Discussion papers on the sticky issues of financing ICT initiatives in developing countries and internet governance feed new WSIS phase
June 24 2004 -- The second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) - the first-ever UN conference on information and communication - has started. Delegates are meeting in Hammamet, Tunisia in the first 'prepcom' of phase two, and APC is amongst them. As input to the debate of the issues that were most contentious during the first stage of WSIS - internet governance and the financing for ICT initiatives in developing countries - APC has commissioned discussion papers written by civil society experts in the areas. You can download the papers from the APC site. - APCNews **Financing** Financing the Information Society in the South: A Global Public Goods Perspective By Pablo Accuosto (ITeM) and Niki Johnson, June 2004 This paper sets out to look at the question of financing the provision of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the South, within the context of the United Nationsí World Summit on the Information Society, and advocates adopting a ìglobal public goodsî perspective on the issue. The paper first examines how the question of ICT financing has been debated during the WSIS preparatory process and the first phase Summit (Geneva, December 2003). Particular attention is paid to Senegalís proposal for the creation of a ìDigital Solidarity Fundî, and the reactions to it of the different stakeholders ñ governments, from both North and South, the private sector and civil society ñ participating in WSIS. The following section explores the potential for addressing the issue of financing ICT expansion from a global public goods (GPG) perspective. First the authors provide an overview of what such an approach means in conceptual terms, looking both at general definitions of GPGs and the applicability of the concept to ICTs. They then review the debate that has been taking place around the specific issue of which existing or alternative innovative financing mechanisms might be used for GPG provision, linking the proposed strategies whenever possible to the ICT sector. Finally, in the conclusions the authors offer a concrete proposal with respect to what we consider to be the most appropriate financing mechanism for funding expanded ICT access in the South. APC gratefully acknowledges the funding support of CIDA. Download in pdf in English http://rights.apc.org/documents/financing.pdf **Internet Governance** Internet governance and the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) By Adam Peake, June 2004 The purpose of this paper is to describe our current understanding of the debate about Internet governance in WSIS, and to examine the main policy issues that are being considered in that discussion. It also suggests opportunities for developing nation stakeholders to contribute to the processes that are defining the Internet governance landscape. The key message is that there are opportunities for civil society to engage and we must take them. Internet governance is one of the most controversial and debated issues to come from the WSIS process. It is also a moving target in that the UN working group that will help define what Internet governance is, and identify the public policy issues involved is only just being set up and we can only make a best guess at its working methods and the scope of issues it will consider. As such this paper is very much a work in progress and may be modified over the coming months. APC gratefully acknowledges the funding support of CIDA. Download in pdf in English http://rights.apc.org/documents/governance.pdf =========================================================== To see other papers in our discussion series visit http://rights.apc.org/papers.shtml To be alerted when new papers appear sign up for APCNews http://lists.apc.org/mailman/listinfo/apcnews _______________________________________________ APCNews mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://lists.apc.org/mailman/listinfo/apcnews ------------ ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, a Non-Profit Organization*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/>
