Session
Panel - 60 Min
The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)+20 Forum High-Level Event Open Consultation process (OCP) aims at ensuring a participatory and inclusive spirit of the Forum. This process actively engages multistakeholder community in the preparatory process to ensure broad ownership and further improvements of the Forum. The Open Consultation Process will include a collection of inputs from regional and national WSIS related events and therefore work towards shaping the themes and format of the WSIS+20 Forum High-Level Event, that is scheduled to take place on 27-31 May in Geneva, Switzerland.
This session is part of the Open Consultation Process and aims to provide updates on the preparations towards the upcoming WSIS+20 Forum High-Level Event and to invite all stakeholders to participate in an open discussion by sharing their ideas and suggestions. During the session, participants will have an opportunity to learn more about the ongoing implementation of the WSIS Process and its linkages with SDGs. In addition, the session will discuss the WSIS Stocktaking process, while also collecting input for the upcoming WSIS+20 review process.
The WSIS+20 Forum High-Level Event will provide an opportunity to serve as a platform to highlight the achievements of WSIS Action Lines in collaboration with the UN Agencies involved and to provide information and analyses of the implementation of WSIS Action Lines since 2005, towards 2025 and the second final review by UNGA.
The WSIS 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 multistakeholder 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. This Forum will provide structured opportunities to network, learn, and participate in multistakeholder discussions and consultations on WSIS implementation. The Agenda and Programme of the Forum will be built on the basis of the submissions received during the Open Consultation Process and following the outcomes of the WSIS Forum 2023 www.wsis.org/forum.
ITU, UNESCO, UNDP, UNCTAD
-
- Mr. Tomas Lamanauskas, Deputy Secretary-General, ITU
- H.E. Dr Emilija Stojmenova Duh, Minister of Digital Transformation, Republic of Slovenia, WSIS Forum 2023 Chairperson (TBC)
- Amb. Thomas Schneider, Ambassador and Director of International Affairs, Switzerland
- Mr. Robert Opp, Chief Digital Officer, UNDP
- Ms. Shamika N. Sirimanne, Director, Division on Technology and Logistics, UNCTAD and Head of the CSTD Secretariat
- Mr. Prateek Sibal, Programme Specialist, Digital Policies and Digital Transformation Section, UNESCO
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: www.wsis.org/sdg The mapping exercise 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.