Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA), Zentrum für Internationale Friedenseinsätze (ZIF) and ICT4Peace Foundation announce the new Crisis Information Management Training Course at the International Peace Support Training Center (IPSTC), Nairobi from 23 February to 3 March 2013. The Course will teach Information Management practices in Crisis, including Peace and Humanitarian Operations. A special focus will be given to the use of new Media, including SMS, Twitter, crowd sourcing and crisis mapping to obtain manage and share data. This Course is also linked to the UN Crisis Information Management Strategy Implementation. For more information, click on the image below. Course Description Efficient and timely ...

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The World Wide Web Foundation on 5 September 2012 launched the first ever comprehensive Web Index – a new country-by-country global study that measures the impact of the Web on the world’s people and nations. The key findings can be found here. Web inventor and Web Foundation founder Sir Tim Berners-Lee hosted an event in London to mark the launch of the Index. He was joined in conversation by two of the world’s leading Web experts: Wael Ghonim, internet activist and Head of Marketing of Google Middle East & North Africa, and Juliana Rotich, co-founder and Executive Director of Ushahidi, the Kenyan crowd-mapping platform. Juliana Rotich is also a member of the ICT4Peace Foundation International Advisory ...

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We are pleased to recognise that the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) on 27 July 2012 granted Special Consultative Status to the ICT4Peace Foundation. The Consultative status for an organization enables it to actively engage with ECOSOC and its subsidiary bodies, as well as with the United Nations Secretariat, programmes, funds and agencies, including consulting with Member States and the United Nations system at large, based on the nature and scope of work that ICT4Peace undertakes. Consultative relationship with NGOs also enables the Council or one of its bodies to seek expert information or advice from organizations with special competence in a subject matter. This status also entitles IC...

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With the UN General Assembly convening next week for the third time the Group of Governmental Experts (GGE) to address threats to international information security in the Disarmament and International Security Committee (also known as the First Committee), Dr. Eneken Tikk, Senior Advisor of the ICT4Peace Foundation prepared a brief on the work done by the First Committee in the field of international information security, highlights key national positions, and looks at the challenges facing the upcoming GGE discussions. The past activities of the First Committee include international concerns of nuclear non-proliferation, chemical and biological weapons and weapons of mass destruction. Further, the disarmament of...

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Organized by the Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies and Development (GAID) and Office of UN's Chief Information Technology Officer (CITO) Introduction The intersection of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), with the challenges of environmental, social and economic sustainability forms a critical nexus for the future of sustainable development and poverty eradication. Technology has long played a crucial part in economic and social development, and its evolution has continually raised the thresholds of possibility. In order to unleash the full potential of technology as an enabler for sustainable economic and social development throughout the developing world, a global strat...

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Daniel Stauffacher of ICT4Peace participated on 29 June 2012 in the Policy round table Risk and Crisis Communication and the new social media: Opportunities for international cooperation. This Panel was part of the JOINT OECD/International Risk Governance Council (IGRC) EXPERT WORKSHOP on Risk and Crisis Communication: Opportunities and Challenges of Social Media. The advent of social media has changed the way that people receive and disseminate information, and how they communicate with one another. Discussions at the High Level Risk Forum began to touch on some new applications of social media in risk and crisis communication, as well as some of the challenges. Governments are in the beginning phases of refining the...

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The ICT4Peace Foundation is pleased to inform you about its most recent paper entitled The potential and challenges of open data for crisis information management and aid efficiency: A preliminary assessment. The authors, Daniel Stauffacher, Sanjana Hattotuwa and Barbara Weekes of the ICT4Peace Foundation, aim to explore both the strengths and potential challenges of open data for crisis information management, crisis response and aid efficiency. Access to data or information translates into empowerment; power to make informed decisions, to solve problems, to generate economic activity, to improve living standards and, in the case of humanitarian emergencies, to protect and save lives. The integral value and m...

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In this latest paper by the ICT4Peace Foundation, the authors have called for a non-binding code of conduct to strengthen cyber-security and mitigate the threat of growing cyber-security threats. The paper is a substantive basis for the call issued by the authors in an op-ed in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung on 6 July 2011, for such a non-binding code of conduct. The paper describes also some recent developments in 2011 that took place at the policy-making level at the United Nations and important conferences in London and Berlin in the Fall of 2011. Download the report as a PDF here or view it online here.

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23 November, Geneva, Switzerland – The ICT4Peace Foundation and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), in collaboration with the International Network of Crisis Mappers successfully organised and co-hosted the 3rd International Conference on Crisis Mapping (ICCM). ICCM 2011, held at the International Conference Centre Geneva, CICG, Switzerland from 14 - 15 November, was the first to be held outside the US and also the largest so far, with over 400 participants in attendance. The conference brought together the most engaged practitioners, scholars, software developers and policymakers at the cutting edge of crisis mapping to address and assess the role of crisis mapping and humanitarian technolo...

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As noted in the Foreword by Dr. Choi Soon-hong, Assistant Secretary-General & Chief Information Technology Officer, The goal of the ICT strategy, described in this publication, is to maximize the value of ICT in improving the Secretariat’s overall effectiveness and efficiency at delivering its services to the global community. The main thrusts of the ICT strategy are to overcome the difficulties attributable to what has become a highly fragmented ICT environment and to build strategic, integrated ICT capabilities through the introduction of improved systems, tools and methods to the Organization. Page 30 of the report notes the Foundation's on-going work with the United Nations to support the design and devel...

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