Document WSIS/PC/CONTR/2 -E
12 July 2002
English & French only
CANADIAN CONTRIBUTION TO WSIS PREPCOM I
Geneva, 1-5 July 2002
Canada’s Vision for WSIS
WSIS is about development
UN General Assembly Resolution 56/183 sets two general goals for the summit:
• “to marshal the global consensus and commitment required to promote the urgently
needed access of all countries to information, knowledge and communications
technologies for development”;
• “to address the whole range of relevant issues related to the information society”.
Canada supports a WSIS agenda and outcomes that focus on development goals from the
beginning – particularly those set out in the UN Millennium Declaration. WSIS presents a
unique opportunity to:
• focus the attention of world leaders on how people in developing countries can access,
adapt and use technology to communicate and create information and knowledge in
pursuit of their development goals;
• recognize that economic, social, cultural and political needs – as defined by peopl e in
developing countries in light of their own development objectives – should be the
driving force in any initiatives undertaken by the international community as a result of
the Summit;
• agree at the highest levels on a new, global approach to designing, financing and
implementing development initiatives – an approach that is
• led by developing countries;
• focused on geographical communities and communities of interest;
• enabled by partnerships among government, the private sector and civil society.
In the context of an overall focus on development issues, Canada believes that the summit
should pay particular attention to the following considerations:
• International cooperation undertaken as a result of the summit should be focused on
initiatives that most directly affect poverty reduction. This will target the enabling
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effects of information, knowledge and technology to areas where they have the
broadest impacts, in terms of economic, social, cultural and political development. It
will also build awareness and skills that will eventually sustain the information society
in the developing world.
• The information society should provide greater opportunities for developing country
women in education, work and public life, just as it has in the developed world.
Special emphasis should therefore be placed on this component of the information
society.
• The information society is not just about the Internet. For many developing
communities, the connectivity and bandwidth required for good Internet access is still
years away. There is still much progress that can be made with other technologies,
such as traditional telecommunications and broadcasting, prior to the widespread
availability of reliable Internet access.
WSIS must not miss the opportunity to systematically link information, knowledge and
technology with user needs and development goals at the levels of value, principle, policy and
practice. The summit should avoid the temptation to engage in a general discussion of all the
issues raised by the information society, particularly those that are mainly of concern to
developed countries. However, this focus on development should not preclude interested
parties from organizing parallel events to discuss these wider issues, which are also of great
and increasing importance to the international community.
The information society is about social, cultural and economic and governance goals,
not technological means
According to Res. 56/183, WSIS should achieve its goals through:
• “the development of a common vision and understanding of the information society”;
• “the adoption of a declaration and a plan of action for implementation by Governments,
international institutions and all sectors of civil society.”
In Canada’s view:
• The first of these tasks calls on all delegations and observers to focus on the
challenges and opportunities facing developing countries in the context of the
emerging information society, in order to forge a common vision and shared
understanding of the social, cultural, economic and governance goals that should be
achieved through cooperative action by all members of the international community,
with the aim of creating a truly global information society that includes all countries
and peoples.
• The second of these tasks requires WSIS participants to agree on
• a set of principles and objectives to guide governments, the private sector, civil
society, and international organizations as they work together to help developing
countries achieve these goals;
• a set of practical actions, which these parties jointly, agree to support.
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• The WSIS vision, declaration and action plan must be realistic and attainable. The
summit must avoid creating undue expectations and must not simply be a declaration
of good intentions;
In developing a shared vision, guiding princ iples and a plan of action, WSIS should bear in mind
that technology is a means, not an end in itself. This view is based on Canada’s many years of
experience in building an information society within our country, and in sharing the fruits of this
experience with other countries and the international community as a whole.
• Through the Connecting Canadians agenda (http://www.connect.gc.ca) during the past
seven years we have inter alia:
• achieved 100% geographic coverage of the Internet, including the remotest areas
of our arctic regions through the use of satellite communications;
• seeded the introduction of millions of computers in Canadian schools, by supplying
more than 340,000 free refurbished “Computers For Schools”;
• connected every school (15,600) and library (3,400) in the country;
• connected 11,000 civil society organizations;
• established 8800 community access points where residents and businesses can
connect with services that respond to their needs in such areas as education,
training, health care, employment, community development and government
services;
• supported the creation of content, which fully reflects Canada’s historical
experience, the values shared by its peoples, its linguistic diversity, and its cultural
richness – with special emphasis on the needs of aboriginal peoples.
• Internationally, Canada has drawn on this experience to assist others:
• in the Americas, through our leadership at the 2001 Summit of the Americas and
the creation of the Institute for Connectivity in the Americas
(http://www.icamericas.net);
• in Africa, through the International Development Research Center Acacia Program
(http://www.idrc.ca/ACACIA );
• globally, through initiatives such as the Canadian International Development
Agency (CIDA) strategy on Knowledge for Development through ICTs and our
leadership of the G8 DOT Force (http://www.dotforce.org ).
8. Although developed countries like Canada now take the benefits of information and
knowledge technologies for granted, there has been considerable debate about whether they
should be a priority for developing countries, particularly the poorest countries. In Canada’s
view, information, knowledge and technology are vital enabling tools for economic growth, social
and cultural development, and civic enrichment in all countries.
9. There are a growing number of real-life examples of how people in developing countries
are using technology to create, access and communicate information and knowledge in the
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pursuit of their immediate development goals.In the Akashganga (“Milky Way”) project in a rural
Indian community, the use of a simple MS-DOS based personal computer application
resulted in the speedier collection of milk from farmers, timely disbursement of
payments, and a lower prevalence of corrupt practices. Today, this self-directed and
self-funded project is of direct daily benefit to more than 1.5 million farmers, thereby
dispelling the myths that rural citizens are reluctant to accept technology, that they
lack the education and skills needed to use it, and that heavy subsidization is required
to extend technology applications into rural areas.
• In the Village Pay Phone (VPP) Initiative in Bangladesh, cellular phones are provided
to a group of women who, in turn, make the phone available to all users in the village.
This project, which is expected to become the largest wireless pay phone project in
the world, is providing Bangladesh citizens with better market information, saving
transportation costs, and empowering women with increased knowledge and
confidence.In the Community Information Centre (CIC) project in Niger, local farmers
in the field, herders out to pasture with their flocks, and women doing laundry at the
watering hole now receive vital up-to-the-minute information on weather disaster
warnings and on a variety of other topics including health and nutrition, environmental
conservation and HIV/AIDS prevention through community radio stations.In the spirit
of these practical examples, we suggest that WSIS should aim to highlight and help people
learn from best practices, particularly those that could be shared between people facing similar
challenges on both a south-south and south-north basis.
WSIS must add value to current initiatives
10. WSIS will cost a lot in terms of money, time and effort. It should add as much value as
possible to the many efforts currently underway to advance development through information,
knowledge and technology.
11. PrepCom should take stock of and build on the large amount of work that has been done
in recent years.
• In developing a shared vision and common understanding of the social, cultural,
economic, and governance challenges facing developing countries and other
members of the international community in the information society, PrepCom should
carefully review the following documents, which may already have defined many of the
values, principles and goals that are relevant to the summit declaration:
• the ACC Statement on Universal Access to Basic Communication and Information
Services (1997);
• the G8 Okinawa Charter on the Information Society (July 2000);
• the ECOSOC Ministerial Declaration Development and International Cooperation
in the Twenty-First Century: the Role of Information Technology in the Context of a
Knowledge-Based Global Economy (July 2000);
• the United Nations Millennium Declaration (September 2000);
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• the OAU New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NePad, July 2001).
• In developing a draft Plan of Action for the international community, PrepCom should
carefully review the work programmes of the G8 DOT Force Implementation Network
and the United Nations ICT Task Force. These bodies have launched comprehensive
action plans to address the main development goals identified in their deliberations.
Most importantly, they are already operating on the basis of partnership between
governments, the private sector, civil society, and international organizations. There
are valuable lessons to be learned from this recent and new experience.
12. In conducting these reviews, Canada believes that PrepCom 1 should:
• ask how WSIS could add value to what has already been agreed and is in the process
of being implemented through various forums, programs and initiatives;
• focus discussion and debate about globalization and the role played by technology in
this process in a way that minimizes sterile confrontation, engages the private sector
and civil society, and leads to constructive, practical outcomes.
WSIS Theme: Community-Based Development: Linking Policy and Practice
13. On the basis of the foregoing considerations and in light of its own experience, Canada
proposes that community-based development should be a major focus of WSIS, one that should
guide us in our treatment of the major themes agreed for the summit.
• Communities are where most people experience the developmental benefits that can
result from using technology to access, create, share and communicate information
and knowledge – in work, at school, through health care and other public services,
and by participating in public life.
• As the examples set out in the preceding section illustrate, communities are the central
point at which all the main elements of the sustainable development equation come
together. They are the place where practical actions to provide access to information,
knowledge and technology can bring development goals of the kind set out in the
Millennium Declaration “down to earth”, so that they make a real and demonstrable
difference in people’s lives through:
• reliable and affordable local access to telecommunications infrastructure and
services, including telephone, radio, satellite, broadcasting and Internet;
• applications and services designed for local development needs;
• content created in local languages, adapted to local needs, and reflecting local
values.
14. In recent years, significant progress has been made at the national, regional and
international levels in devising “top-down” policies and programmes aimed at putting in place
the foundations for an inclusive information society. These programs sought to harness the
creative force of technology, the dynamism of the private sector, and the efficiency of
competitive markets.
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• As the 2002 ITU World Telecommunication Development Report illustrates, some
developing countries have made very significant progress made over the past two
decades in developing telecommunications infrastructure and services through
policies favouring privatization, liberalization, competition and the establishment of
independent regulatory authorities.
• These policies have also supported the world-wide growth of the Internet and are
beginning to result in much wider access to the information, knowledge and
applications it enables and provides.
• International organizations, development agencies, national governments, the private
sector and non-for-profit organizations have launched programmes aimed at
stimulating the creation of knowledge, improving communication, and using
technology to help achieve development goals through applications such as e-
commerce, e-learning, e-health, e-culture and e-government.
• The Millennium Declaration and the recent Summit on Children have directed the
attention of the international community to adequate levels of basic education - a pre-
requisite to participation in the information society.
15. While there has been considerable “top-down” policy progress, “bottom-up” perspectives
on the needs of different communities – i.e. perspec tives articulated by and for community
members – have not been equally prominent in efforts made by the international community.
Literally and figuratively, they have often been “the missing link” or “the last mile” in the quest to
build an inclusive, global information society.
• In spite of the great progress made in raising global connectivity in the last twenty
years many communities in developing countries are not connected to the
telecommunications infrastructure because there is not yet a “business c ase” for doing
so.
• Even if geographical communities are connected to infrastructure, it does not follow
that all members have reliable and affordable access to services, or that appropriate
applications and content are available.
• As well as geographical communities, there are many important communities of
interest – such as women, youth, aboriginal peoples, people with disabilities, and
other minorities – that are relatively disadvantaged in terms of access to information,
knowledge and technology.
16. The challenge in connecting all these kinds of communities is sustainability – in both the
economic and social senses.
• While there have been a number of “top-down” experiments to provide connectivity
through community telecentres, they generally have not been sustainable once project
funding has run out. The DOT Force Implementation Network has launched a project
to address this challenge.
• However, the experience of providing shared access to technology, information and
knowledge resources is not entirely bleak. The success of commercial cyber-cafes
and IDD shops in some developing countries provides an interesting counterpoint,
which shows that affordable access can be sustainable if it meets needs of a
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community as perceived by its members and developed with local capacities and
resources.
17. Canada’s experience has shown that top-down policies are not enough to build an
inclusive information society and to promote sustainable development. It is also necessary to
have community-based, bottom-up, demand-driven initiatives that respond to people’s
development needs and set realistic objectives in light of their current capacity.
• Our experience within Canada and internationally has shown that the likelihood of
success is increased if initiatives of this kind are targeted towards social groups that
find it relatively easy to adopt new technologies; to apply and adapt them to their
information, communication and knowledge needs; and to mentor other members of
the community in their use. We have found that young people usually fill this role
most naturally, whatever their other demographic attributes, and whatever their
economic, social or cultural environment. The information society is their future – and
they are the future of the information society.
• Our experience has also shown that ‘it is necessary to walk before you can run’. In
both developed and developing countries, the economic, social and cultural adoption
of technologies is never instantaneous. Instead, it resembles a learning process in
which existing media, established ways of doing things and familiar patterns of
interaction are complemented and progressively transformed by new possibilities on a
continuum that runs from first acquaintance, to the exploration of possibilities, to
innovation.
18. A community-based approach to information society development would provide an
opportunity for WSIS to reinforce and advance one of the major innovations that has taken
place in development policy in recent years – the recognition that partnership between
government, the private sector and civil society actors from both developed and developing
countries can be a very powerful development tool.
19. By systematically adopting a partnership strategy for supporting and enabling community–
based development initiatives, WSIS has the opportunity to generate new development models
that would complement traditional aid, trade and financing mechanisms. These new models
would be particularly relevant for geographical communities or communities of interest where:
• purely public sector solutions are either not appropriate or not viable over the medium-
or longer-term;
• there currently is no “business case” to attract private investment;
• significant economic, social or cultural adaptation of products and services may be
necessary in order to achieve affordable local access to information, knowledge or
technology, and to the development possibilities they create.
20. A WSIS focus on community-based, community-led development would achieve a number
of the objectives set out in the previous section.
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• It would add value to existing activities by addressing an important dimension that has
been largely missing from previous international policy discussions and action plans.
• It would complement and add a practical dimension to the framework proposed by the
WSIS secretariat in Doc. WSIS/COM04/PC1/03.
• It would make a tangible difference in people’s lives by empowering communities to
access information, knowledge and technology and to apply them for their own
development needs.
• It would raise awareness and understanding at all levels of the links between
technology, information, knowledge and development – from the highest political level
to the village – thereby reinforcing other initiatives already underway at the national
and international levels.
• It would provide a platform for practical cooperation between government, the private
sector and civil society leading to real developmental results.
• It would lead to the development of new models of economic and social sustainability
in areas lying outside current market boundaries that might be extended to other areas
of development.
• It would address issues associated with globalization in a concrete, constructive way,
leading to positive outcomes.
21. Canada therefore proposes that:
• In addition to providing for high-level, top-down discussion of the issues associated
with the information society, the WSIS agenda should provide a bottom-up perspective
of the challenges and opportunities facing communities in accessing technology,
information and knowledge for development (e.g. via presentations to Heads of State
from “real people” telling real stories).
• The WSIS Declaration should also establish goals such as:
• connecting some reasonable proportion of the world’s communities to information
and knowledge resources needed for their development – reliably, affordably, and
in local languages, via the mix of technologies they determine to be appropriate –
by some reasonable date not too far in the future;
• creating a global network of “community innovation hubs” that would help people
exchange experiences and best practices in order to learn from community-
generated models of economic, social and cultural sustainability.
• The WSIS Action Plan should indicate how governments, the private sector, civil
society, and international organizations would work cooperatively to achieve these
goals. The Action Plan should contain a set of concrete and practical initiatives and
partnerships that will develop the capacity for communities to create, access and
share information and knowledge resources on an economically and socially
sustainable basis.
Working Together to Make WSIS a Success
22. Governments, the private sector, civil society and international organizations have begun
preparing separately for WSIS. If the Summit is to succeed – particularly in developing and
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implementing an Action Plan in which a main theme is community-based development –
Canada believes that these activities must be brought together as quickly as possible so that
points of agreement can be confirmed, differences of opinion identified and sorted out, and
partnerships formed.
23. The Annex to this document presents two procedural options for achieving these
objectives. At his point, these options are primarily intended to stimulate reflection. The precise
modalities of cooperation between the different sectors will need to be determined in light of the
overall approach adopted by PrepCom to WSIS participation by the private sector and civil
society.
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ANNEX
Options for Working Together to Make WSIS a Success
Option One :
• PrepCom I – agreement to the proposal to include community-based
development as a central element of the WSIS Agenda, Declaration and Action
Plan;
• Between PrepCom I and PrepCom II – government, civil society, private sector
and international organizations work, each on their own, to take stock of what
they are currently doing to support community-based development, and to
identify what they believe needs to be done by the international community to
achive the goal of global connectedness;
• PrepCom II – presentation of results, identification of commonalities and points
of difference, facilitation of joint, trilateral contributions to components for the
WSIS Agenda, Declaration and Action Plan;
• Between PrepCom II and PrepCom III – planning work proceeds and the
agenda and contributions are finalized;
• PrepCom III – results approved;
• WSIS Phase I – PrepCom results adopted by summit;
• Between WSIS Phase I and Phase II – action phase begins;
• WSIS Phase II – reviews results and adjusts goals, policies, operating
principles and work plan as required;
• Post WSIS Phase II – action continues.
Option Two:
• PrepCom I – agreement to the proposal to include community-based
development as a central element of the WSIS Agenda, Declaration and Work
Plan;
• Between PrepCom I and WSIS Phase I – government, civil society, private
sector and international organizations work, each on their own, to take stock of
what they are doing and to identify what needs to be done to meet the goal of
global connectedness;
• WSIS Phase I – presentation of results in separate government, private sector
and civil society forums, identification of commonalities and points of
difference, facilitation of joint trilateral contributions for approval as part of the
Summit D eclaration and Action Plan;
• Between WSIS Phase I and Phase II – planning work proceeds;
• WSIS Phase II – results approved;
• Post WSIS Phase II – action phase begins.
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