UNESCO; support to the 2013 World Summit on the Information Society Review Event (WSIS+10)

Description What is done in the programme or project and why, what results are pursued, who benefits from the activities and who are involved in the implementation.

UNESCO´s 36th General Conference requested the organization of a high level WSIS review meeting in 2013. The meeting, entitled "Towards Knowledge Societies for Peace and Sustainable Development", will be organized at UNESCO´s headquarters in Paris from 25-27 February 2013. It is an integral part of the WSIS +10 preparatory process which will assess the progress made in the implementation of WSIS commitments in accordance with the Resolution 60/252 of the United Nations General Assembly and the paragraph 111 of the Tunis Agenda for Information Society. The outcomes of the UNESCO review meeting will feed into the UN wide WSIS+10 process and into the UN MDGs review process. Finland´s contribution will be channeled firstly to the participation from developing countries and to the offering of remote participation possibilities through online tools and secondly to the production and sharing of quality reports on the outcomes of the meeting. The objective of the Finnish support is to enhance the openness and inclusiveness of the meeting by giving priority to the least developed countries and the marginalized groups, and to raise the quality of the meeting by facilitating the collection, analyses and sharing of its outcomes. The overall goal of the event is to review the progress made in the implementation of the WSIS commitments from the perspective of UNESCO´s WSIS work. Therefore, the review will focus to the soft components of harnessing the ICTs for development. These include developing relevant content and services, building human capacities and creating enabling environment and coherent policy instruments. This all is guided by principles that ensure human rights, support democracy and good governance. The project is coordinated by UNESCO´s Communication and Information Sector and internal Steering Committee created for the purpose of the event. The preparations also involve the lead facilitation agencies of the WSIS process as well as all stakeholders through open consultation process. The time frame for the implementation of the project extends from August 2012 (research and selection of sponsored participants) till December 2013 (follow-up activies).