XVI INFOPOVERTY WORLD CONFERENCE FOLLOW UP

XVI INFOPOVERTY WORLD
CONFERENCE FOLLOW UP
THURSDAY, 14 APRIL 2016
Presentation by
Liberato C. Bautista
Immediate Past President, CoNGO
President, Committee of Religious NGOs at the United Nations
Assistant General Secretary for UN and Int’l Affairs,
General Board of Church and Society
The United Methodist Church
Conference Room 12, United Nations Headquarters
New York City
Congratulations to OCCAM and all collaborators of the Infopoverty World
Conference (IWC) over the years. This must be my eight participation in the
last 16 yearly conferences—half of it! Sixteen yearly conferences; such a
remarkable achievement. In the world of competing concerns, IWC has stayed
focused. I am grateful for having been implicated in this worthy endeavor--to
continue asserting that ICTs can truly become global public goods that are
very much a part of our imagination and realization of human dignity and
human rights. When ICTs are democratically available, practically sustainable
and affordably accessible, all nations and all peoples and the planet they
inhabit will prosper.
Sustainable development
goals must truly be about
meaningful change in the
lives of those who are
extremely poor. And they are
achievable. This year’s
Infopoverty World
Conference continues to join
in the necessary chorus that
SDGs are achievable, albeit
fraught with real and
imagined challenges, not the
least the importance of
always anchoring the goals in
human dignity and protecting
them with human rights.
This year’s theme is most
welcome and is worded in a
declarative way, such that we
don’t lose our way where the
moral, ethical and practical
compass point and converge—
which is, that true
development points to the
betterment of the human
person and the entire cosmos,
where all implements, like
ICTs, and all undertakings, like
Agenda 2030 and the SDGs,
affirm the inherent human
dignity of all peoples and
guarantee their access to such
tools and support the
achievement of such goals.
"Our times demand a new definition of leadership
- global leadership. They demand a new
constellation of international cooperation governments, civil society and the private sector,
working together for a collective global good.”
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
NGOs and Civil Society--pioneering Information and
Communication Technologies (ICTs) for Development
(ICT4D)
New means of communicating and sharing information have taken many forms, and
IWC has celebrated over these years their potential to truly evidence not just
human dignity and human rights, but sustainable development and prosperity for
all, including Small Island Developing States (SIDS) which we are giving emphasis on
in this panel.
Human rights and development are integral and constitutive of each other.
This is why the outcome document that enunciated the SAMOA Pathway
recalls the entire gamut of UN conferences and summits from 1996
onwards, asserting that for these to be truly expressive of the purposes
and principles of the Charter of the UN, what we do with Agenda 2030,
with SDGs and ICTs, must reflect full respect for international law and its
principles.
But let us be clear of a real challenge— “that SIDS remain a special
case for sustainable development in view of their unique and
particular vulnerabilities, and that they remain constrained in
meeting their sustainable development in all its three dimensions.”
(3rd SIDS International Conference, Samoa, 2014)
The SAMOA Pathway implicates the ICTs
not in isolation but in full synergy with
other sustainable development goals
which, separately, cannot create the
sustainable world for all that the people
want and the world needs.
“We recognize that the ability of the SIDS to
sustain high levels of economic growth and
job creation have been affected by the
ongoing adverse impacts of the global
economic crisis, declining foreign direct
investment, trade imbalances, increased
indebtedness, lack of adequate transport,
energy, and ICT infrastructure networks,
limited human and institutional capacity,
and inability to integrate effectively into
the global economy. SIDS' growth prospects
have also been hindered by other factors,
including climate change, the impact of
natural disasters, the high cost of imported
energy, and the degradation of coastal and
marine ecosystems and sea-level rise.”
It is worthwhile to recall a principle used in climate change negotiations that civil
society and nongovernmental organizations have asserted, in concert with SIDS, that
there are “common but differentiated responsibilities”, and that if we are to move
forward in realizing this, we must then consider “equitable access to sustainable
development”. That accessibility is so crucial and yet most challenged in how we
appropriate technologies for sustainable development, especially ICTs.
Stewardship and Sustainability: A Human Right and
Justice Issue
Access to knowledge and information
is a human right. The use of
technology in producing and
enhancing knowledge, and also, of
producing and reproducing
information, must be subjected to
the critical ethical lens of
stewardship. Such stewardship points
to sustainability and reverence for
humanity and the planet for whom
ICTs must serve. In a knowledge and
information based society that we are
in, this ethical lens brings subsidiary
but intrinsic values to ICT4D: justice,
sustainability, and participatory
democracy.
Living Faith | Seeking Justice | Pursuing Peace
For our part, as a UN representative of Church and Society of the United
Methodist Church, and its 13 million members worldwide, count on us as
active participants, much like an increasing number of faith-based and
religious NGOs, claiming their share in realizing Agenda 2030 and clarifying
with ethical and moral lenses how the SDGs can truly matter for all peoples
and the earth. Our understanding of development and the development
process includes access and empowerment, sustainability and stewardship,
development justice and participatory democracy, and accountability and
transparency. Our public policy and advocacy stances reinforce these values
as global public goods. They are principles we prosper as they are informed
by our own United Methodist Social Principles.
United Methodist Communications (the global communications
agency of The United Methodist Church) has worked with ICTs in
low resource parts of the world – particularly Africa, Haiti and
the Philippines – to affect outcomes in education, health, and
natural disasters.
The following slides (assembled by a colleague at UMCom known
by some of you here at IWC, Neelley Hicks, will show that ICT4D
has moved us away from simply telling stories about the
suffering of other people to empowering people to affect change
in their own lives.
Natural Disasters
Amateur Radio is being used to strengthen
communications among the religious network in
the Philippines – providing a reliable means to
share critical storm warnings and report
aftermath when mobile networks
may be destroyed.
Education
In Zimbabwe, students are now being provided a
21st century education through digital book
access, overcoming decades of learning from
outdated curriculum.
Education
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, 5-station computer labs
powered by solar, are giving orphans a chance to extend learning
beyond the classroom, and offline content servers loaded with
World Possible content (www.worldpossible.org) prevent the
need for costly internet connections.
Education
Outernet Lighthouse provides a means of
sharing open curriculum (no Internet required)
and is being tested by community leaders
abroad. https://outernet.is/
Providing the care needed to maintain health,
prevent disease, and restore health after
injury or illness is a responsibility each person
owes others and government owes all.
Social Principles ¶162.V
ICTs assist health workers provide
care to patients and provide
churches with vital community information
Health
Group text messages are being used to inform
those without internet access about health
concerns like cholera, malaria and Ebola.
Health
United Methodist Communications served as Executive
Producer of two health animations created by Chocolate
Moose Media which are being used to prevent the spread
of Ebola (www.ebolavideo.org). The animations were
shown on television, and often downloaded and shared via
Bluetooth on mobile devices.
Health
A surgical clinic in Kamina, DR Congo moved
away from surgery by candlelight to operating
via solar light.
Health
Children are becoming health ambassadors
to prevent Ebola through a
UMCom supported ICT program called
“Safe, Strong and Smiling.”
ICTs must help in preserving indigenous knowledge and
in enhancing endogenous know-how and skills.
ICTs must not cause the commodification and homogenization of
knowledge and information, voiding them of diversity and
inclusivity, hence restricting access and transparency.
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and
expression; this right includes freedom to hold
opinions without interference and to seek, receive
and impart information and ideas through any
media and regardless of frontiers.
Article 19, Universal Declaration of Human Rights
NGOs and Civil Society help to
combat the commodification of knowledge
ICT4D must be instrumental in reducing e-waste by
utilizing low-powered technologies and recycled
material.
ICTs create public-private partnerships
to deliver in-country solutions
and train community leaders.
The possibility of a new world that is
just, participatory and sustainable is in our hands. That
possibility should be for all, including and especially, Small
Island Developing States (SIDs) as they access and harness the
power and potential of ICTs.
Produced by the Office of Communications and the United Nations and
International Affairs Office of the General Board of Church and Society of The
United Methodist Church. Thanks to the producers of the graphics and photos
used here courtesy of public sharing on Facebook.