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United Nations Volunteers (UNV) events at the WSIS - December 2003
UNV was in high profile at the WSIS in December,
where we created a mock telecenter at the "ICT4D Platform" exhibition
area to demonstrate how community technology centers operate
in the developing world. UN Volunteers from the field helped
staff this center, along with staff from UNV headquarters, to
help give visitors an idea of what helping people in the developing
world is like and why collaboration among different groups is
so important. UNV also hosted online events for the summit.
For detailed information about UN Volunteers'
WSIS-related activities, and updates about the following activities,
visit . |
Schedule of Events at the UNV Community Telecenter at WSIS
Tuesday 9 December 2003
11:00 Connecting live with Niue: ICT4D in a
small island community
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UN Volunteer Primitivo Anover talked about his
contributions to ICT4D projects in Niue, a small South Pacific
island with
a population
of 1,700. The Niue Government has recognized ICT as one of the
promising areas for its economic growth and tools for social development.
Primitivo
has contributed to building the ICT capacity of government staff, working
with UNDP on an ICT strategy for Niue, and collaborating with UNESCO
in the establishment of 14 village telecenters. Visitors had the opportunity
to chat with our UN Volunteer in Niue.
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During Prime's live chat, UN Secretary General
Kofi Annan stopped by the UNV Telecenter |
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16:00 Presentation:
ICT4D in Sri Lanka
UN Volunteer Joy Daniel presented his activities
in Sri Lanka, where
he analyzes and recommends ICT solutions in response to the
needs of target groups and development situations. Prior to his
UNV
assignment, Joy volunteered in a telecenter in Cambodia, where
he helped young women who had been victims of child prostitution
and slavery to acquire ICT skills that would enable them to
find alternate employment. He also set up a small center in his
native
country India to teach IT to rural youth below the poverty level.
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UN Volunteer Joy Daniel
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Wednesday 10 December 2003 – Start
of Conference
14:00 Press Event: Announcement of UNV’s Online
Volunteering Service
The UN Volunteers programme will relaunch
its popular in early 2004,
continuing to bring skilled on-line volunteers together with
organizations working in or for communities in the developing
world. Online Volunteers perform a wide range of services,
including translations, research and writing articles, designing
web sites, and more. Since its launch in 2000 as a joint project
by UNV and NetAid, more than 11,000 people have registered
as online volunteers through the .
16:00 Presentation: Telecenters in Jordan
UN Volunteer Samer Abdeljaber talked about his
role in the Jordan Information Technology Community Centers (JITCC)
initiative. Samer has visited all 75 JITCCs and has been actively
engaged in promoting the use of ICTs among info-poor communities.
His aim as a UN Volunteer is to show each community group (women,
men, students, teachers, workers, farmers, etc.) what information
can do for self-enhancement and the options it offers for economic
development of the individual. The telecenters are also involving
local volunteers. Furthermore, Samer talked about his experience
as an on-line volunteer. |
Thursday 11 December 2003
11:00 Connecting live with Uzbekistan: ICT and civil
society
UN Volunteer Dilshod Mavlyanov discussed how
he recruits and trains local volunteers to build the ICT capacity
of NGOs in Uzbekistan. This programme gives well-educated and
talented young people the opportunity to apply their skills and
education in ways that could be valued later in the job market.
It also channels their enthusiasm to contribute to the development
of their country.Visitors will have the opportunity to chat with
our UN Volunteer in Uzbekistan. |
14:00 Événement de Presse
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M. Mohamed CISSE, Maire de Tombouctou, travaille ardemment à la
diffusion et la démocratisation de l’accès aux
Technologies de l’Information et de la Communication (TIC)
dans sa commune. Lors de sa visite à notre télécentre,
M. Cisse a lancé et présenté le site de
la Mairie de Tombouctou.
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Mohammed Cisse, mayor of Timbuktu, during his announcement of
the Timbuktu Online project at the UNV Telecenter |
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16:00 Workshop: On-line volunteering
Jayne Cravens of UN Volunteers and Bill Gunyon of OneWorld discussed
the benefits that on-line volunteers bring to organizations working
in and for developing countries, the realties of managing on-line
volunteers successfully, and UNV's On-line Volunteering service
at NetAid.
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Friday 12 December 2003
11:00 Connecting live with Viet Nam: Internet in rural communities
UN Volunteer Vern Weitzel has been involved since
the beginning of Viet Nam's efforts to go on-line. He shared his
experience in development cooperation and the expansion of the
Internet in the rural community. More interested in questions
of information dissemination than technicalities, he has been
instrumental in the creation and management of e-mail discussion
lists and websites throughout the country. He is dedicated to
issues of HIV / AIDS and making websites accessible to the disabled.
Visitors will have the opportunity to chat with our UN Volunteer
in Viet Nam. |
14:00 Workshop: Involving volunteers in community telecentres
Jayne Cravens of UN Volunteers and Andy Carvin
of the Benton Foundation and the Digital Opportunity Channel discussed
why volunteers are essential to community telecentres, and give
tips for involving volunteers in these and other ICT4D projects. |
16:00 Connecting live with Tanzania:
ICT training in remote villages
UN Volunteer John Magoha provided information
on his involvement in a wide spectrum of ICT4D activities in Tanzania,
including the set-up of Cisco Networking Academies. John talked
about the role of ICT training institutions in secondary cities
and rural areas, and how a teachers’ college in Western
Tanzania is using cow dung as biogas to power computer classes.
He has also brought together and facilitated a group of more than
100 on-line volunteers supporting the Tanzanian Government in
developing an ICT strategy.Visitors had the opportunity to chat
with our UN Volunteer in Tanzania. |
Saturday 13 December 2003 – Exhibition open to Geneva
public
13:00 Workshop: On-line volunteering – the volunteer perspective
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Andrea Goetzke of the UN Volunteers programme, along with
UN Volunteers Pontso Khalema and Samer Abdeljaber discussed on-line
volunteering
from a volunteer's perspective,
including how to use UNV's On-line Volunteering service at NetAid.
The new service will be launched on January 26th and hosted at .
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Andrea Goetzke at the UNV Telecenter |
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