Expectations
By Rebecca Wanjiku & Emrakeb Assefa, HIGHWAY Africa News Agency (HANA)

YASMINE HAMMAMET, TUNISIA, June 23, 2004 Improved access to Information
Communication Technologies (ICTs), more discussion on Internet governance,
financing, and strengthening of African civil society are some of the
objectives that organizations attending WSIS preparatory committee are hoping
to achieve.

The question of Internet governance ruffled feathers in Geneva last December
with some countries challenging the role of the United States of America and
the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) in controlling
the Internet.

In this regard, Theresa Swinehart from ICANN hopes to participate in the process
and enlighten participants more about ICANN and its role in internet governance.

During the Geneva Phase of WSIS (Dec 10-12, 2003) participating governments
struggled to find an answer to bridging the digital divide, they invited the
United Nations to form an intergovernmental body to rival ICANN but the move
was later shelved.

But for Richard Buguma of the United Nations Association in Uganda, the issue of
Internet governance is not high on his agenda. He wants his government to
participate more in international meetings and the
people of Uganda to access ICTs such as FM radio or computers.

“You can’t govern what you don’t have. We must access computers first then start
talking about governance issues,” said Baguma.

Asked how he would achieve this objective, Buguma insisted that success lay in
strengthening of the African civil society caucus and working within the
community media thematic group.

Elsa Mapilele from United Nations Association in Mozambique hopes that by the
end of the three-day meting, issues of financing can be properly addressed. She
feels that all Africans should be in a position to access ICTs and reap its
benefits.

Being a member of the taskforce on ICTs and development, Mapilele hopes to get a
forum to address other participants on why Africa needs financial or technical
assistance to access ICTs and consequently bridge the digital divide.

While the Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action adopted in Geneva may
have benefited through the involvement of civil society and business
organizations, it is hoped that the Tunis PrepCom
will move a step further down the line from principles to action.

Renate Bloem, president of Conference of NGOs (CONGO) hopes that the PrepCom
will be able to offer a practical approach and a forum to review the
achievements since last year’s Geneva summit.

“I am hoping to move from principles to action through practical approach. The
summit presents us with a tool to accelerate the Millennium Development Goals
(MDGs) by connecting people,” she added.

Saying that civil society organizations’ (CSOs) participation during the First
Phase in Geneva has been very active, Bloem, however, cautioned that NGOs need
to “build on the success we made in Geneva and advance further.”

She noted that the most promising aspect of the WSIS in Geneva from CSOs’
viewpoint was the agreement reached among governments, civil societies and
businesses to institute a multi-stakeholder approach
to bridge the gap in access to information and communications technologies
(ICTs) between developed and developing nations.

In January, the WSIS Executive Secretariat made an open call to organizations in
all sectors participating in the WSIS to forward information regarding
partnership initiatives to bridge the
digital divide.

According to the president, the partnerships should involve a range of actors in
a given area of work arranged among any combination of partners, including
governments, regional groups, local authorities,
non-governmental actors/civil society, international institutions and private
sector partners.

The initiative aims to reduce the vast inequality in access to information
technology which is “threatening to slow the formation of a truly global,
inclusive information society,” Bloem noted.