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OneWorld South Asia and the World Summit on the Information Society(WSIS)
PrepCom III of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) will be held in Geneva from 19-30 September, 2005. This constitutes the second phase of the WSIS and the agenda is to report on the progress toward objectives that governments set for themselves in earlier meetings of the WSIS.
Focus will be on specific projects designed to reduce the digital divide, which undermines the potential of the ICTs in contributing towards the Millennium Development Goals that the UN adopted in 2000.
PrepCom III is also expected to be focused around the debate of Internet governance and financing. Discussions around implementation and follow-up mechanisms on the road ahead will continue.
As OneWorld South Asia actively readies itself for the PrepCom, it also sees as its mandate the greater participation of two specific communities the grassroots and the media. Specific attention is paid to significant presence, participation and contribution of women and marginalised groups in this process.
The Grassroots Caucus initiated by OneWorld is a collaborative effort of a number of grassroots organisations that understand the ground realities of reaching ICTs to the grassroots.
Prior to the formal establishment of the Grassroots Caucus, OneWorld South Asia (OWSA) had taken four grassroots women from India to the WSIS PrepCom2. These women use varied forms of ICTs video, phone, wireless, Internet and radio in their daily work and through it have successfully changed the lives of people in the communities they work for.
At the PrepCom, the women shared their perspectives and concerns with policy makers, decision makers in governments, civil society groups and the media. The outcome was a Grassroots Charter that was presented at the official UN Plenary on WSIS and to the civil society plenary as well.
Presently, the Grassroots Caucus has a membership of over a hundred organisations and the recommendations emerging out of the deliberations so far have been fed into the Group of Friends of Chair as a preparation towards PrepCom 3.
To get a quick overview of the WSIS process, its objective and history, as well as the grassroots recommendations to the WSIS Plan of Action, click here.
To read more about the Grassroots Caucus and to understand how you can participate click here.
Dialogue with the media
OneWorld South Asia and Panos International are also organising a one-day dialogue bringing together key national level communications policymakers and other influential actors with senior editors and journalists, to dialogue and build the medias interest, increase their stake in building an inclusive information society. The seminar is on September 2, 2005 at Chennai, India, and aims to sensitise the media about what they can do or should be doing the further the cause of an Information Society.
For relevant information and news, visit the Digital Opportunity Channel special section on WSIS.
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WSIS and civil society: A backgrounder
We have compiled this backgrounder to give you a complete picture of the WSIS from the perspective of the civil society. Explains academic concepts and issues related to knowledge society, notes activities and concerns of the civil society, and lists actors and organisations involved in the WSIS process as well as links to related Websites.
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