Members of the ICT4D Collective and friends had an exciting and very busy time in Geneva during the 20th anniversary meeting of the World Summit on the Information Society between 26th and 31st May, 2024. Our full agenda is available here, but we summarise below details of the two main sessions that we convened.
Community Media Networks: envisioning the future (Session 331)
We convened this session on 29th May with ACORAB/CIN , BNNRC, TaC-Together, Youth IGF, Cape Town TV, CEMCA, and ICT4D.at, highlighting the importance of community media in reaching some of the world’s most isolated and marginalised people. Our very distinguished line-up of speakers and moderators included (in order of speaking): Pramod Tandukar (Executive Director, ACORAB, Nepal), AHM Bazlur Rahman (CEO, Bangladesh NGOs Network for Radio and Communication), Dr. R Sreedher (Tele Learning and Community Radio Practitioner), and Philomena Gnanapragasam (CEO Asia-Pacific Institute for Broadcasting Development), with Tim Unwin (ICT4D Collective) and Paul Spiesberger (ICT4D.at) also being moderators.
- Details of the Agenda (with full information about the speakers)
- Output document
- Slide deck with full details of the presentations
Towards a better understanding of the interface between digital tech and the physical environment (Session 332)
This session (convened by The Digital Environment System Coalition, ICT4D.at and TaC-Together with YouthIGF) provided an overview of the agenda being developed by the Digital-Environment System Coalition (DESC), and an outline of our proposed contribution to the ITU’s Partner2Connect initiative. It emphasised the need for a completely new was of understanding the interactions between digital tech and the environment, that is much more holistic than the existing emphasis of the “global community” mainly on climate change, carbon emissions, and e-waste.
- Details of the Agenda (with full information about the speakers)
- Output document
- Slide deck with full details of the presentations
Other sessions in which members of the ICT4D Collective were involved.
- Monday, 27 May 2024: Session 346 WSIS+20 Visioning Challenge – WSIS towards the Summit of the Future/GDC and beyond – Tim Unwin served as catalyst for Topic 2: Bridging the Gap: Towards Just and Equitable Information and Knowledge Societies.
- Monday 27 May 2024: Session 491 High-Level Dialogue, Space for Sustainable Development: the case of connectivity, – Tim Unwin was a speaker
- Tuesday 28 May 2024: Session 507 Leaders TalkX: Digital Advancing Sustainable Development: A Trusted Connected World – Tim Unwin served as High Level Track Facilitator.
- Wednesday, 29 May 2024: Session 262 Connecting the Unconnected in the field of Education Excellence, Cyber Security & Rural Solutions and Women Empowerment in ICT – Tim Unwin was moderator.
- Thursday 30 May 2024: Session 353 UNESCO and GEM:Placing learners at the center: ensuring that the use of technology in education is properly defined, measured and governed, – Tim Unwin was a speaker.
We would also all like to share a special word of thanks to Gitanjali Sah and the ITU Interns who worked so hard to make WSIS+20 such a success
Do read Paul Spiesberger’s reflective piece at https://www.ict4d.at/2024/06/world-summit-on-the-information-society-wsis20-forum-high-level-event-2024/ for more details.
ICT4D Collective 
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