IGF 2021 Open Forum #30 WSIS Action Lines Achieving the SDGs: WSIS Forum 2022 Open Consultation Process

Time
Wednesday, 8th December, 2021 (12:50 UTC) - Wednesday, 8th December, 2021 (13:50 UTC)
Room
Conference Room 7

Panel - Auditorium - 60 Min

Description

The World Summit on the Information Society Forum 2022 (WSIS Forum 2022) represents the world's largest annual gathering of the ‘ICT for development’ community and is scheduled to be held starting on 15 March with the final week to be held on 30 May – 3 June 2022. The Agenda and Programme of the Forum will be built on the basis of the submissions received during the Open Consultation Process (OCP)and following the outcomes of the WSIS Forum 2021.

This OCP meeting is a result of long-standing collaboration between WSIS Forum and IGF since its establishment. Our shared values of an inclusive, multistakeholder approach to amplify voices of all those interested in promotion of ICTs as enablers for development, have been an example of best collaboration practices. Therefore, the WSIS Forum Open Consultation Process meetings are taking place every year during the annual IG Forums, aiming to provide an update on the ongoing open calls towards the WSIS Forum 2022 and its many activities and special initiatives to the IGF community. To ensure broad ownership and further improvements of the WSIS Forum 2022, contributing towards shaping the agenda and format, we invite participants of IGF-21 to join us on 8 December at 13:50-14:50 and contribute to this preparatory process. 

The World Summit on the Information Society Forum represents the world's largest annual gathering of the ‘ICT for development’ community. The WSIS Forum, co-organized by ITU, UNESCO, UNDP and UNCTAD, in close collaboration with all WSIS Action Line Facilitators/Co-Facilitators, has proven to be an efficient mechanism for coordination of multi- stakeholder implementation activities, information exchange, creation of knowledge, sharing of best practices and continues to provide assistance in developing multi-stakeholder and public/private partnerships to advance development goals.

Furthermore, the WSIS Forum 2022 will provide an opportunity to serve as a platform to track the achievements of WSIS Action Lines in collaboration with the UN Agencies involved and provide information and analyses of the implementation of WSIS Action Lines since 2005 and towards 2025and beyond.

To ensure gender balance at the WSIS Forum 2022 we encourage all WSIS Stakeholders planning to be present at the Forum to nominate the women speakers for sessions and workshops, in particular the high-level segment. As an important segment of the WSIS Forum, the High-Level Policy sessions will gather High-ranking officials of the WSIS Stakeholder community, representing the Government, Private Sector, Civil Society, Academia and International Organizations. Interactive policy statement sessions will be moderated by High-Level Track Facilitators (HLTFs), nominated and identified by each stakeholder type and will be grouped around different themes identified as important by the WSIS Stakeholders during the open consultation process.

The Agenda of this session is attached,

Organizers

ITU, UNESCO, UNCTAD, UNDP

Speakers
  • Vladimir Stankovic, Program Coordinator, ITU
  • Joe Hironaka,  Program Specialist, UNESCO
  • Scarlett Fondeur Gil, Economic Affairs Officer, UNCTAD
  • Minerva Novero-Belec, Policy Specialist, UNDP
Online Moderator

Vladimir Stankovic, Program Coordinator, ITU

Rapporteur

Vladimir Stankovic, Program Coordinator, ITU

SDGs

1. No Poverty
2. Zero Hunger
3. Good Health and Well-Being
4. Quality Education
5. Gender Equality
6. Clean Water and Sanitation
7. Affordable and Clean Energy
8. Decent Work and Economic Growth
9. Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
10. Reduced Inequalities
11. Sustainable Cities and Communities
12. Responsible Production and Consumption
13. Climate Action
14. Life Below Water
15. Life on Land
16. Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
17. Partnerships for the Goals

Targets: The UNGA overall review on the implementation of WSIS resulted in a UNGA Resolution A/70/125 that was adopted on 16 December 2015. The resolution provides guidance on the implementation of the WSIS Outcomes till 2025. In particular it calls for close alignment between the WSIS process and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (para.5) and requests all stakeholders to integrate ICTs into their approaches to implementing the Goals, and request UN entities facilitating WSIS Action Lines to review their reporting and work plans to support implementation of the 2030 Agenda, (para.12). ICTs are identified as targets in the SDGs for education, gender equality, infrastructure (universal and affordable access to the internet) and in the implementation goal as a cross cutting tool to be utilized for the achievement of all of the SDGs. The effective implementation of the WSIS Action Lines can help accelerate the achievement of the SDGs. To that end, the WSIS SDGs Matrix, developed by the UN Action line Facilitators, clearly shows the linkage between each Action line and the 17 SDGs and provides rationale for each.

At the WSIS Forum 2015, ITU coordinated the WSIS Action Lines and SDG matrix with the UN Action Line Facilitators. This is a new tool developed by a number of United Nations agencies based on their expertise and mandate to map how ICTs may contribute to the implementation of the new SDGs. The Matrix serves as an easy reference for stakeholders engaged in shaping the future of both, the SDGs and the WSIS processes beyond 2015 and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The mapping exercise www.wsis.org/sdg draws direct linkages of the WSIS Action Lines with the proposed SDGs to continue strengthening the impact of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for sustainable development. Each UN Action Line Facilitator has analyzed the connections and relations of their respective Action Line with the proposed SDGs and their targets. This is a living document and changes can be introduced by Action Line Facilitators, if needed. The goal is to create a clear and direct link and an explicit connection between the key aim of the WSIS, that of harnessing the potential of ICTs to promote and realize the development goals, and the post 2015 development agenda, so as to contribute to the realisation of the latter.