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The UN ICT TF is Taking the Lead in Monitoring Progress in Achieving the MDG Outcomes

21 Apr 2003
NEW YORK - The United Nation’s Information and Communication Technology Task Force Bureau (UN ICT TF) will hold its second meeting of 2003, on April 14 at 2 UN Plaza in New York City, from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm. The UN ICT TF is the high-level consultative group, under the administration of the UN Secretary General, which helps to guide the utilization of information and communication technologies (ICTs) throughout the United Nation’s operations. While non-operational in character, the Task Force carries with it all the moral authority and influence of the United Nations. As such, it is arguably the most influential entity at the global level in the effort to deploy ICTs in the service of development goals.
 
One of the subjects topping the agenda of the Task Force’s Bureau upcoming meeting will be the issue of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that were released in the UN’s Millennium Development Conference.  Though big and bold, and treated with all the hyperbole befitting such a grandly named program, it is becoming increasingly obvious that the MDGs are unlikely to be reached anytime near their target date in 2015. The UN ICT TF will likely be reviewing how realistic past assessments have been regarding the effectiveness of ICT investments, and how to improve the productiveness of ICT investments in the future. One concept that is already widely discussed is the ‘mainstreaming’ of ICT in the development agenda, which refers to the incorporation of ICTs into development programs, rather than development programs focusing on ICTs.
 
The second major issue to be tackled at the meeting will be the contribution of the UN ICT TF to the World Summit of the Information Society (WSIS), the first meeting of which will be held in December of this year in Geneva. The WSIS is widely hailed as the most comprehensive effort to date to gather information and knowledge in one forum that can help to bridge the Digital Divide, or perhaps more accurately, the Knowledge Divide.
 
The UN ICT TF is chaired by Jose Maria Figueres Olsen, former President of Costa Rica and Special Representative of the Secretary General on ICT. The Task Force’s Vice Chair is Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, Chairman & Chief Executive of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh and Co. International.