international, regional and national ict policy highlights of organisations and key policy areas

International, Regional and National ICT Policy

Highlights of organisations and key policy areas

““ICT Policy for Civil ICT Policy for Civil societysociety””

ICT Policy and Civil Society - CTO & APC

Session outcomes

Participants will be able to identify:– key international and regional policy

institutions And define:

– Issues addressed by national policy.


International ICT Policy

Largely led by a number of key international organisations

National governments interact with these organisations

They define current thinking on policy and technology

Forum for discussion Often dominated by developed

countries


Key international organisations

CTO – credible reports, often representing developed country interests, open to ground level input

G8 – high-level policy formation, each year covers a critical issue– DOT Force, digital divide focus in

2000-2002


International orgs (2)

G8 Digital Opportunity Task Force (DOT Force)– unprecedented participation of

developing countries, private sector and civil society

– Action plan outlined nine focus areas: e-strategy, access, education, enterprise, governance, LDCs, health, content, development

– Agenda transferred to UN ICT Task Force



ICANN – nonprofit corporation, technical admin of domain name system, criticised for lack of due process and transparency, under reform

ITU – UN organisation tasked with telecommunications issues, very technical, driving force behind WSIS

OECD – developed government thinktank, newly open to civil society



UNCTAD – forum encouraging consensus building for policy reform; bureaucratic and removed from grassroots

UNESCO – support international collaboration on education, science, culture; personnel and expenditure overly centralised

UN ICT Task Force – carries on DOT Force work, “too much talk”, offers promise as home for digital divide issues



World Bank – development assistance, widely criticised for developed country control over developing country economies

WIPO – intellectual property law and enforcement, new challenges in information society, criticised for imposing developed country views

WTO – harmonisation of trade law and dispute resoultion, criticised for promoting globalisation


Regional ICT policy

Mainly aimed at helping groups of countries join forces to solve problems that they cannot solve on their own

o Pull up weaker neighborso Enhance international profileo Address cross-border issues


Regional organisations ATU – succeeded PATU, formulate policies

and strategies to improve ICT access, mandated by ITU to harmonise African position to WSIS

AfriNIC – proposed regional Internet registry, slowed by lack of consensus, Africans should govern their IP name space

AU – Successor of OAU, 53 members, EU model, cooperation focused on good governance and economic progress, criticised as continuation of the old dictator’s club


Regional orgs (2)

COMESA – regional cooperation focus particularly on forming economic and trading unit

EARPTO – aim to harmonise regulations, share experiences, and support training for post and telecommunications sector in East Africa

ECOWAS – West African cooperation on economic integration, and regional security


Regional orgs (3)

NEPAD – strategic framework for socio-economic development in Africa, criticised for lack of transparency and failure to include stakeholders, e-Africa Commission leads on ICT focus

ISPAD – not yet formed, will be mechanism for private sector participation in e-Africa Commission


Regional orgs (4)

SADC – Southern African regional cooperation on range of issues, free trade focus

SATCC – SADC arm to support transport and communications sectors, private sector focus

TRASA – regulators of SADC states, coordination on telecommunications issues


Regional orgs (5)

UNECA – UN agency with Africa economic focus, Ministerial level, led AISI initiativeo AISI – ICT infrastructure development and

connectivity, collaborative initiative with international partners

WATRA –regulators of West African states, coordination on telecommunications issues


World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) Bring stakeholders together to discuss

information society Expected result is concrete plan of

action Focus on collaboration and partnership Civil society has a seat at the table Bamako Declaration represents African

views


National ICT policy

Developments happen around key policy areas rather than institutions

Key agencies lead, with various participants

Policies and emphasis vary from country to country, but main topics emerge overall


National ICT policy areas National e-strategy

Human resource development Infrastructure Universal service and universal access SMME support Departmental coordination Domain name administration Taxation

Electronic transactions Legal requirements for data messages Interception and monitoring Consumer protection Security and cryptography Electronic signatures


E-government Electronic filing and issuing Change management Protection of citizen information

Infrastructure Telecommunications liberalisations and/or

privatisation Technological neutrality Telecommunications management Rural development

Content ISP liability Local content quotas and language

Communications regulation

National ICT policy areas (2)


Summary Questions

Which international and regional organisation do you think are most influential with respect to ICT policy – why?

What are most important national policy issues for your organisation?

international, regional and national ict policy highlights of organisations and key policy areas

Documents

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key policy areasict

countriesict policy

globalisation ict policy

ict task forceict policy

policy reform bureaucratic

information society

civil societyaction