News on UNITeS
- November 2004
December 5 is International Volunteer Day,
and in conjunction with this impending event, UNITeS is seeking more examples of volunteers from ANY
organization who are applying ICT4D in activities that can be linked to at least one MDG and MDG target.
- September 2004
UNESCO has released findings of a comparative study on local initiatives of
the use of ICTs for poverty reduction spread across a range of communities in
South Asia, including Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bangladesh, and India.
- September 2004
Bridges.org has launched a competition to support innovative ground level initiatives
in South Africa that want to use handheld devices (handhelds) to improve people's
lives.
- August 2004
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has created the International
Open Source Network (IOSN), with a primary goal to promote Free and Open Source
(FOSS) software usage.
- July 2004
This free publication presents a collection of knowledge-based best practices
accumulated by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Europe and the
Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), including initiatives that involved
ICT volunteers.
-
May 2004
One hundred and sixty years almost to the day after Samuel Morse ushered
in the dawn of the telecommunications age with a simple series of dots
and dashes sent by telegraph, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan
appealed to the world today to eliminate the "digital divide" between
rich and poor nations.
- March 2004
Mexico’s Universidad de Colima and the United Nations Volunteers
(UNV) programme have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) establishing
the first regional
network of universities in Latin America to participate under the United Nations
Information Technology Service (UNITeS) initiative.
- March 2004
UNDP and Ethiopia's ICT for Development Authority have delivered the
first batch of 1,500 computers to the Ministry of Education as part of
efforts to bring information and communication technology (ICT) to more
than 160 high schools around the country. As part of this ongoing effort,
ICT training for teachers and students will also be provided by United
Nations Volunteers through the SchoolNet Project to enable the schools
to incorporate ICT, especially the use of the Internet, into their curricula.
-
January 2004
UNV staff and UN Volunteers were in high profile at
the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva
in December, creating one of the busiest and most-talked about booths
in the exhibit area, hosting live onsite and online events, speaking
at the official plenary, and working to contribute to the WSIS
Declaration of Principles and Action Plan.
- December 2003
In his message to recognize International Volunteer Day, December 5,
UN Secretary General has cited both UN Volunteers and UNITeS, recognizing
the contributions that volunteers make to societies all over the world.
-
October 2003
In conjunction with the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS),
UNITeS is gathering and posting examples of ICT Volunteering -- stories
about volunteers who are building the capacity of people in the developing
world to use and apply ICTs (computers, the Internet, handhelds, cell
phones, radio, etc.) or are using ICTs to help people in the developing
world regarding health, education, the environment, prevention of HIV/AIDS
or to help those affected by such, agriculture, human rights, gender,
and other areas of human development.
- October 2003
Japan's Kwansei Gakuin University (KGU) and the United
Nations Volunteers (UNV) have reached an agreement establishing the university
as the
first institution of higher learning in Asia to form a volunteer-sending
partnership
with UNITeS.
- October 2003
The UN Volunteers program is preparing for its participation at the World
Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), with a mock telecenter and live
online events being in the works, in addition to contributions to the WSIS
Declaration of Principles and Action Plan.
-
September 2003
Information technology should be used to improve the quality of life
in developing countries, thus helping to achieve the ambitious goals
set by the United Nations Millennium Summit of 2000, Secretary General
Kofi Annan said to the fifth meeting of the UN Information and Communications
Technology Task Force in Geneva.
- July 2003
UN Volunteers and UNITeS are taking an active role in prepatory meetings for
the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), to take place in Geneva, Switzerland December 10
- 12 and again in Tunis, Tunisia in 2005. We now have
our own WSIS page, www.unites.org/wsis, to track information about our involvement
in promoting the efforts of volunteers as essential to the successful achievement
of fair and inclusive information societies.
- July
2003
The French association Congé Solidaire and the United Nations
Volunteers (UNV) have launched their first mission in Niger under a new
joint initiative to field technical experts with enterprises in developing
countries. The first mission will be a volunteer from France Telecom
Longue Distance, who will evaluate and update information systems at
the main hospital in Niger's capital Niamey and will train staff members
in the more efficient use of the software. - May 2003
Recognizing World Telecommunication Day, Kofi Annan again calls for bridging
the digital divide between developed and developing countries.
- May 2003
What significance could wireless technologies have in developing countries?
Are there impacts WiFi is having already? Where is wireless tech currently
being used successfully, anywhere in the world, to build a sense of community,
to give people better Internet access, etc., and do/could these applications
have significance in developing countries?
- January 2003
Uzbekistan is accelerating progress in information and communication
technology (ICT), joining the digital revolution with support from UNDP
and UN Volunteers through the UN Information Technology Service (UNITeS)
initiative.
-
January 2003
In just over two years, UNITeS, has grown into an accomplished, stable
initiative with many successes and results in ICT4D and in promoting volunteerism
as an essential element to ICT4D efforts. As UNITeS continues to evolve
and expand with new activities, these are our accomplishments to date.
Related News
- 13 March
2001
- 22 February 2001.
- 19 June 2000
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