Inclusive Knowledge Societies: Reality, Vision and How to Get There… (UNESCO)
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Inclusive Knowledge Societies: Reality, vision and how to get there… (UNESCO) Thursday, 12 June 2014, 16h30 – 18h00 http://www.itu.int/wsis/implementation/2014/forum/agenda/#?se=227 CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY: CAPTION FIRST, INC. P.O. BOX 3066 MONUMENT, CO 80132 1-877-825-5234 +001-719-481-9835 www.captionfirst.com ***** This is being provided in a rough-draft format. Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. **** >> MODERATOR: Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, we are about to start the panel and welcome to the last high level dialogue on the inclusive knowledge society, reality, vision and how to get there. So welcome to the panel. And this is the moment when I am handing over the Chairmanship to our colleague from UNESCO and Director Indrajit Banerjee. Thank you very much. >> ANDREW TAUSSIG: Welcome everyone. Not quite immediately to Indrajit Banerjee but to his colleague Andrew Taussig. I am Page | 1 WSIS+10 HLE Captioning: Inclusive Knowledge Societies: Reality, vision and how to get there… (UNESCO), 12 June involved in the citizen group and various institutes like Chatham House. None of that matters. What is much more important is here we are at this very important stage as the twin tracks for the WSIS review process and the move towards the Millennium Development Goals. And I always think of the WSIS process, the development of knowledge society as a shot of digital adrenalin in the arm. So this is a very critical stage. And if I may just quote, something which was said by a very distinguished servant of the United Nations and a great scholar, Richard Hoggart who was an assistant general of UNESCO and he talked about the urge to communicate which is what we are doing now and what it is all about. He says "I called a-fellow feeling towards others which is intrinsically different from one which is only to use or manipulate them." Human beings are the only people, animals who adapt themselves to the environment. Only we humans can change the environment and this is our big challenge. And the other point that I would like to make which comes out of a report commissioned by Dr. Indrajit Banerjee from two distinguished academics, Professor Robert Lasel and Professor Trambury of the University of Quebec of Montreal in Canada which is a view of how we are getting on with the view towards knowledge societies. And they make a number of key points which is essentially humanistic. We cannot look for the technological miracle and he called it looking for the Resolution. And I can really commend it to you an excellent report commissioned by excellent people, but it raises a number of detailed issues which I am sure our distinguished panel will address. And we have Minister Salma Abbasi, one of the big fingers of the WSIS process and Grace involved with the Civil Society and Salma, a consultant and John Davies a senior figure from the corporate company, Intel, one of the most important companies. With that exciting cast list in mind and I turn to my colleague, Dr. Indrajit Banerjee who has Page | 2 WSIS+10 HLE Captioning: Inclusive Knowledge Societies: Reality, vision and how to get there… (UNESCO), 12 June really three stakes in this. He is a triple stakeholder. First as himself, an academic who has written books on ICT and second as someone who is a Secretary-General, activist in terms of Civil Society and thirdly as a member of UNESCO. Over who you. >> INDRAJIT BANERJEE: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Dear colleagues, fellow panelists, I will be brief because this is a UNESCO session and we want to hear other people speak and have an interactive session. I thought it was important before the start of the session to give you some context and let me start by saying that UNESCO as you may know was a key organizer of the WSIS gatherings in Geneva in 2003 and Tunis in 2005. As the key UN agency in the field of communication science UNESCO has provided significant intellectual input and expertise not only in Geneva and Tunis preparation stages but throughout the processes leading to the first WSIS+10 event last year organized by UNESCO and partners in Paris and now the secretary review event here organized by ITU and its partners. Significant contribution was the proposal of knowledge societies concept in 2005. At the core of this concept lives the belief that while universal access to information is a basic requirement to create knowledge societies it is not a sufficient requirement. This is because knowledge applies meaning, appropriation and participation. Access to knowledge implies much more than access to ICTs or digital information. It involves learning, informal and formal education settings and is partly acquired through experience. Knowledge is a means to achieve social and economic goals and essential to culture, socialization and integration within markets. Knowledge is also the path to individual and collective emancipation and should be valued for itself. Widespread research and consultations organized with the experts around the world made UNESCO adopt knowledge society's concept and framework consisting of four main pillars. First, Page | 3 WSIS+10 HLE Captioning: Inclusive Knowledge Societies: Reality, vision and how to get there… (UNESCO), 12 June quality education for all. Second, universal access to information and knowledge. Third, Freedom of Expression. And last but not least respect for linguistic and cultural diversity. Last year on the occasion of the WSIS+10 review event we commissioned a report by two leading scholars. The idea was to take stock of developments on the ground major issues and challenges and propose a strategy to take knowledge societies agenda forward. This high quality report entitled Renewing the Knowledge Society for Peace and Sustainable Development, Providing an In-depth Analysis and Pathway and presents nine guidelines for strategy towards knowledge societies. Let me quickly to set the stage for this session and read through the nine guidelines very quickly. First giving priority to learning processes and the organization of network learning in the light of UNESCO's mission. Second, strong emphasis should be given to the training of trainers, combining effectively all the resources available from face-to-face interaction to digital networking. Third, facilitating rapid circulation of scientific knowledge in all parts of the world, especially in less developed areas. Fourth, encouraging research and debate to protect Intellectual Property and to favor access for all. Fifth, fostering balanced partnerships among the private sector and public sector and Civil Society Organizations as well as among individuals in other groups should be given a priority. Sixth, stimulating participatory initiatives, valuing diversity and giving individuals and local communities visibility and voice. Seventh, responsiveness to the interest of women, People with Disabilities, native peoples and marginalized peoples and groups. Eight, UNESCO should take its leading role in all the areas covered by its mandate encouraging collaborations among those in and outside the UN system with the resources to host information portals to foster Page | 4 WSIS+10 HLE Captioning: Inclusive Knowledge Societies: Reality, vision and how to get there… (UNESCO), 12 June measures to support open data initiatives and make information more accessible. And last but not least fostering environments and knowledge societies that employ fair employment practice and respect the Human Rights of voluntary contributors and paid workers for diversifying and improving livelihoods. You can see there are quite a wholistic list of guidelines covering those areas that we feel are the most important and the most critical. And with that I think we have the stage for listening to other people's views from various stakeholder groups. And I would pass it back to you, Mr. Chairman. >> ANDREW TAUSSIG: Thank you very much indeed. Those challenges are really exciting and will be picked up by our first panel of speakers who come from a range of perspectives, but I would like to think of standard setting. These are such exciting things and they require the participation of all of us as stakeholders, not just people sitting on a panel. The panel is just a piece of wooden furniture. This is a great human enterprise we are involved with. But to begin what we will do is our first speaker, very lucky to have the Minister of ICT from the Minister of ICT and Youth Rwanda, the Honorable Jean Philbert Nsengimana. He has a lot of experience working in this development field. He built and led teams that won the technology and Government award in 2007 for the best e-Health mobile based market solution. And he has directed and organized projects across a range of different fields prior to joining Boxsev, a U.S. company he was the regional coordinator for Africa. Having done a lot in the field it is a privilege. We look forward to what you have to say. >> JEAN PHILBERT NSENGIMANA: Thank you so much, Andrew. Let me comment on something you just said about the urge for human beings to communicate. It is so important that people tend not to Page | 5 WSIS+10 HLE Captioning: Inclusive Knowledge Societies: Reality, vision and how to get there… (UNESCO), 12 June believe something that has been proven by research, that Africans living on less than $2 a day, they spend more on air time than on food. Can you believe that? That has been proven. So I think trying really to understand the process by which knowledge is created and communicated and how it can be enhanced to change people's lives for the better is something that I'd like to commend UNESCO for leading.