Broadband Commission calls on world leaders to harness ICT4D to drive SDGs

ITRealms:

The Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development has called on world leaders to harness Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D), reports ITRealms.

The Commission at the end of its recent High-Level Policy Forum in New York, cited ICTs as uniquely powerful tool to drive global development, mostly in driving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Also, the Commission in a press statement made available to ITRealms, urged policymakers, the private sector and other partners to make deployment of broadband infrastructure a top priority in strategies to accelerate global development and progress towards the SDGs.

The statement presented to the 2016 High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development, which is meeting in New York City from 11-20 July to guide global efforts on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

The Commission outlined the myriad ways broadband could improve global sustainable development.

These, they said, include addressing basic needs such as education and access to information, helping lift people out of poverty through e-commerce opportunities and job growth, improving health services, monitoring climate change and planetary processes, and bridging the digital gender divide.

“The theme of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development is ‘Ensuring that no-one is left behind,” said Houlin Zhao, ITU Secretary-General, stressing that Broadband Commission outlined the fundamental role broadband technology could play in helping the world achieve its most pressing sustainable development goals.

“Let us all grasp this vital opportunity to strive for a world where every citizen enjoys the opportunities and benefits of universal, affordable and inclusive access to ICTs,” he said.

This, he said, will be the first HLPF that examines efforts at national, regional, and global levels to put policies and measures in place that will help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

In the months since the global community unanimously adopted the goals at the SDG Summit in New York, last September, they have become the development ‘gold standard’ for countries, the business community, civil society and local governments around world. The HLPF also offers an opportunity for the UN to highlight the important work all members of the UN family are doing in support of the Goals.

This year’s HLPF consists of a five-day Expert-level Meeting and a three-day Ministerial Meeting, 18 and 20 July.

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Pix from the 12th meeting of the Commission.

JACITAD to Jonathan: Make broadband democracy dividend

A non-governmental organisation, the Joint Action for Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Awareness and Development (JACITAD), has asked President Goodluck Jonathan to turn the availability of broadband initiatives in the country into democracy dividends for Nigerians.

The group made this call in its 2011 agenda for the ICT sector in the country.

Speaking through its president, Prince Ogbonnia Osuagwu, they called on President Jonathan to use the accessibility of broadband with the commercial launch of MainOne Cable and Glo-1 since last year.

To achieve this, Prince Osuagwu in the company of the Secretary-General of JACITAD, Mr. Oluwaseun Ayotokun informed ITRealms Online that the government led by President Jonathan, should as matter of urgency consider broadband as digital right of the citizens.

This call, JACITAD said is in line with the recent recommendations of the global telecom body of the United Nations, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

“We all know today that broadband has become the life wire of any economy,” Osuagwu said.

The group pointed out that in any society where broadband is scarce or the cost is high as it is in Nigeria, “no matter other natural resources that may be available in that society they may still be groping in the dark.”

Apart from other rich natural and human resources available to Nigeria, JACITAD noted that two monolithic initiatives berthed at the shores of Nigeria in the preceding year of 2010, but there is nothing to suggest that the government of the day has plans to drive this plan to the populace.

“We feel that all it takes is for the government of the day to cash-in on that to transform the economy,” the group said, advising President Goodluck Jonathan to emulate the United States President, Mr. Barrack Obama, who has since launched a dedicated fund for broadband penetration drive to the rural areas of the country.

“We wouldn’t mind if he would take it as his efforts of delivering democracy dividends,” JACITAD said.

ITRealms Online recalls that last May, at the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) Forum 2010 in Geneva, ITU and United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) proclaimed the establishment of a top level Broadband Commission for Digital Development (BCDD), which will define strategies for accelerating broadband rollout worldwide and examine applications that could see broadband networks improve the delivery of a huge range of social services, from healthcare to education, environmental management, and safety to name a few.

The Commission, which comprised of some 30 top names from around the world, represents technology, business and social enterprises leaders with President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and the Honorary Lifetime Chairman of Grupo Carso, Mr. Carlos Slim Hélu, as co-chairmen, while ITU Secretary-General, Dr. Hamadoun Touré and UNESCO Director-General, Ms. Irina Bokova, will serve as joint vice chairpersons.

The Commission has the support of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who received the Commission’s findings during the UN Millennium Development Goal (MDG) Summit in New York last September.

Speaking then at the launch of BCDD, Dr Touré said that governments now need to view broadband networks as basic national infrastructure.

“In the 21st century, affordable, ubiquitous broadband networks will be as critical to social and economic prosperity as networks like transport, water and power,” he said, pointing out that not only does broadband deliver benefits across every sector of society, it also helps promote social and economic development, and will be key in helping us get the MDGs back on track.

JACITAD was formed in 2003 to champion and assist in molding the understanding of media practitioners within the information and communication technology sector.

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