All About UNITeS

The United Nations Information Technology Service (UNITeS) is a global volunteer initiative to help bridge the digital divide, led by the UN Volunteers (UNV) programme. UNITeS both supports volunteers applying information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) and promotes volunteerism as a fundamental element of successful ICT4D initiatives. UNITeS was announced by the United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, in his Millennium Report "We the Peoples: the Role of the United Nations in the Twenty-First Century" (April 2000).

UNITeS is also a coalition of organizations -- non-governmental organizations (NGOs), academic institutions, development and volunteer-sending agencies, and private sector companies, who place and support volunteers in ICT4D. This means that UNITeS supports volunteers from initiatives other than UNV in their ICT4D activities. Volunteers under UNITeS work directly with people and institutions in developing countries to build their capacity on the applications of ICT to human development. Human development is the set of processes which leads to greater choice by people, and, implicitly, to a better quality of life. Building capacity is a more comprehensive concept than training: It is about strengthening the abilities of people or institutions to manage what they do (or need to be doing). Teaching accountants about spreadsheets is one thing (training); working with them to introduce spreadsheets into their accounting work requires more time and transferrs more knowledge than just teaching them about spreadsheets.

UN Volunteers has one of the largest annual mobilations of volunteers in ICT4D -- more than 250 from the Fall of 2000 to the end of 2003. UN Volunteers engaged in ICT Volunteers are either international, coming to another country from other developing countries (the "South") or from industrialized countries (the "North"), or national volunteers, serving as UNVs in their own countries. Volunteers from a growing family of universities are also part of UNV and UNITeS, serving in short-term assignments. Online volunteers are an integral part of the UNITeS community as well, supporting their onsite counterpart volunteers. Through its Knowledge Base for Volunteers in ICT4D and its online UNITeSCommunity, UNITeS also supports volunteers from initiatives other than UNV in their ICT4D activities. This coalition of volunteers from both UNV and other volunteer sending organizations (VSOs) contributes to the goal of UNITeS to promote volunteer involvement as fundamental to the success of ICT4D efforts.

What makes the UNITeS initiative unique among ICT volunteering initiatives is a combination of the following attributes and characteristics:

This initiative serves all volunteers engaged in ICT4D, not only those directly related to UNV or other United Nations programs. It promotes the involvement of volunteers from ANY organization, as well as local volunteers, equally fundamental to successful ICT4D efforts.

UNITeS is focused on the capacity-building dimension of the digital divide. It does not promote the involvement of volunteers to take on ICT tasks that do not ALSO have a capacity-building element.

UNITeS is a coalition of organizations and global "infomediary" regarding volunteers and ICT4D, such as through its online knowledge base/network. UNITeS does not place volunteers on its own, and it does not implement projects outright.

Emphasis is placed on South-South volunteer assignments and the involvment of online volunteers, whenever appropriate.