The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)

What I shall cover Background to Summit The Objectives & Envisaged Outcomes The Processes – What happened? The Actors – Who were they? What did they want? Some of the Contested Issues at WSIS Africa and WSIS An Insider ’ s Account

Background International Telecomm Union UN General Assembly

The Objectives & Envisaged Outcomes Vision: To develop a common understanding of the information society Access: To promote the urgently needed access to all the world ’ s inhabitants to information, knowledge and communication technologies for development

Objectives – cont’d Applications: “ To harness the potential of knowledge and technology for promoting the goals of the United Nationals Millennium Declaration ” The goals: Development & Poverty Eradication Democracy & Governance Common Heritage Protecting the vulnerable & meeting the special needs of Africa

The Processes The UNGA Resolution recommends that the preparations for the Summit take place through an open-ended intergovernmental preparatory committee. It also encourages effective contributions from, and active participation of, a wide range of bodies including UN agencies … non-governmental organizations, civil society and the private sector.

Processes High Level Summit Organizing Committee Executive Secretariat Informal Consultations Regional Conferences & Thematic Meetings Preparatory Committee Meetings Phase One Summit: Geneva, Dec, 2003 Phase Two: Tunis, Nov,2005

The Actors National Governments UN Agencies Intergovernmental Organisations Civil Society (NGOs, labour unions, universities) Private Sector Media???

Some of the Contested Issues Internet Governance Security Free and Open Software Communication Rights Intellectual Property Human Rights Finance

The Outcomes Declarations of Principles Plan of Action

Africa and WSIS Bamako Declaration Civil Society Processes: Bamako Bureau, Southern African bodies (MISA, APC, SACOD, A19, HA), East Africa (Femnet), West Africa

African Positions Governments: Digital Solidarity Civil Society: Gender & ICTs, Open Source & Free Software, Education & ICTs Media: A19, pluralism & diversity, 3 tiers of broadcasting, content

The End Result? Disappointing process: false expectations Watered down outcome: more development focused principles without attendant focus on fundamental rights Still the documents are there and task is on how to use them (refer APC)

Some lessons Understand process Understand the issues Be organized (deployment) Be skilled (advocacy & lobbying, presentation skills) Have money & equipment Make feedback and re-organize

The Road to Geneva and Tunis Charter on African Broadcasting (ACB) – A19, MISA, SACOD, AMARC, APC Bamako Declaration PrepCom 1,2,3, Intersessional Meetings Geneva Summit – Plenary, WEMF, Parallel Events, HANA coverage Next: Nairobi, HA, Tunis 2005

Checklist: Why is it necessary to have a national WSIS consultation? Ref: APC It creates awareness It broadens social participation It builds consensus between social actors It creates demand and expectation for delivery It is an opportunity for CSOs to lead the process and thereby optimise its interests