Asia-Pacific: First Conference of Ministers on Information and Broadcasting

In preparation for the upcoming World Summit on the Information Society to be held in Geneva next December (first phase), the Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development (AIDB) in collaboration with the Government of Thailand organized the First Conference of Ministers on Information and Broadcasting in Asia and the Pacific.

The Conference was held in Bangkok on 27 and 28 May. It was intended as a "Thematic Debate" on the current issues, concerns and challenges facing the broadcasting industry in the region -- namely globalization, the digital divide, public service broadcasting and the promotion and preservation of cultural diversity -- and on ways to tackle these issues at the regional level.

The two-day Conference was attended by some 140 government senior officials from over 22 countries in the region, including communications ministers, media representatives and academics. The Conference also received active participation from high level representatives from the United Nations, UNESCAP and UNESCO.

United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, in a statement delivered on his behalf by Shashi Tharoor, Under Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information, said: "All the countries in the Asian and Pacific region are experiencing the effects of globalization and "digitalization", raising new and compelling issues". "This troubling paradox prompted world leaders, in the Millennium Declaration, to commit themselves to ensuring that the media are free to perform their essential role, that the public have access to information, and that the benefits of the new information and communications technologies are available to all people," he said.

Placing great value on the Conference, Mr. Annan said: "A shared regional agenda for action can emerge through vigorously debating pressing concerns, including how to best respond to the growing commercialization of the media and the accelerated concentration of media ownership, enhance the role of public service broadcasting and preserve cultural while promoting pluralism of content".

The global digital divide was unavoidably in the forefront of discussions. Both UNESCAP Executive Secretary, Kim Hak-Su, and Mr. Shashi Tharoor raised the issue and identified it as a most pressing challenge facing the region. "The latest ITU [International Telecommunication Union] statistics indicate that there is a large and widespread digital divide between Asia-Pacific and other regions, and within the countries of Asia and the Pacific", said Mr. Kim, citing figures in support of his statement (cf. side-bar). "While it is true that the world economy is in the midst of a profound transformation spurred by globalization and supported by the rapid development of ICT, not all countries of the world, including in the Asia-Pacific region, have equitable, affordable, and quality access to ICT...", Mr. Kim emphasized. He continued: "Developing countries and especially, the least developed countries, island developing countries and economies in transition account for a small fraction of the global digital economy. The phenomenally rapid advances in ICT thus pose an immense challenge for developing countries to catch up. Otherwise, they will lag behind in their social and economic development".

"Radio and television, in a sense, are the advance guard of the information and knowledge revolution, and they have been playing an important role in narrowing the digital gap and divide in the region, especially between the rural and urban areas, and rich and poor, by informing people about the Internet and its possibilities", he said. Mr. Kim also mentioned about the recent Asia-Pacific Regional Conference held last January (see AP POPIN Bulletin Vol. 15, No. 1 (1)), emphasizing that the Tokyo Declaration adopted by the Conference "provided critical guiding principles for bridging the digital divide and building the Information Society in Asia an the Pacific".

Bridging the digital divide was also of major concern to Mr. Shashi Tharoor who stressed in his speech delivered on the second day of the Conference that "access to information was increasingly vital for development and prosperity". "But the new divide in the world is not just between the high-tech countries and the low-tech countries, though that's bad enough: we also have the no-tech countries, and their prospects are grim", he said. "In many respects, the vast and diverse Asia-Pacific region symbolizes this divide, stretching from Iran in the northwest to island nations in the Pacific, encompassing industrialized countries like Japan, Australia and New Zealand, and developing ones at varying stages of economic growth".

Mr. Tharoor continued: "For most of us, information technology must be judged by how it can affect our lives directly for the better. We must add two letters to the digital divide -- and seek to declare a digital dividend".

Seeking to lay down the basic principles of the global information society aimed at, Mr. Tharoor said: "It should be universal and empowering; it should bring the world together instead of adding new divisions; and it should create a more just and more harmonious environment for the peaceful development of all peoples".

Recommendations from the Conference will be released in a report entitled the Bangkok Declaration and submitted to the World Summit on the Information Society held in Geneva in December 2003 and in Tunis in 2005. The outcome will also be presented at the World Electronic Media Forum organized by the United Nations Department of Public Information in conjunction with major broadcasting associations immediately preceding the Geneva Summit.

Family Health International (FHI) launches new web site

The Family Health International (FHI), a well-established non-profit organization founded in 1971, has recently announced the launch of its completely redesigned and restructured web site (http://www.fhi.org).

The site is now more dynamic and user-friendly, while its content has also been widely rewritten and updated. Navigation is made easier as well as the printing and downloading of documents, or e-mailing of pages.

The site emphasizes the organization's core areas of work, which are HIV/AIDS prevention, care and support, and reproductive health, including family planning. It particularly highlights FHI's commitment to improving the health and welfare of young people. In addition to the sections detailing FHI's work in these technical areas, the site provides overviews of the organization's country programmes.

FHI is dedicated to improving lives worldwide through research, education, and services in family health. It manages research and field activities in more than 70 countries to meet the public health needs of some of the world's most vulnerable people.

(Source: FHI, 2 June 2003)

Afghan languages finally onto digital highway

Afghanistan took a major step towards the age of digital communication recently with the release of a United Nations-commissioned report providing for the first time comprehensive information needed by software programmers and vendors to bring the Central Asian country's languages to life on computer keyboards and screens.

Until now there had been virtually no way for the Afghans to communicate digitally in their own tongue and the lack of software supporting the official languages, Pashto and Dari, had blocked the use of computers for communication, forcing most government and business offices to rely on typewriters.

The report, entitled Computer Locale Requirements for Afghanistan, commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and funded by the European Union, focuses on an esoteric but important area of information technology: the multilingual character encoding and keyboard drivers.

"Afghanistan will benefit, but so will the world," Ercan Murat, UNDP Country Director for Afghanistan, said. "This means that Afghan culture, ideas, innovations and though can now be communicated via computer, unfiltered, in local Afghan languages".

The report was prepared by a team of Afghan, Iranian and Irish computer experts and linguists.

(Source: United Nations News Centre, 6 May 2003)

World Telecommunication Day Annan calls for bridging digital divide in world’s poorest countries

With millions of people in the world's poorest countries still excluded from the right to communicate, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan called for bridging the digital divide between developed and developing countries.

"The terms 'information society', 'digital era', or the 'information age' have all been used to describe this age," Mr. Annan said in a message marking World Telecommunication Day on 17 May. "Whatever term we use, the society we build must be open and pluralistic -- one in which all people, in all countries, have access to information and knowledge.

"This is the primary goal of the World Summit on the Information Society, the first phase of which will take place this December in Geneva", he added.

He said the theme of this year's Telecommunications Day, "Helping all of the world's people to communicate," was an integral part of the Millennium Development Goals, agreed upon by Heads of State and Government at the United Nations Millennium Summit in 2000.

In particular, the eighth Goal aimed "to develop a global partnership for development" and, "in cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications technologies", he noted.

"Information and communication technologies must be used to bridge the digital divide and accelerate progress in the poorest corners of the world", he declared.

(Source: United Nations News Centre, 17 May 2003)

United Nations online university launched

As the United Nations and its partners recently opened the virtual "doors" of a pioneering, online global university, Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged educators to use the landmark initiative to help ensure that developing countries could finally be "full partners" in the new information and communications technology explosion.

Universities in developed countries have been taking ever-greater advantage of new technologies through online learning programmes and other virtual efforts, and it is time now for that experience and expertise to reach educational institutions in the developing world, Mr. Annan said in a message delivered by the United Nations University Rector, Hans van Ginkel, at the launching ceremony of the Global Virtual University (GVU) in Arendal, Norway.

The Global Virtual University is an online university for sustainable development, with a particular objective to meet the needs of the developing world. GVU will promote an international network of equal-partner universities and institutions delivering e-learning courses and programmes with a global outreach focused on environment and development. These institutions -- organized as a branch of the UN University with an administrative centre in Arendal -- will issue common diplomas and will develop joint academic degrees.

"An information society has emerged, and the developing world must be a full partner", the Secretary-General said, stressing that the GVU, under the auspices of the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP), is a fine example of building bridges in an area of crucial importance to human prosperity; environmentally sustainable development.

"As such, it can make an important contribution to efforts to achieve the objectives set out at last year's World Summit for Social Development in Johannesburg", he added.

The GVU initiative also offered the prospect of constructive international cooperation, not only between rich and poor countries, but also within the developing world. The GVU will be administered by UNEP's partner Global Resource Information Database (GIRD-Arendal) and will include Norway's Adger University among its core partners.

(Source: United Nations News Centre, 17 June)

New tools for improving the quality of health care in developing countries

In an effort to share lessons learned and best practices with reproductive health organizations working to improve quality of care in developing country, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs has created a package of quality improvement materials. 

The newly released package, that Asia-Pacific POPIN members are likely to find most useful, includes a CD-ROM on client-provider communication and a publication on quality improvement projects. The products are presented as the result of years of experience and knowledge gained by the School and its partners while implementing quality improvement projects around the world since the mid-1990s.

Entitled "Client-Provider Communication: Successful Tools and Approaches", the CD-ROM highlights evidence-based best practices and promising innovations for improving the quality of client-provider communication. The multimedia CD-ROM contains a wide range of quality improvement approaches, tools and related programmatic lessons learned. The content is presented in a user-friendly manner to enable easy adaptation and application. It is organized into four focal areas: provider performance, client behaviours and community norms, service delivery management, and research and evaluation.

"Improving the Quality of Care" is a 20-page publication profiling different successful communication strategies for improving the quality of health care globally. It profiles diverse country programmes, such as Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Nepal, Peru, the Philippines, and West Africa. Each of the programmes represent different programmatic contexts and challenges.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) provided support for most of the quality improvement projects profiled in the package.

For additional information, contact Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs, 111 Market Place, Suite 310, Baltimore, Maryland 21202 USA or visit http://www.jhuccp.org  ; Concerning the CD-ROM, e-mail: qwg@jhuccp.org; Concerning the publication, e-mail: orders@jhuccp.org

Information Committee: United Nations must have "clear, effective voice"

The United Nations Committee on Information approved a draft resolution in early May which would ensure that the voice of the United Nations is heard in a clear and effective manner on issues ranging from poverty eradication to combating terrorism and fighting HIV/AIDS.

Emphasizing the essential role of the Department of Public Information (DPI) in achieving those and other goals, the comprehensive draft, which will be forwarded to the General Assembly for action, calls on the Department to pay attention to all major issues addressed at the 2000 Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals in carrying out its activities. 

Speaking at the conclusion of 2003 session of the Committee on Information, Shashi Tharoor, the Under-Secretary-General for Communication and Public Information, said the Committee’s endorsement of DPI’s structural changes and its guidance at a time of renewal and transformation meant a great deal to him and his colleagues.

Under a key provision of the two-part draft, the General Assembly would welcome the steps taken towards restructuring DPI, and encourage Secretary-General Kofi Annan to continue the reorientation exercise and efforts in improving its efficiency and productivity, including through wide-ranging, and innovative proposals.

In the section of the text on new priorities for the Department, the Assembly would welcome the new structure that include strategic communications services, news services, library services, and outreach services.

Regarding the United Nations’ messages, the Assembly would request the Department to pay particular attention to such major issues as the eradication of poverty, conflict prevention, sustainable development, human rights, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, combating terrorism, and the needs of the African continent.

Also by the text, the Assembly would welcome the ongoing efforts of DPI to enhance multilingualism and emphasize the importance of ensuring the full, equitable treatment of all the official languages in all activities of DPI.

Towards bridging the digital divide, the Assembly would welcome DPI’s contribution to publicize the Secretary-General’s efforts to close the digital divide as a means of spurring economic growth and as a response to the continuing gulf etween developed and developing countries, and, in that context, would request it to further enhance its role in that regard.

Emphasizing that the United Nations information centres, or regional hubs, as applicable, were the "field voice" of DPI, the Assembly would welcome ongoing efforts to review the allocation of both staff and financial resources to the centres, with a view to possibly transferring resources from the centres in developed countries to those in developing countries.

Concerning traditional means of communication, the text noted with satisfaction the success of the pilot project on the development of an international radio broadcasting capacity for the United Nations and endorsed the Secretary-General’s proposal that the pilot project be made an integral part of the Department’s activities.

(Source: United Nations News Centre, 9 May)

WHO Reproductive Health Library No.6

The WHO Reproductive Health Library, a collaborative project between the World Health Organization, the Cochrane Collaboration and various institutions and scientists in developing country, has recently released its sixth edition. The latest edition, based upon the 2002 release of the Cochrane Library, contains 79 Cochrane reviews and new commentaries with practical recommendations in all areas of health care.

Some of the reviews included in this issue are:

Strategies for partner notification for sexually transmitted diseases

Condom effectiveness in reducing heterosexual HIV transmission

Interventions for preventing or improving the outcome of delivery at or beyond term, among others.

For more information about The Cochrane Collaboration, visit http://www.cochrane.org

The future of information and communication technologies (ICT) for development

As part of a special report prepared for the first ICT Development Forum held recently in Bonn, Germany, a paper has been contributed by C.P. Braga, Director, Informatics Program at the World Bank and two other co-authors under the title "The Future of Information and Communication Technologies for Development".

The paper reviews some of the main on-going ICT technological trends that are closely related to the basic dimensions of the digital divide: access (i.e. connectivity, affordability), basic skills (i.e. digital literacy), and relevant content (i.e., information that allows better social and economic decisions).

It underscores the complexities of predicting the evolution of networked systems in the context of rapid technological change and then identifies bottlenecks limiting developing countries from participating fully in the benefits of the "information revolution".

"The reality of the introduction of these new technologies in developing countries, however, remains quite distinct from the science-fiction like optimism of technology enthusiasts. Most developing nations don’t have the human resources to fully explore the technology future we [authors] have outlined. Nor will they unless there are radical changes to their educational systems," the authors warn. Continuing: "Needs for human resources exceed availability at all levels. Very large numbers of people will need to become ICT literate in a very short time. Large numbers of people will be needed to build and maintain the ICT infrastructure and to create the ICT industries. Still larger numbers of people will have to become digitally literate to improve the productivity in agriculture, industry, commerce, resource conservation, mineral exploitation, health, education, financial services, and the rest of the economy".

"Moreover, radical reforms are still needed in policy and regulation," the paper adds further, shifting to the topic of the constraints to e-development. "Institutional, organizational, and cultural inertia are likely to pose grave constraints to e-development".

"Poor countries don’t have the financial resources to make all the investments that would be required. The annual cost of providing computer-based instruction in primary and secondary classrooms, for example, was calculated to range from $78 to $104 per student per year in three Latin American pilot projects. This, in turn, is several times the value of the annual discretionary budgets per student available in most developing countries. And there are many other economic barriers".

The paper concludes with a discussion of the role that leadership by social actors, Governments, and donor agencies can play in addressing these bottlenecks in the medium term and achieve ICT for development goals.

For more information, or download this paper, or other related papers, in a PDF format, visit http://www.developmentgateway.org/ict/leadership