special coverage: information society & WSIS

29.09.2005 Most ICT initiatives till date have been in the form of pilot projects that have worked well in a small community. To upscale this to the national level would need not only excellent planning, but also support from a wide range of players. OneWorld South Asia organized a Panel Discussion "From Pilot Syndrome to Up scaling ICT initiatives - the Grassroots Perspective" at PrepCom 3 on 28th September in this context. Reports Bidisha Pillai, Digital Opportunity Channel Manager, from Geneva.

28.09.2005 OneWorld South Asia on behalf of the Grassroots Caucus organised a side event “Missing Grassroots Voices” at PrepCom 3 on September 27th. Grassroots voices have always been missing from policy-making fora. The event started with a film screening on grassroots people sharing their development concerns and how ICTs could offer possible solutions to them. This was followed by a presentation by Basudev Dhungana, a grassroots community worker from Nepal and part of the OneWorld official delegation to PrepCom 3. Report Bidisha Pillai and T. N. Anuradha from Geneva.

27.09.2005 PrepCom3 of WSIS kicked off on 19th September.This is the last preparatory meeting before the final summit in November in Tunisia, and is expected to present the final documents that will lay down the principles of creating an information society based on equity, freedom and inclusion. Reports Bidisha Pillai from Geneva.

13.09.2005 Karen Banks, The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) has recently issued a statement for stakeholders to sign a petetion protesting deterioration of human rights in Tunisia, with the Summit just 2 months away. The statement calls on all governments to "fully recognize the sovereignty of the situation and to bring pressure to bear on the Tunisian authorities to respect their international obligations".

06.09.2005 At the World Information Technology Forum (WITFOR) conference in Gaborone, the "Gaborone Declaration" proposal was adopted, which will be presented to the UNESCO general assembly.