Until recently I was not aware of the existence of the International Telecommunication Union. Unless international telecommunications falls into your line of work or among your main interests, why would you be aware of it? They are not the type of organization that makes headlines every day, or even once a year. As the United Nations’ lead agency for information and communication technologies, they quietly go about their business, which means helping the world communicate in 3 main sectors: radio, standardization and development.

One of ITU’s projects is Connecting the World, which is a multi-stakeholder platform designed to achieve the goals of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), namely “connecting the unconnected by 2015”. . ITU and its partners are working together to improve the development of ICT infrastructure, connectivity and access to the Internet. To do this they need to create and mobilize the human, financial and technical resources that are capable of carrying out and maintaining this vision.

Some of the projects include:

Unlimited Potential, whose primary partner is Microsoft Corporation. Microsoft created the Unlimited Potential program to enhance learning opportunities for people. These opportunities focus on technology-related skills and are delivered at community technology centers or telecentres, which are places where people can go to learn the skills they need to use ICT effectively. The program consists of 4 components: 1) a grant program to support IT skills training and enhance the capacity of Community Technology Centers (CTCs) 2) a software donation program 3) a community learning curriculum that can be used or adapted by the CTC 4) a community network of technological support. This program has been running since May 2003 and is active in 83 countries. The goal is to use technology training to create social and economic opportunities in order to change lives, transform communities, and strengthen local economies.

National ICT Learning Program, the lead partner is KADO, a leading Korean agency that aims to bridge the digital divide locally and internationally. The program targets digital competence by providing ICT training opportunities to disadvantaged sectors of the population. These sectors include the disabled, the elderly and those with literacy problems.

KADO plays a coordinating role to a large extent, as it works in conjunction with government and private educational institutions. Helps in planning and preparing activities and provides resources as well as expert advice. The program is involved in the creation of a group of instructors for IT education, the construction of an IT education center and the evaluation of the usability of information. The program is expected to serve as the foundation for building an “e-Korea,” encompassing a whole nation of proficient ICT users.

Internet-based environmental information system, whose main partner is the International Telecommunications Union. Other partners include the Observatory for the Sahel and the Sahara, the United Nations Environment Program and the United Nations Institute for Training and Research. The focus of this project is the creation of a sustainable Internet-based Environmental Information System that will enable African countries to better collect, manage, share and use environmental data.

The project consists of a training component such as the delivery and installation of one PC per country, which comes equipped with a SISEI environmental management portal in French or English. The project also finances a local technical support expert in each country and provides additional support through UNITAR staff if required. The project aims to help countries in the preservation of natural resources and face the growing threats of climate change, desertification, biodiversity, etc. The SISEI information system will also allow users to create a network or community of information exchange and thus allow users to learn from each other. It is currently in use in the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Uganda, and Zambia.

Empowering poor communities through information, whose lead partner is the United Nations Fund for International Partnerships. Other partners are Equal Access and the United Nations Development Program. The NGO Equal Access, in conjunction with UNDP, created the Digital Broadcast Initiative (DBI), which is a flexible, replicable and scalable project methodology and ICT platform that provides information and education to remote communities. The project uses satellite broadcasts, AM/FM broadcasts, community outreach, etc. to transmit your information.

There is a strong belief in including local partners in creating tailored communication strategies to address issues affecting people in the developing world. The local language is used when designing and producing audio and multimedia programs, as it is key to reaching the target audience. Countries currently benefiting from the program include Afghanistan, India, Nepal and the Lao PDR

There are many more projects, dozens in fact, dedicated to bringing technology, information and skills to developing countries and giving them the best possible advantage in meeting their challenges. In fact, it’s a shame I never even heard of the International Telecommunication Union until recently, it’s a shame more people aren’t aware of it and its important work.

It does a good job with its partners and should receive much more public recognition for its efforts than it does today. The UN gets a lot of flak for being a powerless and redundant organization, but we only have to look a little deeper to find that it is, in fact, not so. The heart of the UN still beats strong.

Recommended sites:

http://www.itu.int/partners/index.html

http://www.microsoft.com

[http://www.kado.or.kr]

http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/

http://www.un.org/unfip/

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