Infopoverty Programme

@ World Summit on Information Society

At the World Summit on Information Society OCCAM manages official Summit television space and makes an important step towards the realization of the Infopoverty Programme, in particular for the realization of digital villages in the ambit of the UN Alliance for Rural Development.

OCCAM organized and managed the WSIS TV space, the official Television of the World Summit on the Information Society, in more than 200 squared meters next to the Plenary Hall. Thanks to the presence of BBC journalists and specialized technicians from the Navajo Nation, interviews with protagonists, Heads of Government and State were shot and then broadcast worldwide by the main accredited television covering the Summit.

Among the main events of the recent World Summit on the Information Society in Tunis OCCAM has organized the Infopoverty Seminar , that was held on November 16 th enjoying the participation, among the others, of the Minister of Telecommunications of Madagascar, the President of Navajo Nation, and prestigious representatives from the Governments of Tunisia, Congo, Tanzania, Dominican Republic, Morocco, Romania, Peru and Senegal.

The main initiatives of the Infopoverty Programme for 2006 were presented during the Seminar and include:

The Infopoverty Seminar has been concluded by the signing ceremony of the following agreements with:

On November 17 th, at 17.30, the ITU Pavilion host the presentation and the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding with the ITU and the Navajo Nation for the realization of the satellite portal for indigenous communities, at the presence of Roberto Blois, ITU Deputy Secretary General.

All the agreements signed are already in an operative phase, and explorative missions are envisaged within the end of the year in Madagascar, Dominican Republic, Mexico, Brazil and Peru.

On November 18 th , last day of the Summit, a special press conference was realized to present the VI Infopoverty World Conference "Fighting poverty to promote development: new technologies at the service of the Millennium Development Goals", to be held on April 6-7 2006.

The Conference, following the innovative scheme of parallel sessions connected by videoconference, will be held in New York at UN Headquarters and in Milan at Politecnico and Università Cattolica. The other seats connected will be the Congress of Peru, in Lima; the ITU, in Geneva; UNESCO and ESA, in Paris; RITLA, in Rio de Janeiro; the ICT Village realized in Madagascar; the Cabinet of Telecommunications of Dominican Republic; the Hospital of Tunis, in Tunisia; the Mumbay University, in India; at the OCCAM seat in Navajo Nation that will be inaugurated on the occasion.

The creation of digital repositories, tell centers equipped with services such as e-learning, e-governance and telemedicine, virtual incubators for start-up, microcredit, digital botanic laboratories, energetic alternative sources, has proved very effective in giving an important contribute to the improvement in the lives of disadvantaged communities , with affordable costs to quickly reach self-sufficiency.

In the new era of wireless broadband satellite, it's important to create for our industries perspectives of business enlargement, in order to overcome the saturation in industrialized Countries markets with applications and innovative services that will solve primary needs in the field of health, alimentation, instruction and work.

OCCAM strengthens its role as a leading organization in the UN System for the realization of ICT Villages, thanks also to the support of international institutions as the fish-farming, safe water, community renewal, environmedia and e-health Institutes, and for the certification and diffusion of new products and services created to face the very needs of disadvantaged communities in emerging Countries, through the OCCAM Laboratories that will be soon activated, in the common objective to concretely fight poverty through innovative ICT applications.

Logo of the Event

What's Infopoverty?

Infopoverty is a Program born in UN ambit and coordinated by OCCAM (the Observatory for Cultural and Audiovisual Communication created by UNESCO in 1997) that involves more than 100 international institutions and national entities participating since 2001 in the annual Infopoverty World Conference, promoted by the European Parliament under aegis of the United Nations, and under the High Patronage of the President of Italian Republic and the Patronage of the Presidency of the Italian Council of Ministers.

Infopoverty is a common platform aimed at fighting poverty through an innovative use of Information & Communication Technologies (ICT) regarded as tools able to provide broadband wireless services, (such as telemedicine, e-government, e-learning.) to support development in the most disadvantaged communities.. The aim of the Infopoverty Program is working so that the digital revolution can become instrument for a sustainable development that gives to communities the possibility to promote themselves as socio-economically valid subjects. Infopoverty is open to the contribute of those, institutions and agencies, contribute to the concrete promotion of human rights a component of their mission. At the same time, besides the social implications, the Infopoverty Program represents also an opportunity for the ICT sector agencies to broaden markets in emerging Countries.

Program of the Event

Infopoverty Seminar @ WSIS 2005

November, 16th h1.00 pm - Room Bizerte , Kram Centre, Tunis (Tunisia)