Report of the 26th session of the IFAP Bureau

Transcription

1 Report of the 26th session of the IFAP Bureau Introduction The twenty-sixth session of the Bureau of the Intergovernmental Council for the Information for All Programme (IFAP) was held in Room VIII, UNESCO House, Paris, Fontenoy Building, on 1 June The meeting was attended in person by Bureau Members or their representatives. The following Bureau Members attended the meeting: Chair Ms. Chafica Haddad Grenada Vice-Chair Mr. Evgeny Kuzmin Russian Federation Ms Duan Liping China Ms Betty Osafo MENSAH Ghana Member Mr Hidalgo Gallegos Peru Member Ms Françoise Clément Switzerland Member Mr Izzeldin Mohamed Osman Rapporteur Mr Ludovít Molnár (represented) Sudan Slovakia The Director-General of UNESCO was represented by Mr. Boyan Radoykov, Chief of the Section for Universal Access and Preservation Section in CI Sector s Knowledge Societies Division. 16 observers representing Member States also attended the meeting. Item 1 - Opening On confirmation of the quorum (Grenada, Russian Federation, China, Ghana, Peru, Switzerland, Sudan and Slovakia), the meeting was opened by the Representative of the Director-General, who congratulated the IFAP Chair and all other Bureau members on their 1

2 election. He praised the close collaboration between the IFAP Secretariat, the Council and the Bureau in the preparation of the 9 th IFAP Council held on May The thematic debate on Radicalization and extremism held during the Council had received good observations and better prepared IFAP for future challenges in this important area. In a similar way Council deliberations were key to understanding the need for stronger future collaboration between the Bureau and the Council to increase visibility and mobilize resources. The IFAP Chair welcomed everyone to the first meeting of the new Bureau and invited participants to introduce themselves. She reminded Bureau Members of their responsibility to identify areas in need of action in their respective regions as well as to strengthen national committees and partnerships with other organizations to further IFAP s work. IFAP would continue building Knowledge Societies, contributing to Universal Access to Information and fighting against radicalization and extremism. Ms Haddad mentioned the June 2015 Conference Youth and the Internet: Fighting Radicalization and Extremism as a key contribution by IFAP to this domain. She also underscored the importance of collective efforts through the full participation of all Council Members and the creation of partnerships to broaden the reach and impact of IFAP s actions. The Chair promised to strengthen all aspects of the IFAP network to build synergies, leverage resources, and support the Programme s work. Particular attention would be given to least developed and developing states including African and small island developing states (SIDS). IFAP would carry on its work on gender empowerment through ICT for young girls and women as well as other disadvantaged communities and persons with disabilities. Item 2 - Adoption of the Agenda The Agenda was unanimously adopted without any comments. Item 3 - discussion of recommendation of IFAP s 9 th council session and the strategic orientation of IFAP during the period The Bureau decided to make a minor modification to the preamble of the recommendations but to retain in their entirety the recommendations adopted by the Council. The recommendations were allowed by the IFAP Chair and then discussed by Bureau Members. The Council noted that systematic attention should be given across all IFAP priority areas to better understanding the societal and other transformations resulting from the rapid evolution in the use and application of information and communication technologies. IFAP s work in this area should serve to provide forward-looking advice to policy-makers especially at the national level. This approach should cut across all of IFAP s actions; 1. Continue the efforts and initiatives undertaken in view of implementing the objectives of IFAP with a view to updating its strategic plan in line with the C/4 and C/5 to reflect changes within IFAP, as well as contributing to the implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals and the WSIS + 10 Agendas. This effort will 2

3 be conducted in close collaboration with all members of the Council, the members of the Bureau and the Secretariat; The Secretariat was requested to present a draft IFAP strategic plan by mid-september. The Bureau was of the view that a second meeting of National IFAP Committee could provide a forum for discussing the first draft. The regional meeting proposed by the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO was viewed as a possible venue point for the second meeting of IFAP National Committees. The representative of China promised to follow up with the Chinese National Commission regarding this regional event. Since all countries do not have IFAP National Committees, the Russian Federation suggested that all members of the IFAP Council should be invited to this and other future meetings. 2. Systematically intensify cooperation between the IFAP Council, Bureau, Working Groups, National IFAP Committees, the Secretariat, UNESCO Intergovernmental Bodies, as well as other partners. This cooperation should be oriented to enhance the achievement of IFAP s objectives; The Russian Federation suggested that greater cooperation should be encouraged between the Culture sector and IFAP, particularly in the area of multilingualism in cyberspace. Preservation of languages needed to be taken more seriously by the Culture Sector as part of the world s intangible cultural heritage. IFAP s findings in the area of multilingualism in cyberspace and media literacy also were relevant to the work of the Culture and Education Sectors respectively. Moreover, cooperation could also be considered between IFAP and organizations such as The International Council of Archives in the area of Preservation and with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), in the area of open government. The Chair expressed the need for IFAP and the Knowledge Societies Division to be more involved in the discussions of the governing bodies of the 2005 Convention for the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions concerning the challenges posed by digital technology for the implementation of the Convention. She also encouraged cooperation with the Intergovernmental Committee particularly for the preparation of draft Operational Guidelines on digital issues. The Secretariat reminded the Bureau of the ongoing cooperation with the Education Sector in the framework of the KFIT project ICTs Transforming Education in Africa. 3. Take concrete steps to enhance the visibility of IFAP s objectives, contributions and results with key actors at the international, regional and national level. Efforts to promote wider understanding of IFAP and involvement of diverse stakeholders in the activities being undertaken within its priority areas, both within and outside the intergovernmental frameworks should be pursued. Tools such as social media should be used to enhance IFAP s outreach including among youth. In addition, IFAP should work with media and specialized academic centers, civil society, private sector and other actors; Bureau Members acknowledged the importance of continued actions in this area. 4. Take further steps to attract additional resources (financial and in-kind) at the national, regional, and international levels from governmental and intergovernmental sources as well as the private sector. Attention should be given 3

4 to exploring and establishing mechanisms appropriate to funding sources and attaining IFAP s objectives; The Chair expressed appreciation to China for the recent increases in its voluntary contribution to the Programme. Switzerland was also encouraged to secure financial resources for the Programme with reference to the call of its representative on this issue to all members during the 8 th session of the Council. 5. Continue the work by the Bureau on the draft text on proposed modifications to the Statutes and Rules of Procedure of IFAP taking into account the recommendations emerging from the governance review process at UNESCO; It was agreed that the Statutes and Rules of Procedure would be updated as approved by the Council. However, the changes made to the statutes by the 9 th IFAP Council required the approval of the General Conference. The Secretariat indicated that it would seek the advice of the Office of Legal Affairs on the procedure to be followed. 6. Strongly encourage the voluntary participation of past-ifap Council members and other experts in the ongoing activities of the Working Groups to support knowledge sharing; Bureau members were encouraged to invite past members and other experts to be involved in the activities of the Working Groups. The Secretariat indicated that all Statutory Meetings of the Council and Bureau were included well in advance on the IFAP website and the Directory of UNESCO events. Bureau members were encouraged to regularly check these channels. 7. Continue to improve the documents of the Council and Bureau to support the preparation of debates and decision-making as well as communicating and respecting the statutory deadlines; The meeting explored how a more timely submission of Council and Bureau documents could be assured. The Secretariat reminded the Bureau of the deadline established by BFM for Member States to report their indirect and in-kind contributions. Submitting this information would facilitate preparation of the financial reports. The Secretariat also indicated that the combination of time and financial constraints influenced whether documents were presented as information or working documents. As working documents were translated into all 6 working languages, these required a greater lead time and also implied a greater cost. Switzerland informed the Bureau that a Group 1 member of the Council had expressed concern about some aspects of the preparations. Switzerland indicated that it would transmit the correspondence to the IFAP Chair. The Secretariat encouraged Bureau members to regularly check the IFAP website so that they had access to and went through meeting documents before attending Statutory meetings. 8. Continue to improve the modalities of operation by harmonizing and improving the terms of reference of the Working Groups taking into account the discussions and suggestions of the Council regarding the Implementation of the IFAP priorities and invite all Members States of the Council to nominate experts to the Working Groups; 4

5 This recommendation was discussed under Item 6 - IFAP Working Groups. 9. Provide clarity around the guidelines and/or criteria for the funding of activities from the IFAP Special Account; The Secretariat indicated that the IFAP report contained information on how to contribute to the Programme could be made. The Secretariat added that due to the Programme s lack of financial resources IFAP had not been issuing calls for proposals. Nevertheless, IFAP periodically received project proposals which were analyzed on an ad-hoc basis and presented to the Bureau for its approval. The Chair reminded Bureau Members that they could also submit project proposals. 10. Appreciate and keep abreast of the ongoing and future initiatives aimed at the development of IFAP-labeled UNESCO Chairs and Category II Centers; The Bureau expressed its interest in closely following up two initiatives: 1. Establishing IFAP labeled chairs specialized in one or more of the IFAP priority areas at universities around the world. This would be carried out in conjunction with UNU- EGOV who had already formulated proposals. 2. Supporting the African Center of Excellence for Information Ethics for efforts to obtain the status of a UNESCO category II institute. The Secretariat proposed the creation of a team to follow up on these initiatives. The team would be in regular contact with the organizations that are planning to establish these centers and would provide them with advice and moral support. 11. Strengthen the use of virtual tools in addition to face to face meetings to enhance communication and decision-making of the Council, Bureau and Working Groups; The Bureau agreed to continue its efforts in this area. 12. Requests the Bureau to ensure the effective implementation of the recommendations of the Intergovernmental Council; The Bureau agreed to seek to more actively engage regional group members in IFAP s work. More, Switzerland proposed having regular regional IFAP meetings where Members could discuss the Programme. 13. Requests the Director-General to continue to support IFAP s work in the developing countries and to implement IFAP-related events; The Chair indicated that in concert with the IFAP Secretariat, a meeting would be convened with the Director-General to follow-up on this recommendation. 14. Urges the Members of the Intergovernmental Council to take concrete steps to promote IFAP, including organizing IFAP-labelled events in their countries and regions. 5

6 Bureau Members were encouraged to organize IFAP labeled events to commemorate the celebration of IFAP s 15 th anniversary. Similar calls have been made with respect to the International Day for Universal Access to Information. Item 4 - Improving the financial situation of IFAP The Bureau was reminded of the need to submit reports on in-kind and indirect contributions to IFAP, as stipulated by BFM. The Secretariat presented the financial report discussed during the Council and noted that in-kind contributions represented a significant portion of total contributions received by IFAP. The Russian Federation requested that their contribution to the organization of the Conference Media and Information Literacy for Building a Culture of Open Government, to be held from 6-10 June 2016 in Khanty-Mansiysk, be included. The Russian Federation was requested to formally submit this information. The Secretariat agreed to include in the next IFAP Brochure information about the functioning and importance of the Programme. Financial Information and guidelines for project proposals and voluntary contributions would also be included in the Brochure. Item 5 - Visibility of IFAP The Bureau discussed the presentation made by the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2005). The five-year plan proposed by the organization, described during the 9 th IFAP Council, was regarded as innovative approach to raising visibility and funds. The Chair observed that IFAP s visibility had increased considerably but had to be more targeted: IFAP s publications should therefore be directed to specific audiences such as women or young people. The Bureau agreed that visibility should be addressed in the newly developed strategic plan. Item 6 - IFAP Working Groups Following a brief discussion, responsibility for the various Working Groups were assigned as follows: Information Preservation: Switzerland Information Ethics: Sudan Information for Development: China Information Accessibility: Peru Multilingualism: Russian Federation Information Literacy: Ghana Members expressed their commitment to lend support the activities of their Working Groups. 6

7 The Secretariat highlighted that the contributions of the Information Preservation Working Group would not only benefit IFAP but it could also contribute the Memory of the World Programme, which would host a world summit in The Secretariat reminded the Bureau that the details of each working group were available on the IFAP s website. Proposed changes to the Terms of Reference The Secretariat circulated the proposal submitted by Mr. Schuller, the outgoing-chair of the Information Preservation Working Group containing suggested modifications to the terms of reference of the Working Groups. The following changes to the terms of reference were approved by the Bureau: Retaining the gender sensitive additions to the text, Doing away with the part about the Group Chair being the direct link between the Bureau and the Secretariat notably for the preparation of the C/4 and C/5, Incorporating Switzerland s proposed modification: best practices and the promotion of valorization, Changing Ongoing capacity building of its members and raising awareness to ongoing capacity building initiatives and raising awareness The revised terms of reference would be circulated by the Secretariat to all Bureau Members for their final approval once these changes were made. ITEM 7 Strengthening National IFAP Committees The Secretariat invited Bureau Members to consider the proposal contained under item 10 of the 9 th Council s Agenda. A new international meeting of National IFAP Committees was considered to be an appropriate place to discuss and develop new ideas to improve the functioning and effectiveness of these bodies. The Chair proposed that the meeting should be inclusive and not restricted to National Committees. The Secretariat recalled that Bureau Members each had an important role for encouraging the creating and operating of National IFAP Committees in their countries and the electoral regions they represent. Attention to providing financial support and their involvement in the networking s activities was essential. Ghana s efforts to reinvigorate its National Committee were highlighted. Other countries such as Zambia, Argentina, and El Salvador had expressed their interest to the Chair in either reinvigorating or creating their own National IFAP Committees. The Bureau agreed to send a survey to UNESCO s National Commissions and IFAP national committees to assess the status of the committees. The Bureau could then elaborate a strategic approach to the functioning of the committees based on this information. Secretary Generals of National Commissions would be contacted by the Secretariat to assess the status of current IFAP committees and to strengthen them or to create new ones. Information about IFAP activities, including IFAP meeting reports would be sent to UNESCO National Commissions to increase the Programme s visibility among these national bodies. 7

8 ITEM 8 - Projects and Event Proposals The following projects were discussed during the IFAP Bureau: Magnetic Tapes Alert Project Mr. Schuller emphasized the urgent need to digitize audiovisual recordings currently stored in magnetic tapes. Technical obsolescence threatened the ability of future generations to access the immense trove of diverse cultural and linguistic content stored on this media and so efforts to digitize and secure this content were essential. The Chair underlined that the 24 th IFAP Bureau had already approved fifteen hundred dollars to translate a questionnaire associated with this project. The project named Magnetic Tape Alert is presently under preparation in cooperation with IASA, the International Association of Sound and Audio-visual Archives. The project is also supported by the UNESCO s Coordinating Council of the Audio-visual Archives Associations (CCAAA). Girls and Women Empowerment through ICTs The Secretariat was awaiting an update on this project originally proposed by Ghana. A Ghanaian Private ICT company had committed to provide a financial contribution and to allocate project staff to the project. Youth Mobile was also cooperating in this project. Regular Programme Funding would be provided for this initiative as gender and ICT related projects were among UNESCO priorities. The Khanty-Mansiysk Project This project had benefited from fifteen thousand dollars coming from the Special Account. Other activities which the Bureau expected to make contributions from the IFAP Special Account included: The Lebanon Conference Youth and Social Media: Fighting against Violence and Extremism scheduled to take place on 21 and 22 September The Quebec Conference Internet and the Radicalization of Youth: Preventing, Acting and living together scheduled to take place on 31 October and 1 November 2016 The International Day for persons with disabilities taking place on 3 December The International Day for Universal Access to Information The Information and awareness workshop on ICT for rural populations submitted by the National Commission of the Democratic Republic of Congo for UNESCO A set of criteria for evaluating future projects would be developed and circulated to the Bureau. The Chair encouraged Bureau Members to submit project proposals so that a substantial portfolio of quality projects could be developed. 8

9 ITEM 9 - Cooperation with other Intergovernmental and Professional Bodies Three proposals were considered under this point: 1. Establishing IFAP chairs specialized on one of the IFAP priority areas in universities around the world. This project would be carried out in conjunction with UNU-EGOV. 2. Promoting The African Center of Excellence for Information Ethics to a category 2 UNESCO institute within IFAP s priority area of Information Ethics. 3. Partnership offer from Electronic Village, an organization that among other things provided content in Arabic, addressed developmental issues, and supported public domain content. 4. Partnership offer from the International Association of Sound and Audiovisual Archives The Bureau requested the Secretariat to seek the opening of the UNESCO National Commission of the United Arab Emirates on the proposal submitted by the Electronic Village. ITEM 10- Miscellaneous ITEM 11 - Closure The Chair thanked the Bureau for their active participation and closed the meeting at 6:15 pm. 9