dot-ORG Supports USAID at WSIS and Related Events in Tunis

dot-ORG supported both the World Summit on the Information Society and the USAID Asia Near East Regional Information Communication and Technology program in Tunis in November 2005.

Asia & Near East (ANE) Workshop

During the period of November 12th to the 19th, and as part of our ongoing commitment to USAID’s global ICT efforts, dot-ORG organized a workshop for the ANE regional bureau in the days preceding and actively participated in the organization of a pavilion highlighting US innovation in ICT.

The three-day ANE workshop is the third that has been held. The ANE Bureau has found that a regional workshop involving practitioners and highlighting experiences from efforts to incorporate ICTs for development has direct benefits. An additional advantage of holding the workshop close to a major event like WSIS is the ability to leverage speakers who are in town for the event. The ANE workshop highlighted topics such as the Last Mile Initiative (six countries as examples), Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP), Universal Service, English as a second language computer-based learning, ICT-based supply chain management, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) and Electronic payments over cellular phones. Economic Growth issues were also highlighted in the areas of work force development, entrepreneurship training, and IT associations. Egypt was highlighted as a specific overall program. Based on evaluation, the event scored highly with participants particularly in the areas of Last Mile as well as emerging technologies.

'ICT 4 All'
The parallel event that was supported at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was titled ‘ICT 4 All.’ The purpose of this event was to highlight, through an exhibition and partnership area, people-centered ICTs in development. The United States government had a multi- agency pavilion titled ‘USA Innovation in ICT’ highlighting ICT for public warning, ICT for disaster preparedness/response, E-Government, Geographic data/technologies, and USAID’s ICT work highlighted by the Last Mile Initiative with particular emphasis on Macedonia. These areas were both highlighted through the pavilion itself as well as a series of parallel events.

In the Mali Pavilion, the Mali CLIC project was also prominently featured.

With more than 15,000 people in attendance the pavilion was always popular and was staffed by a core of United States Government staff as well as USAID ICT support personnel including many participants in the ANE workshop. A great deal of successful outreach and information dissemination was accomplished especially on the last day when the exhibition was opened to the Tunisian public including a great number of students.

 - For Further Information Please Visit Dot-Com