World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) follow-up
meeting opens for ten-year review of Summit outcomes
Prizes awarded for implementation of WSIS targets
Geneva, 10 June 2014 – ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun I. Touré announced winners of the WSIS Project Prizes 2014 at the WSIS+10 High-Level Event, which opened today. The meeting focuses attention on the ten-year review of the implementation of Outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), which took place in Geneva in 2003 and Tunis in 2005. WSIS+10 will set fresh priorities to strengthen the catalytic role of ICTs in the post-2015 development agenda.
A growing range of entities including governments, international organizations, the private sector, civil society, academia and others representing cross-cutting sectors, participate in the WSIS Project Prizes contest with a view to sharing best practices on the implementation of the WSIS outcomes. This engagement highlights the inclusiveness and multi-stakeholder character of the WSIS Process to work towards building the information society. More than 140 projects were nominated for the 2014 contest.
The WSIS Project Prizes 2014 contest provides a platform to identify and showcase success stories and models that could be easily replicated, empower communities at the local level, and recognize the efforts of stakeholders towards achieving the WSIS goals.
Seventeen winners were awarded prizes in recognition of their outstanding contribution towards strengthening the implementation of Outcomes of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS):
- Ministry of Information Technology and Communications, Colombia
- Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communications, Ghana
- GEOSYS, Algeria
- Mohammed Bin Rashid Smart Learning Programme, United Arab Emirates
- Information Technology Authority, Oman
- Polish Agency for Enterprise Development, Poland
- Prime Minister’s Office, Bangladesh
- Ministry of Education, Saudi Arabia
- Abu Dhabi Systems & Information Centre, United Arab Emirates
- Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, Hyderabad, India
- Egypt Information and Communications Technology Trust Fund (MCIT–UNDP), Egypt
- İSKİ, Turkey
- Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, Uruguay
- Kuwait University, Kuwait
- Cubarte, National Centre of Informatics in Culture, Cuba
- Philmon Press P.L.C, Ethiopia
- Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Information and Communication Technologies, Tunisia
To learn more about the prize-winning projects and to hear from the winners, the World Café: WSIS Stocktaking: Beyond Excellence in Implementation of ICT Projects is open to the public on 11 June at 12:15 in ITU. Detailed descriptions of winning projects are highlighted in the 2014 edition of the WSIS Stocktaking Report on Success Stories.
Background
WSIS Project Prizes is an international contest developed in response to requests from WSIS stakeholders to create an effective mechanism to evaluate and recognize individuals, governments, civil society, local, regional and international agencies, research institutions and private sector companies for outstanding success in implementing development-oriented strategies that leverage the power of ICTs. The WSIS Project Prizes contest is an integral part of the WSIS stocktaking process (www.wsis.org/stocktaking). The contest was held for the first time in 2012, and rapidly gained attention and popularity within the ICT for Development (ICT4D) community.
Video interviews and photos of winners along with live and archived event webcasts and transcripts of speeches can be found at the event Newsroom at http://groups.itu.int/stocktaking/WSISProjectPrizes2014.aspx or on the main event website at www.wsis.org/forum.
Be part of the WSIS discussions and get the latest WSIS news on Twitter at #WSIS.
For more information, please see www.wsis.org/prizes
About ITU
ITU is the leading United Nations agency for information and communication technology. For nearly 150 years, ITU has coordinated the shared global use of the radio spectrum, promoted international cooperation in assigning satellite orbits, worked to improve communication infrastructure in the developing world, and established the worldwide standards that foster seamless interconnection of a vast range of communications systems. From broadband networks to new-generation wireless technologies, aeronautical and maritime navigation, radio astronomy, satellite-based meteorology and converging fixed-mobile phone, Internet and broadcasting technologies, ITU is committed to connecting the world. www.itu.int
