ICT Success Stories Portal: showcasing ICTs power for development

1. ICT Success Stories Portal:showcasing ICTs power for development www.itu.int/ict_stories Official launch of the Portal, 31 March 2006, ITU Headquarters, Geneva Youlia Lozanova, Strategy & Policy Unit, ITU

2. Outline • Goals • The Portal & WSIS • Leveraging the Portal • Functionality • Selected ICT Success Stories • The Portal: Next steps

3. Goals • showcase innovative projects and examples of the multi-stakeholder approach • exchange fresh ideas and learning experiences about creative uses of ICTs in different cultural contexts • raise awareness about the potential of ICTs for the achievement of the MDGs and the WSIS goals

4. Key Message • There is no “one size fits all” approach to using new technologies to promote development with a human face: rather, in the trial-and-error process of learning to use ICTs effectively in the local context, the insights of projects and development activities gained from stakeholders’ experience can be extremely valuable.

5. ICT Success Stories Portal and WSIS e) Develop and launch a website on best practices and success stories, based on a compilation of contributions from all stakeholders, in a concise, accessible and compelling format, following the internationally recognized web accessibility standards. The website could be periodically updated and turned into a permanent experience-sharing exercise. Geneva Plan of Action, Paragraph 28, Geneva Phase of WSIS 2003

6. Brief overview • Over 600 projects • Stories from 64 countries • Projects designed and implemented by all stakeholders • Concerted action at the local, national, regional and international level • Cross-cutting issues are considered • Focus on developing countries

7. Leveraging the Portal • The ICT-related or driven initiatives in all aspects of life • Projects by all stakeholders and for the benefit of all • Partnerships, cooperation strategies and unilateral efforts at all levels • In the spirit of the WSIS and the MDGs, ICTs offer unlimited opportunities for bridging the digital divide • New & promising solutions to developing countries’ challenges

8. Criteria applied • Based on or making use of ICTs • Focus on developingcountries • Activities and goals emanating from the WSISPlan of Action • Activities and goals aimed at achieving the MDGs • Scale • Outcomeof the project • Innovative & multi-sector approaches • Target atvulnerable groups • Partnerships, multi-stakeholder partnerships

9. Functionality I The website • Projects by categories • Brief thematic highlights • Online questionnaire • Feedback

10. e-Education e-Government e-Health Resource Mgmt Grassroots Themes Empowerment Gender e-Inclusion Youth Poverty Reduction Indigenous people Community Dev. Disabilities Good Governance

11. Functionality II The search tool • Theme • Key-word • Country of origin or implementation • Technology • Stakeholder • Cross-cutting issue

12. Mobile Internet on Boats - Bangladesh • Project designed & implemented by Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha • The Mobile Internet Educational Units on Boats program provides free public access to computers and the Internet through the use of indigenous boats converted into mobile libraries and schools • Target group: local remote communities, with a special focus on women and children • More information on sss.interconnection.org • Other projects:Rickshaws Connect India's Poor

13. e-Homemakers Network - Malaysia • Enabling marginalised Malaysian women to use ICTs to generate income from home, supporting their active participation in the information economy. • Designed to enable homeworkers to teletrade, network, and support each other through creative problem-solving and idea-sharing, an trilingual e-community offers services such as a platform to enable online product marketing. • Implemented by the Government of Malaysia • More information on www.ehomemakers.net

14. OSISA ICT Programme • communication project deployed in Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe • aiming to contribute towards creating an atmosphere where there is free and equitable flow of information, and at deploying appropriate technologies, systems and knowledge • ICT networks are applied to enhance and deepen citizen's rights, access, usage and participation towards an open society through ICT • More information on www.osisa.org

15. Connect the World - ITU • International commitment to promote development and connectivity • ITU and over 40 other partners from all the main categories of stakeholders (KADO, Microsoft, Child Helpline International and UNESCO, among others) • Platform to encourage new partnerships to bridge the digital divide and meet WSIS commitments by 2015 • More information on www.itu.int/partners/projects.html

16. Trends • Growing number of projects using ICTs • Multi-stakeholder Partnerships • Increased e-Inclusion • Pluri-disciplinary approach • Long-term commitment & action for sustainable results • Explicit effort to harness a very extensive range of people’s concerns & activities • Mainstreaming innovative solutions

17. The Portal: Next Steps • Archive of more detailed case studies of successful experiences • More interactive tools • Link to more resources on ICT4D • Regular up-date • Related events

18. Thank you! Tell us about ICT success stories you contribute to at spu@itu.int