Codata workshop

SESSION 5: ICSU-ROA AND CODATA TASK GROUPS: FOLLOW-UP ACTIONS

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  Task group initiatives: Represented organisations’ proposals for collaboration, coordination and implementation of the outcomes of sessions 2, 3 and 4
  

Facilitator: Mr Paul Uhlir (US National Academies of Sciences)

Panellist: Prof. LIU Chuang (Co-Chair, UN GAID e-SDDC Executive Committee, Leading Professor of Global Change Information and Research Center, Institute of Geography and Natural Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences)

Collaborative efforts of the UN GAID e-SDDC in the southern African region

The World Summit on the Information Society (Geneva 2003 and Tunis 2005) had the following outcomes:

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  Established broad policy consensus on the principles of the Information Society
  
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  Placed MDG at the centre of open and inclusive vision for the Information Society
  
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  Established clear goals for ICT4D e.g. Connecting schools, universities, libraries, hospitals, etc
  
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  Call for multi-stakeholder partnership at global, regional, national & local levels
  
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  Attended by 18000 participants
  

The World Development Summit (September 2005) had the following outcomes:

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  Reaffirmed MDG
  
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  Adopted broad UN Development Agenda with emphasis on ICT4D as a strategic tool for achieving MDG
  
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  Attended by 191 world leaders
  

The Millennium Summit (Sept 2000) had the following outcomes:

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  Adopted MDG: poverty; health; education; HIVAIDS; gender; environment; global partnerships
  
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  Affirmed ICT as an enabler of development
  
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  Attended by 153 world leaders
  

UN GAID structure

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  Steering Committee
  
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    Roles:
    
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      Provides executive direction and priority setting
      
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      Endorses and mandates the FPIs and CoEs
      
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  Strategy Council
  
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    Roles:
    
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      Development of action oriented policy platform
      
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      Awareness raising and advocacy campaigns
      
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    Members:
    
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      30 Governments
      
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      10 Private Sector
      
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      10 Civil Society
      
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      10 UN Bodies
      

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  High Level Advisors
  
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    Roles:
    
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      Contributes to research & development
      
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      Help advance relevant theories on ICT4D
      
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  Champions Network
  
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    Roles:
    
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      Experts, activists & practitioners
      
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      Providers ‘bottom-up’ flow of information
      

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  Regional Networks
  
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    Roles:
    
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      Open and inclusive to reflect the regional perspective and specific needs
      

Thematic Networks

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  Flagship Partnership Initiatives
  
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  Communities of Expertise
  
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  Partnerships for Advocacy
  

Global Alliance for ICT and Development (UN GAID)

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  Approved by Mr. Annan, former Secretary General of UN in April 2006
  
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  Launched in June 2006 in Malaysia
  
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  Steering Committee meeting in September 2006, Business Plan for 2006-2007 (e-SDDC included)
  
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  The 2nd Strategy Council Meeting on 27 Feb. in Santa Clara, California, USA (e-SDDC Implementation Plan Accepted)
  

Message from Mr Ban Ki-Moon (United Nations Secretary-General) at the UN GAID Strategy Council Meeting, 27 Feb. 2007

"Information and communication technologies have a central role to play in the quest for development, dignity and peace. The international consensus on this point is clear, as witnessed at the 2000 Millennium Summit, the 2005 World Summit and in the two phases of the World Summit on the Information Society.

With the launch of the Global Alliance for ICT and Development last March 2006, the international community has taken that consensus a crucial step further. The Alliance is well placed to promote the use of ICT in fighting poverty, illiteracy and disease, in protecting the environment and empowering women and girls.
It is important to work as a true partnership of all essential stakeholders including governments, civil society, the private sector, academia and others. All these parties are needed in order to succeed.

From vision into action

The activities for realising the vision include:

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  Involving more participants from among scientific communities, decision makers, private sectors; scientists, engineers
  
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  Developing a new worldwide methodology integrating ideas, resources, programmes, technology and application focused on the needs of developing countries
  
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  Taking actions to move from the digital divide to digital opportunities, involving the UN, funding agencies, stakeholders, private sectors, scientific communities
  

The World Summit on the Information Society (Geneva 2003, Tunis 2005) identified the digital divide between:

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  Developing countries and OECD countries
  
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  Scientific communities and decision makers
  
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  Scientific data and information holders and users (applications)
  

The creation of a worldwide methodology is needed as a cross-boundary solution, so that scientific communities, policy makers, private sectors and other stakeholders may work together to enhance development in developing countries.

UN GAID will provide opportunities to do so, and e-SDDC will be the linkage among multiple sectors that are interested in this mission.

Goals for the Longer Term (from GUO Huadong, 7 May 2007, Atibaia, Brazil)

The overall goal of e-SDDC is to link decision makers and data users in developing and industrialised countries. More specifically, it is to bridge scientific research, education and policy decision making in order to find tailored solutions for problems faced in developing countries; to enhance the potential advantages of ICTs in their critical accelerator role for the applications of scientific data and information for socio-economic development and scientific innovation; and to apply these digital resources to the UN Millennium Development Goals in developing countries.

Strategy for Implementation:

It is necessary to move from networking, to open access, to innovation and then development.

Action Plan

Action Line One: Building the Think Tank Network

Action Line Two: Scientific Data Centre Network

Action Line Three: Technology Transfer and Assistance Network

Action Line Four: Training and Online Teaching Network

Action Line Five: Network on Scientific Data Dimensions of Disaster Mitigation, Poverty Reduction and Public Health

e-SDDC is Part of the UN GAID Community of Expertise (CoE), including platform and projects. It brings together funders and researchers.

Lead Organisations

Lead organisation: Chinese Academy of Sciences

Co-lead organisations:

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  CODATA (International organisation)
  
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  Centro de Referência em Informação Ambiental (CRIA) (Brazil)
  
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  National Research Foundation (NRF) (South Africa)
  
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  Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN), Columbia University (USA)
  
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  Consultant Committee on ICT for UN of the Chinese Association for Science and Technology (CCIT/CAST) (China)
  
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  Internet Society of China (ISC)
  

e-SDDC potential cooperation in Latin American and Caribbean Region (with ICSU/IAP/CODATA in Latin America)

the intention is to link with the REDClara network in Latin America to which 14 countries are already linked and supported by the Inter-American Development Bank, namely:

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  Chile
  
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  Argentina)
  
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  Brazil
  
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  Mexico
  
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  Peru
  
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  Uruguay
  
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  Panama
  
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  Venezuela
  
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  Guatemala
  
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  El Salvador
  
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  Ecuador
  
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  Colombia
  
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  Nicaragua
  
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  Costa Rica (reconnecting).
  

The membership of the following countries is pending:

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  Bolivia
  
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  Paraguay
  
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  Honduras
  
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  Cuba.
  

Panellist: Paul Uhlir (US National Academies of Sciences)

Activities of the Inter-Academy Panel (IAP) planned for sub-Saharan Africa
The US National Academy of Sciences (NAS) began a three-year initiative in 2004 under the IAP on access to scientific information and the digital divide. A more comprehensive programme is now being developed by the NAS under the IAP as a follow-up to that initiative. The programme is expected to have two principal areas of focus: (1) access to digital scientific data and information (with an initial priority focus on developing open institutional repositories, although other projects are possible) and (2) the role of science academies in developing, implementing and using high-speed RENs (national and regional Research and Education Networks), such as TENET (Tertiary Education Network) in South Africa. Infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa is less well developed than in Latin America, where the RedCLARA network operates. It is therefore likely that there would be greater focus on the role of academies in developing RENs in this region than in Latin America. These issues will be discussed at a workshop with representatives of academies in sub-Saharan Africa on 16 May 2007.
Clearly, there also is considerable commonality of interest with the ICSU Regional Office, the CODATA task group and UN GAID. The proposal to the IAP must be completed this month. There will then be a review and a decision before the end of the year. The programme is being organised by the US National Academies of Sciences in collaboration with the Academy f Science of South Africa (ASSAf), the Chinese Academy of Sciences, as well as the science academies in India and Brazil. The programme will have close intersection with the interests of the CODATA Task Group on Preservation of Open Access to Data in Developing Countries and will have to continue to coordinate and possibly collaborate on various activities that have mutual objectives.