations FoundationWashington, DC, USA – 7 May 2007

Building PartnershipsforKnowledge Societies

Building Partnershipsfor

Knowledge Societies

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Setting the frame State of the World Towards Knowledge Societies UNESCO’s role and focus

Benefits of partnerships World Summit in the Information Society (WSIS) Access Capacity building Media Content

Content Overview

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State of the World: Some global trends

Increase of the world’s population Increase of global threats to peace/international

security New political and economic powers Competition for natural resources Enhanced international migration Persistence of poverty Increase of global hazards and natural disasters Rapidly multiplying global health crises Education under stress Strident advances of technoscience Threats to cultural diversity Persistence of divides

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State of the World: Development Goals

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State of the World: Human Development

Human development seems to slowly advance in all parts of the world

Trends of the Human Development Index (HDI)

Source:UNDP Human Development Report, 2006

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State of the World: Fighting poverty

Asia leads the decline in global poverty

Proportion of people living on less than $1 a day, 1990 and 2002 (Percentage)

Source:The Millennium Development Goals Report 2006

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State of the World: Digital Divide

Access to ICTs grows steadily, but ‘digital divide’ persists.

Proportion of world population with telephonesubscriptions, PCs and internetconnections, 1990-2004 (Percentage)

Source:The Millennium Development Goals Report 2006

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State of the World: Development assistance

Led by debt relief, official development assistanceincreases sharply but still falls short of targets.

Official development assistance from developed countries, 1990-2005

Source:The Millennium Development Goals Report 2006

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State of the World: UN Reform

Building on: Pledge of the world leaders at 2005 World Summit Strategic view in « Delivering as One » (Report of SG’s

High-level Panel on UN System-wide Coherence (2006) Triennial Comprehensive Policy Review (TCPR):

continuity in detailing country-level programming and activities

Reflecting shared goals: Enhance relevance, effectiveness, efficiency,

accountability and credibility of UN system Improve UN action aimed at promoting development,

eradicating poverty, preventing and ameliorating humanitarian crises, protecting global environment

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State of the World: UNESCO and UN Reform

UNESCO’s commitment: Ensuring higher degree of UN system-wide

coherence in order to reduce duplication and redundancies

Maintaining feedback loop between normative/policy functions and operational/implementation activities

Ensuring that countries are able to benefit from the full range of sectoral expertise, knowledge and resources available from within the UN system.

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State of the World: Divides

KnowledgeProsperityGlobalizationInclusion

Knowledge Divide or Digital Divide

Lack of Knowledge

PovertyMarginalization

Exclusion

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UNESCO’s role: Mandate & Functions

UNESCO’s Mandate Promote the free flow of ideas by word and

image

Maintain, increase and spread knowledge

Functions Laboratory of ideas (e.g. Freedom of expression in cyberspace)

Standard-setter (e.g. Public service broadcast policies)

Clearinghouse (e.g. Archives and Libraries Portals)

Capacity builder in Member States (e.g. IPDC)

Catalyst for international cooperation (e.g. IFAP)

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Knowledge for development

Knowledge

Economic Growth

Cultural Enrichment

Social Development

Political Empowerment

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UNESCO’s concept of Knowledge Societies

Freedom Inclusiveness Diversity Empowerment

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UNESCO’s role: Programme 2008-2009

Biennial sectoral priority 2: Fostering free, independent and pluralistic

communication and universal access to information by Promoting an environment conducive to freedom of

expression and freedom of information Fostering universal access to information Promoting the development of free, independent and

pluralistic media strengthening the role of communication and

information in fostering mutual understanding, peace and reconciliation, especially in open and post-conflict areas and post-disaster situations

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UNESCO’s role: Programme 2008-2009

Biennial sectoral priority 2: Promoting innovative applications of ICTs for

sustainable development by: Fostering the development of infostructures;

Promoting people participation in sustainable development through communication media

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Focus area: Freedom of

Expression

Promotefreedom of expression &

press freedomas basic human right

*Foster media

independence & pluralismas fundamental to

democracy

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Focus area: Media for development

Developpeople’s

media capacities to:

Express aspirations,share & access information,make informed decisions,

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Focus area: Universal access

Fosterpolicies, capacities &

tools for access toinformation and knowledge

*Facilitate

effective integrationof ICTs in education,

science, culture

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CI Sector: Intergvmntl’ Programmes

IFAP• Infostructures (legale

frameworks, etc)

• Information workers community

• Policy development and implementation

IPDC• Mass media, print

press

• Journalists

• Project funding and delivery

Contribute to building Knowledge Societies

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UNESCO’s role: Private Sector Partnership

Linking development approach and high-level technical know-how

Putting vision into practice Partners:

Microsoft (e.g. ICT Competency Standards for Teachers, ICT-CST)

Intel (e.g. ICT-CST, Open source dissemination and teacher training)

CISCO (e.g. ICT-CST, Networking and IT academies)

Apple : (e.g. Digital content creation centers, Digital Campus, Digital Libraries)

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UNESCO’s role: Partnership with Civil Society

Professional NGOs UNESCO National Commissions IFAP National Committees Types of cooperation:

Needs identification, project design and implementation

Formulation of strategy and policies Provision of technical assistance and expert

advisory services

.

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General results of WSIS:International dialogue enhanced Frameworks for collaborative actions establishedAwareness of potential of ICT for development

raisedDebate shifted from technology to content

WSIS as international framework

Results for UNESCO

Visibility increasedUNESCO’s value-adding role in ICT area recognizedPartners mobilizedConcept of Knowledge Societies recognizedUNESCO’s leading role in implementation endorsed

Frame for global action

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Action Lines under UNESCO’s responsibility

C1. Promotion of ICTs for development

C2. Information and communication infrastructure

C3. Access to information & knowledge

C4. Capacity building

C5. Building confidence and security in the use of ICTs

C6. Enabling environment

C7. E-learning and E-Science

C8. Cultural and linguistic diversity

C9. Media

C10.Ethical dimensions

C11.International and regional cooperation

WSIS : UNESCO as a facilitator

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Access to information & knowledge (Action

Line C3)

Community access (in the North and in the South)

Establish multi-purpose community access points

Provide affordable or free Internet access

Put special emphasis on rural and underserved areas Research and development (Partnerships, University)

Promote R&D to facilitate accessibility of ICTs for all

Include R&D on access for the disadvantaged, marginalized and vulnerable groups

Possible cooperation with UNESCO Chairs in the US

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Jointly promoting access

Community Multimedia Centres

• Combining local radio by local people in local languages with a telecentre facility with ICT access

• Providing and strengthening communication and information facilities at the level of local communities

• Offering basic tools for introducing and managing community-centred development and change

Research and development for access for all • Allowing 10% of world population with disabilities full

participation in the Information Society

• Integrating disability perspective in IT laws, policies and regulatory mechanisms

• Accommodating needs of persons with disabilities in R&D , including in design of hard- and software

Opportunities for partnerships I

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Information Literacy Promote e-literacy skills for all Take advantage of existing facilities such as

libraries, multipurpose community centres, public access points

Establish local ICT training centres

ICT for teacher training

Develop pilot projects to demonstrate the impact of ICT-based alternative educational delivery system

Use ICT for achieving Education for All targets, including basic literacy targets

Capacity building (Action Line C4)

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Cooperating to foster capacity building

Information Literacy

ICT for teacher training

• 35 million teachers required to achieve universal primary education by 2015

• ICT as only way to help training teachers

• UNESCO projects in ICT for teacher training, e.g. Sub-saharan Africa

Opportunities for partnerships II

• Providing people with skills/abilities for critical reception, assessment and use of information

• Raising awareness about the importance of information literacy at all levels of education process

• Establishing guidelines for integrating information literacy issues in curricula

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Media (Action Line C9)

Journalistic capacity building Encourage media professionals in developed

countries to establish partnerships and networks with the media in developing ones, especially in the field of training.

Role of traditional media Encourage traditional media to bridge the

knowledge divide and to facilitate the flow of cultural content, particularly in rural areas.

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Working together to develop media

Journalistic capacity building• Organizing training in journalism for print and

broadcast media

• Providing instruction in media management and training of media technicians and engineers

• Developing model journalism curriculum for developing countries and emerging democracies

Foster the role of traditional media• Developing free and pluralistic media with a global

approach to democratic development

• Empowering people to gain equitable access to knowledge and express themselves through free and pluralistic media

Opportunities for partnerships III

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Cultural Diversity and Content (Action Line C8)

Libraries Develop national policies and laws to ensure that

libraries, archives, museums and other cultural institutions can play their full role of content—including traditional knowledge—providers in the Information Society, more particularly by providing continued access to recorded information.

Content providers Give support to media based in local communities and

support projects combining the use of traditional media and new technologies for their role in facilitating the use of local languages, for documenting and preserving local heritage.

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Joining forces to foster content development

Libraries• Support to digitization projects and protection of

digital heritage (e.g. UNESCO’s e-Heritage Charter)

• Projects to the development of virtual libraries (e.g. World Digital Library, Greenstone)

• Support to development of standards for metadata (e.g. ISSN)

Content providers

• Improve the endogenous production

• Support the distribution of quality audio-visual programmes in developing countries

• Exploit new ways of co-operation among governments, artists, industry leaders, broadcasters, etc.

Opportunities for partnerships IV

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www.unesco.org/webworld