Transcript WSIS – THE WAY FORWARD By Dr. Turahi David Assistant

WSIS – THE WAY FORWARD
By Dr. Turahi David
Assistant Commissioner for Communications, MOWHC
Content:
Reminder about WSIS vision
 Reminder about key principles of the IS
 Reminder about reference targets to be achieved by 2015
 Key Action Lines of the WSIS Action Plan that Uganda needs to
attend to
 Internet Governance Issues
 Proposed membership of Uganda Internet Governance Forum
 Organizations identified to implement the various WSIS Action Lines
 Proposed Way Forward
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Reminder about WSIS Vision:
“----- Common desire and commitment to build a peoplecentered, inclusive and development-oriented IS, where
everyone can create, access, utilize and share information and
knowledge, enabling individuals, communities and peoples to
achieve their full potential in promoting their sustainable
development and improving their quality of life, premised on
the purposes and principles of the UN and respecting fully and
upholding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights”
Reminder: Key principles of the IS
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Role of Governments and all stakeholders in promotion of ICTs
for development
ICT infrastructure is essential foundation for an inclusive IS
Access to information and knowledge
Capacity building
Building confidence and security in the use of ICTs
Enabling environment
ICT applications: benefits in all aspects of life
Cultural diversity and identity, linguistic diversity and local
content
Media
Ethical dimensions of the IS
International and regional cooperation
Reminder: Objectives, Goals and Targets
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Specific targets to be established as appropriate, at the national level in the
framework of national e-strategies, taking into account other development policies
(PEAP, PMA, Telecom policy, ICT Policy, etc)
Global reference targets to be achieved by 2015:
Connect villages with ICTs and establish community access points
Connect all educational institutions with ICTs (2010)
Connect scientific and research institutions with ICTs (2010)
Connect public libraries, cultural centers, post offices and archives with ICTs
Connect health centers and hospitals with ICTs (2010)
Connect all central and local government departments and establish websites
and e-mail addresses (2010)
Adapt all primary and secondary curricula to meet the requirements of the IS,
taking into account national circumstances
Ensure that all the people have access to television and radio services
Encourage the development of content and put in place technical conditions in
order to facilitate the use of local languages on the Internet
Ensure that more than half of the inhabitants of Uganda have access to ICTs
within their reach
Key Action Lines of the WSIS Action Plan that Uganda needs to
attend to:
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Role of Governments and all stakeholders in promotion of ICTs
for development
Develop national e-strategies, including the necessary human capacity
building by 2005
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Momentum is there on e-strategies but slow
Human capacity is still seriously lacking
Establish at least one functioning PPP or MSP by 2005 as a showcase for
future action
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Proposed Telecom Policy (MOWHC) advocates for PPPs to build
national backbone infrastructure
Explore viability of establishing multi-stakeholder portals for indigenous
peoples at national level
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District information portals are being built by UCC under the RCDF
but issue of content in local languages has not been addressed
Encourage incubator schemes, venture capital investment, government
investment funds for SMMEs, investment promotion strategies, software
export support activities, support for R&D
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UIA is frantically trying to push in this area but success on the
ground is not yet visible
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Information and Communication infrastructure an
essential foundation of the IS
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Take action in order to support an enabling and competitive environment
for the necessary investment in ICT infrastructure & for the development
of new services
New communications policy (yet to be announced) takes care of this
Devise appropriate universal access policy and strategy and means of
implementation in line with indicative targets and develop connectivity
indicators
RCDF is addressing Universal Access – is it enough?
MOWHC, UCC and UBOS should lead other stakeholders in the area
of indicators
Provide & improve ICT connectivity for all schools, universities, libraries
post offices, community centers, museums and other institutions
accessible to the public in line with indicative targets
New communications aims to achieve this by 2010
International broadband infrastructure
If EASSy project succeeds, it will go a long way in solving this
problem
Possible conflict between private sector motivated by profit
maximization and government’s public good stance on provision of
backbone infrastructure
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Access to information and knowledge
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MOPS, OP, OPM , Judiciary
Official Secrets Act
Access to information Bill?
Promote R&D to facilitate accessibility of ICT for all including PWDs, etc
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Not clear who is in charge of this area
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Need to learn from developed world
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Develop policy guidelines for development & promotion of public domain
information
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Establish multi-purpose community public access at affordable rates or free of
charge
All sectors that deliver services to the public led by UCC or Ministry in charge
of ICT
Promote awareness about open source and free software
Who should lead? – I-Network, WOUGNET, ?
Capacity building for local authorities
MOLG, UCC, NGOs
Need to tap synergies
Support creation and development of a digital public library and archive services to
the IS
Who should lead? An NGO, Uganda Libraries Board
Very weak library culture
Possibilities of leap-frogging
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Capacity building
Develop domestic policies to ensure that ICTs are fully integrated in
education & training at all levels including in curriculum development,
teacher training, institutional administration and management & in
support of the concept of lifelong learning
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MOES in consultation with UNESCO and NGOs
Priority should be teacher training and ICT curricula for all levels of
education
Note: Rest of the list of action lines can be interpreted as the strategic
objectives of the polices developed in the above bullet
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Building confidence and security in the use of ICTs
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Promote, develop and implement a global culture of cyber-security
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NITA-U, eventually Ministry of ICT in collaboration with relevant
international agencies such as ICANN, ITU, etc.
Prevent the use of information resources and technologies for criminal
and terrorist purposes while respecting human rights
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MIA, MOWHC, ISO, ESO, NITA-U, eventually Ministry responsible for
ICTs
Computer Crimes Bill is ready for presentation to Cabinet by MOWHC
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Enabling Environment
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Use ICTs to support good governance
All sectors
Correct market failures, maintain fair competition, to attract investment, to
enhance the development of the ICT infrastructure and applications, to
maximize economic and social benefits, and to serve national priorities
MOWHC, UCC, eventually Ministry of ICTs
Good progress has been achieved in this area with the liberalization and
privatization of the sector in 1996 and 1997 respectively
New communications policy aims to build on these gains
Participate in global policy making supportive of efforts in the afore-going
bullet
UCC, MOWHC participate in global for a
Foster ICT-supported productivity gains and applied innovations across
economic sectors, ensure equitable distribution of the benefits to support
poverty eradication and social development
MOFPED, UIA, NPA, MOFPED, NCC, MTTI, MAAIF, etc
Develop and use open , interoperable, non-discriminatory and demanddriven standards that take into account needs of users and consumers as a
basic element for the diffusion of ICTs and more affordable access to them
UCC, NITA-U, NGOs
Internet issues
Handled under Internet Governance
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ICT Applications: benefits in all respects of life
Develop ICT applications in the areas of government operations, and
services, health care and health information, education and training,
employment, job creation, business, agriculture, transport, environmental
protection and management of natural resources, disaster prevention,
and culture, and to promote eradication of poverty and other agreed
development goals
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All sectors
Who should play the lead role?
Preservation of cultural heritage
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Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development
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Cultural diversity identity, linguistic
diversity and local content
Accord high priority to the creation, dissemination and
preservation of educational, scientific, cultural and recreational
content in diverse languages and formats so as to build an
inclusive IS in Uganda
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All sectors
Who should play the lead role?
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Media
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Freedom to seek, receive, impart and use information for the creation,
accumulation and dissemination of knowledge: media should responsibly
use and treat information with the highest ethical and professional
standards
Media Council, Broadcasting Council, Uganda Journalists Association,
Department of Journalism at MUK to collaborate to ensure this
principle is upheld
Support traditional media since they have an important role to play in the
IS
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Broadcasting Council, Department of Information, eventually Ministry
of ICTs
Encourage diversity of media ownership in conformity with
national law, and taking into account relevant international
conventions
Broadcasting Council, eventually Ministry of ICTs and the converged
regulator
Reduce international imbalances affecting the media, particularly
as regards infrastructure, technical resources and development
of human resources
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Broadcasting Council, eventually Ministry of ICTs and the converged
regulator
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Ethical Dimensions of the IS
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The use of ICTs and content creation should respect human rights and
fundamental freedoms of others, including personal privacy, and the
right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion in conformity with
relevant international instruments
Media Council, Broadcasting Council, Uganda Journalists Association,
Department of Journalism at MUK to collaborate to ensure this
principle is upheld
Support traditional media since they have an important role to play in the
IS
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Broadcasting Council, Department of Information, eventually Ministry
of ICTs
Encourage diversity of media ownership in conformity with
national law, and taking into account relevant international
conventions
Broadcasting Council, eventually Ministry of ICTs and the converged
regulator
Reduce international imbalances affecting the media, particularly
as regards infrastructure, technical resources and development
of human resources
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Broadcasting Council, eventually Ministry of ICTs and the converged
regulator
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International and regional cooperation
Raise the relative priority of ICT projects in requests for
international cooperation and assistance on infrastructure
development projects from developed countries and international
financial institutions
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Cabinet, Parliament, MOWHC, MOFPED, Ministry of ICTs, EAC
Secretariat
Build on and accelerate PPPs, focusing on the use of ICTs in
development
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UCC, NPA, NITA-U, BC, MOWHC, MOFPED
INTERNET GOVERNANCE ISSUES
Call for the reinforcement of specialised regional Internet resource
management institutions to guarantee the national interest and rights of
countries in that particular region to manage their own Internet
resources, while maintaining global coordination in this area.
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Uganda Internet society, NITA-U, UCC, EARPTO, AFRINIC
Build confidence and security in the use of ICTs by strengthening the
trust framework
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NITA-U, E-Commerce Bill, Computer Misuse Bill
all stakeholders to adopt a multi-pronged approach to counter spam that
includes, inter alia, consumer and business education; appropriate
legislation, law enforcement authorities and tools; the continued
development of technical and self-regulatory measures; best practices;
and international cooperation
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Uganda Internet society, NITA-U, UCC, I-Network, WOUGNET, etc
take appropriate actions and preventive measures, as determined by law,
against abusive uses of ICTs as mentioned under the Ethical Dimensions
of the Information Society of the Geneva Declaration of Principles and
Plan of Action
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MOJCA, Uganda Law reform council, Broadcasting council, NGOs
INTERNET GOVERNANCE
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Addressing concerns amongst developing countries, that the charges for
international Internet connectivity should be better balanced to enhance
access by developing the following strategies:
Promoting Internet transit and interconnection costs that are commerciallynegotiated in a competitive environment and that should be oriented towards
objective, transparent and non-discriminatory parameters, taking into account
ongoing work on this subject;
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Setting up regional high-speed Internet backbone networks and the creation of
national, sub-regional and regional Internet Exchange Points (IXPs); -
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UIA, UCC under RCDF, Private Sector
Encouraging Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and other parties in the
commercial negotiations to adopt practices towards attainment of fair and
balanced interconnectivity costs. 
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MOWHC, UCC, BC, MOFPED
Promoting the development and growth of low-cost terminal equipment, such
as individual and collective user devices, especially for use in developing
countries;
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EASSY Project, EASSY Backhaul Project under NEPAD, UCC, Operators, Policy by
MOWHC
Recommending donor programmes and developmental financing mechanisms
to consider the need to provide funding for initiatives that advance
connectivity, IXPs and local content for developing countries;
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UCC
UCC
Encouraging relevant parties to commercially negotiate reduced
interconnection costs for Least Developed Countries (LDCs), taking into
account the special constraints of LDCs
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Follow up by UCC
INTERNET GOVERNANCE AT NATIONAL LEVEL
Uganda Internet Governance Forum (UIGF) – In line with the
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recommendation of WSIS Tunis phase, the mandate of the
Forum shall be to:
Discuss public policy issues related to key elements of Internet
governance in order to foster the sustainability, robustness,
security, stability and development of the Internet;
Facilitate discourse between bodies dealing with different crosscutting international public policies regarding the Internet and
discuss issues that do not fall within the scope of any existing
body;
Interface with appropriate inter-governmental organisations and
other institutions on matters under their purview;
Facilitate the exchange of information and best practices, and in
this regard make full use of the expertise of the academic,
scientific and technical communities;
Advise all stakeholders in proposing ways and means to
accelerate the availability and affordability of the Internet in
Uganda;
Strengthen and enhance the engagement of stakeholders in
existing and/or future Internet governance mechanisms;
Represent Uganda on the international Internet Governance
Forum
INTERNET GOVERNANCE
Uganda Internet Governance Forum (UIGF) – Membership:
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Uganda Internet Society
Ugandan ISPs
UCC
NITA-U
I-network
Institute of Computer Science – MUK
MOWHC
UNCST
WOUGNET
Other NGOs
Media
Other Academia
Question:
WHO SHOULD LEAD AND WHY?
Organizations identified to implement the
various WSIS Action Lines
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OP, OPM, MOFPED, MOWHC, MOES, MOPS, MTTI, MAAIF, MOLG,
DoIP, All sectors, Ministry of ICT (when created), ISO, ESO,
MOIA, MOJCA,
CC, UIA, NITA-U, NPA, UNCST, NCC, UBOS, Uganda Libraries
Board, Broadcasting Council, Media Council, Uganda Law Reform
Council
I-Network, WOUGNET, other NGOs
Uganda Journalist Association, Uganda Computer Society
Dept. of Journalism (MUK), Faculty of Computer Sciences (MUK),
Other ICT/IT training institutions
Question: How do we get organized and coordinated so as to
implement WSIS Plan of Action?
WAY FORWARD
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Create Multi-Stakeholder WSIS Implementation Committee (MSWSIS-IC) to study the recommended action lines and come up
with a WSIS implementation, monitoring and evaluation strategy
Set up Uganda Internet Governance Forum (UIGF) as a subcommittee of the above MS-WSIS-IC to handle Internet issues
Identify best practices for guidance, say from Sweden, Ireland,
etc
Agree on leadership of these Committees
Set up WSIS Fund
Build awareness among those stakeholders who are not yet on
board
Sensitize the public widely about WSIS and what it requires of
them
Keep abreast of international WSIS events
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION!
END