Hullo everyone, A note to inform you of an online forum that WOUGNET is hosting to facilitate contributions to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) working documents.
Being involved as you are with Open Source software, I believe your input in the discussion would be most useful. In particular, while the Ugandan delegation at the WSIS PrepCom 2 did endorse and raise the issue of Open Source, this is not reflected yet in the Uganda Working Document for the WSIS. It is one of the objectives of the forum to gather recommendations for additions, deletions and ammendments to the working document which we shall submit to the National WSIS taskforce. Below, please find information about the forum, including a registration form. Will be happy to answer questions you may have, and look forward to your participation. Regards, Dorothy =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ONLINE FORUM: AN INFORMATION SOCIETY FOR UGANDA April 14 - 30, 2003 http://www.wougnet.org/WSIS/ug/isug.html BACKGROUND Following the WSIS PrepCom II in Geneva, two basic working documents have been produced: a draft Declaration of Principles and a draft Plan of Action. Comments to the two working documents may be submitted by May 31, 2003. PrepCom III will be convened in Geneva from September 15-26, 2003, and will consist of two weeks of negotiations on all issues related to the Summit. There will be an Intersessional Period between PrepCom-II and PrepCom-III dedicated to refining the working documents for the Draft Declaration of Principles and Draft Action Plan. The two documents, which include contributions from governments and from observers (i.e., civil society, private sector, international organisations), are available in WORD and PDF formats at http://www.itu.int/wsis under the section: WSIS - PrepCom-3 and Intersessional Period Geneva (Switzerland), 15-26 September 2003 Working documents for the Draft Declaration of Principles and Draft Action Plan as of 21 March 2003 Uganda's input to the WSIS PrepCom is available at: http://www.ucc.co.ug, under the section: WSIS Preparations Document principles and action plan to WSIS PrepCom2 Additional documents related to the PrepCom working documents have been produced including comments and highlighting priority issues and issues of concern from a gender perspective, and from civil society in general. Available at the WSIS NGO Gender Strategies Working Group (GSWG) website - http://www.genderit.org - are the following: a) Overview of the WSIS process - Putting Gender on the Agenda, by Anne Walker IWTC. b) Documents related to the PrepCom II, including: Civil society comments to Draft Declaration Civil society comments to Draft Action Plan Letter of Concern to WSIS PrepCom President - Mr Samass�kou's 'Non Paper' Submission by the NGO GSWG to WSIS PrepCom II,Geneva, February 2003 Also available are documents produced during the 47th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), which had as one of its two thematic issues: "Participation and access to women of the media, and information and communication technologies and their impact on and use as an instrument for the advancement and empowerment of women". The documents at the GSWG website include: African caucus statement The "Seven Musts": Priority Issues for Gender Equality in the WSIS Process ACTION ITEMS for Gender Equality in the Information Society ONLINE FORUM OBJECTIVES To facilitate contribution to the WSIS working documents, the goal of the online forum is to gather contributions from a civil society perspective. The specific objectives of the online forum are to: - Identify the key principles that should underline an Information Society in Uganda - Identify specific actions that are priority in order to ensure equitable access by all within the Information Society - Identify the role of civil society in the development of ICTs and equitable information access in Uganda ONLINE FORUM PARTICIPATION Participation in the online forum is open to everyone. The forum is email-based. ONLINE FORUM LANGUAGE The primary language of the forum is English. ONLINE FORUM AGENDA April 14 Introduction April 15-16 Key principles April 17-18 Specific actions April 21-25 Role of civil society in the ICT policy process in Uganda April 28-30 Wrap-up Background documents for the online forum will include the WSIS PrepCom II working documents, Uganda's input to the WSIS PrepCom 2, and documents produced by civil society. These documents are available online via the links provided above in the background section. If you wish to receive copies of the documents via email, send a note to [EMAIL PROTECTED] The introductory messages to facilitate discussion of each item of the agenda are available at: http://www.wougnet.org/WSIS/ug/isugdiscuss.html ONLINE FORUM OUTPUT A report will be produced based on the contributions during the Forum. The report will be made available online and will be presented to the National WSIS Taskforce. Comments specific to the WSIS working documents will also be submitted to the WSIS Africa Caucus and to the WSIS Secretariat. ONLINE FORUM REGISTRATION Complete and submit the following form to indicate your interest in participating in the online forum. Upon registration, you will be subscribed to the Forum mailing list. 1. Name: 2. Sex: 3. Email Address: 4. Organisation: 5. Country: 6. If you are involved with the WSIS process and/or the ICT policy in your country - Please describe your experience Send your completed registration form to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ADDITIONAL INFORMATION For additional information about the online forum, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For some information on the WSIS preparations in Uganda, visit: http://www.wougnet.org/WSIS/ug/ugandawsis.html
