Dr. Daniel Stauffacher, President, ICT4Peace Foundation, a former Ambassador of Switzerland, has been appointed by the Executive Office of the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon and Dr. Soon-hong Choi, the UN Chief Information Technology Officer to carry out a thorough review of the UN Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID) (http://www.un-gaid.org), its functioning and institutional support as well as a proposal on the relationship between GAID and the United Nations. He is sharing this responsibility with Dr. Armen Orujyan, Founder and Chairman of Athgo (http://athgo.org). Both have also been appointed Co-Chair of GAID. They will report on the results of their consultations with the GAID community and their recommendations to the United Nations during the UN General Assembly in September 2012.
The UN Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies and Development (GAID)
While the United Nations Summits of Heads of States emphasized the importance of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in achieving the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), there was a need for a truly global forum that would comprehensively address cross-cutting issues related to ICT in development.The Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies and Development (GAID), an initiative approved by the United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2006, was launched after comprehensive worldwide consultations with governments, the private sector, civil society, the technical and Internet communities and academia. With its multi-stakeholder approach, the Alliance reaffirms the belief that a people-centered and knowledge-based information society is essential for achieving better life for all. Recognizing that no single actor is capable of achieving the MDGs in isolation, the creation of an open and inclusive platform that can broaden the dialogue on innovative ways of harnessing ICT for advancing development is crucial. Stemming from a need for a truly global forum, the Alliance’s objective include facilitating the identification of technological solutions for specific development goals and developing pertinent partnership, along with acting as a think tank on Information and Communication Technology ICT) related issues and as an advisory group to the UN Secretary General.