We now can at last create a planetary information network that transmits messages and images with the speed of light from the largest city to the smallest village on every continent. -- Vice-President Al Gore, speaking at the UN sponsored World Telecommunication Development Conference (WTDC) in Buenos Aires, Argentina, March 21-29, organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Mr. Gore dubbed such a network the Global Information Infrastructure (GII).
In line with the ITU Constitution and Convention, this document proposes a Plan of Action with a view to facilitate the WTDC's task to establish a work programme for the ITU Development Sector over the period 1995-1999. THE PURPOSE OF THE BUENOS AIRES ACTION PLAN IS TO PROVIDE A FRAMEWORK FOR COORDINATED GLOBAL ACTION IN TELECOMMUNICATIONS DEVELOPMENT, BASED ON THE PRIORITIES OF ITU MEMBERS AND DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS AS EXPRESSED IN WORLD AND REGIONAL TELECOMMUNICATION DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCES.
The programme areas are mutually supportive: for example, appropriate policies and strategies as well as adequate information services are conditions for achieving the goals expressed for all other programmes. Human resources development is of crucial importance for the implementation of all programmes. Improvement of broadcasting networks and rural telecommunications will, for instance, offer possibilities to reach people in remote areas with distance education and training. Similarly, the development of telematics and electronic networks will support all other programmes and contribute to reduce the cost of meetings.
It is in this context that a coherent, tailor-made programme to address the specific needs of the close to 50 countries with lowest income and lowest service levels (the so called LDCs) has also been designed. Document DT/7 makes telecommunications a principal driving force to achieve the economic and social integration in these countries. Increasing accessibility of telecommunication services to rural and remote areas in these countries, using appropriate technology, is a priority. One concrete goal is to improve service access, expressed in terms of teledensity, from currently less than 1 telephone per 100 people to at least double that rate by the year 2000, and thus to make a significant contribution to sustainable development.
As a general target, therefore, at least 70 per cent of the funding will directly support LDC activities....
Programme goals, objectives and strategies:
The long-term goal is to ensure the supply of human resources, particularly in developing countries, with the competencies and motivation required for regulatory bodies and telecommunication service providers to operate efficiently in the changing telecommunication environment and contribute effectively to the achievement of the goals of the Buenos Aires Action Plan.
These goals also imply that the HRM/HRD programme, besides providing a framework for coordination of ITU members' and other development partners' efforts to develop the human resources WITHIN the telecommunication sector, should contribute to the development of flexible open learning systems, particularly addressing the needs of people and small enterprises in rural and low-income urban areas (see also Programme areas No. 5 and 6 -- Integrated Rural Development and Telematics).
Thus, the HRM/HRD programme will contribute to improve relevance and accessibility of distance education and training offered at regional and global levels and support current initiatives efforts to bring together academic and R&D institutions as well as other potential suppliers of distance learning in a global effort for transfer of know-how and harmonization of diplomas and certificates. In particular, the Bureau for Development of Telecommunications (BDT) should continue to play a leading role in the development of models and standards for the cooperative design of flexible, portable and adaptable, modular distance learning programmes as well as standards for information systems capable of handling both needs for and supply of such programmers, i.e., an "electronic market place," easily accessible by users as well as providers of training courses.
New initiatives in this field include the creation of a "Global Telecommunication University" based on flexible distance learning using advanced telecommunications to meet the needs of higher education in this field.
In this program, "Global Telecommunication University" (e.g., the distance learning initiatives and Open Universities in Australia, the European Community, Japan, the Commonwealth of learning and the U.S. "Global University") was listed as one of action plans to be undertaken.
Through electronic networks (in future connected through Electronic Highways), developing countries could access information, distance education, training and know-how of academic and research institutions, public organizations and millions of specialists connected to the networks. This would bring about North-South, South-South and East-West cooperation and foster peaceful coexistence.
The Internet is a striking example of how fast a truly user-driven global network for information exchange (and more) can develop, essentially thanks to the voluntary work of its users. Providing that more people in developing countries get access at a cost they can afford (and develop the skills to use it), this network [*] would at the very least provide the answer to many of the needs of telecommunications for sustainable development.
In some locations, electronic mail-based access to networked information is a more realistic starting point than full Internet connection.
The ITU Development Sector has an important role to play in bringing such networks within the reach of people in developing countries, by improving access to these networks and by contributing to capacity-building. In this context also, the BDT should promote the development of national policies, laws and regulations that open access and information services relevant to the actions proposed by the UNCED. The UNDP, with its Sustainable Development Network, and the Internet Society are possible partners in this undertaking. Other partners are the numerous organizations involved in initiatives aiming at the development of distance learning (e.g., the US Global University initiative and other similar visions developed in Europe, Japan and Australia), tele-working and telemedicine.
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April 1994
GLOSAS NEWS was orinally posted to the WWW at URL: http://library.fortlewis.edu/~instruct/glosas/cont.htm by Tina Evans Greenwood, Library Instruction Coordinator, Fort Lewis College, Durango, Colorado 81301, e-mail: greenwood_t@fortlewis.edu, and last updated May 7, 1999. By her permission the whole Website has been archived here at the University of Tennessee server directory of GLOSAS Chair Dr. Takeshi Utsumi from July 10, 2000 by Steve McCarty in Japan.