UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION

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1 Distribution: limited IFAP-2007/Bureau.XII/3 Paris, 5 April 2007 Original: English UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION Intergovernmental Council for the Information for All Programme Twelfth meeting of the Bureau UNESCO House, Paris, Bonvin Building, Room XIII, 2-4 April 2007 Final Report This document is also available at

2 Table of Contents Introduction...3 Item 1 Opening of the meeting... 3 Item 2 Adoption of the Agenda... 3 Item 3 Adoption of the Report of the 11th meeting of the Bureau (21-22 September 2006)...4 Item 4 IFAP Evaluation...4 Item 5 Review of action points from 4th session of the Council and subsequent meetings of the Bureau... 4 a) IFAP projects... 4 b) Funding new projects... 5 c) WSIS follow-up... 5 d) IFAP National Committees... 6 e) IFAP s contribution for the preparation of 34 C/4 and 34C/ f) IFAP Work Plan... 6 g) Communications with Council members... 6 Item 6 Working Group Reports and Actions...7 a) Measurement for Knowledge Societies... 7 b) Good Practices in Using Information for Development... 7 Item 7 Preparation for 5th Session of the IFAP Council (2008)... 7 Item 8 Thematic Discussion on Preservation of Information...8 Item 9 Agenda, Date and Place of the next meetings of the IFAP Bureau...8 Item 10 Miscellaneous... 8 Item 11 Closure of the meeting...8 Annex 1 - Agenda of the Twelfth Meeting of the Bureau for the Information for All Programme (2-4 April 2007) b) Funding New Projects c) WSIS follow-up d) IFAP National Committees e) IFAP s contribution for the preparation of 34 C/4 and 34 C/ f) IFAP Work Plan Miscellaneous

3 Introduction 1. The twelfth meeting of the Bureau of the Intergovernmental Council for the Information for All Programme was held at UNESCO House, Paris, from 2 to 4 April The following members of the Bureau participated: Chairperson: Mr Laurence Zwimpfer New Zealand Vice-Chairperson: Mr Dietrich Schüller Austria Ms Fay Durrant Mr Theophilus Mlaki Jamaica Members: Mr Peter Gresiczki* Hungary Mr Izzeldin Mohamed Osman Mr Wu Yishan United Republic of Tanzania Sudan China Rapporteur: Mr Daniel Malbert France * For Mr Laszlo Z. Karvalics, Member of the Bureau 3. The Director-General of UNESCO was represented by Mr Abdul Waheed Khan, Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information for the opening of the meeting and thereafter by Mr Axel Plathe, Chief of the Executive Office of the Communication and Information Sector. 4. Representatives of the Coordinating Council of Audiovisual Archives Associations (CCAAA), South East Asia Pacific Audiovisual Archive Association (SEAPAVAA), International Council on Archives (ICA) and International Association for Sound and Audiovisual (IASA) participated as well. Item 1 Opening of the meeting 5. The Chairperson of the IFAP Council, Mr Laurence Zwimpfer and Mr Abdul Waheed Khan welcomed Bureau Members and extended a special welcome to the representatives of NGOs who were attending the meeting in their capacities as Observers. 6. In his opening speech, Mr Khan recalled the experience of the International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC) and asked the IFAP Bureau if could do the same as IDPC in expanding funding sources. He stressed on the importance to have a quality report of the evaluation of the Programme as well as relevant recommendations, as this is crucial for the future of the Programme. The scope of the Programme with its three priority areas holds many promises, and the Programme has the potential to obtain support from private companies and other stakeholders. Item 2 Adoption of the Agenda 7. The Agenda (see Annex I) was approved with the inclusion under Miscellaneous of seven new sub-items: 3

4 Report from CCAAA Annual Meeting 30 March 2007 Power of Peace Network Report from Bali World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 27 October General Conference Events Diary Strengthening relations with NGO groups (CCAAA, IFLA, ICA, IASA, FIAT) Announcement on the Consolidated report on the measures taken by Member States for the implementation of the Recommendation concerning the Promotion and Use of Multilingualism and Universal Access to Cyberspace Item 3 Adoption of the Report of the 11th meeting of the Bureau (21-22 September 2006) 8. The Bureau of the Intergovernmental Council for the Information for All Programme adopted the Report (IFAP-2006/Bureau.XI/3) of the 11 th meeting of the Bureau (21-22 September) without amendments. 9. A suggestion was made to adopt the report after each meeting using online communication. Item 4 IFAP Evaluation 10. The general feeling of the Bureau was that the evaluation report confused the role of the Council and that of the Programme itself, and as a result many of the recommendations seemed inappropriate and were not supported by the Bureau. To assist the evaluators, the Bureau provided detailed comments on each of the recommendations. A telephone communication with Michael Gurstein allowed the Bureau to express its remarks before written comments were sent. The intergovernmental character of the Council, its quality as High Level Expert Group and the distinction between the Programme and the Council itself were recalled to help formulate relevant conclusions and recommendations. 11. The analysis of the draft evaluation report resulted on a broad exchange of views on the scope and activities of the IFAP Council, where its advisory role, its expertise and its influence on strategic issues were highlighted. a) IFAP projects Item 5 Review of action points from 4 th session of the Council and subsequent meetings of the Bureau 12. The Secretariat reported on the implementation of IFAP projects. Among 35 projects which were funded by the Programme, ten are still in progress, while 25 have been successfully completed. It was suggested to approach the project partners to obtain more detailed information in the form of stories or even success stories about the very concrete experience of the projects; this could be useful in increasing visibility of the Programme and could enhance knowledge on good practices. It was stressed that even an analysis of failures would be of great value. CI s Advisors for Communication and Information in the field could provide assistance in the collection of such information, which is also crucial with a view to report to the IFAP Council. 4

5 13. To this end, the Bureau recommended to the Secretariat the following actions: Publish a web news item for each project; Review mechanisms to report on the projects; Request that the evaluators include a review of the IFAP projects in the evaluation report. 14. The Secretariat tabled an outline of the situation of the IFAP Special Fund. Part of the US$284, still remaining of the Special Fund could help fund new projects, including those shortlisted within the framework of the first call for proposals. Criteria would need to be reviewed; the document on the selection criteria was circulated and the consultation of the Bureau Members will be made through . b) Funding new projects 15. The Secretariat informed the Bureau on the possibility of private sector funding for IFAP and assisting the Council in increasing the visibility on the priority areas of the Programme. This reflects the growing interest of the private sector in the field of information for development. The Bureau stressed the need to keep a fair balance between the interests of the business companies and the promotion of the core values of UNESCO and IFAP. 16. The Secretariat suggested to continue to explore the ways of collaboration with the private sector, in particular in the areas of: Developing standards for information literacy; Measuring information literacy; and Adressing the challenges of preservation. 17. The Chair requested that a paper be prepared for the next Council meeting to clarify the position of the Council on open source vs proprietary software ; a draft should be circulated to the Bureau for comments. c) WSIS follow-up 18. The Secretariat presented the activities undertaken by UNESCO for the follow-up to the WSIS outcomes. 19. The Bureau expressed the need to continue to encourage National Committees to be involved in the implementation of the WSIS outcomes at national level. One WSIS related activity suggested is the celebration of the World Information Society Day on 17 May. Possible actions would be: Declaration from IFAP Chair; Statements from the Ministers of UNESCO s Member States; and Organization of round tables by National Committees. 5

6 d) IFAP National Committees 20. The Secretariat reported on the activities undertaken over the last six months to enhance the network of IFAP Committees and presented their current status. As next steps, the Bureau endorsed that: The Secretariat define a strategy to promote IFAP values in the field and to translate the broad objectives of the Programme as well as the WSIS Plan of Action into concrete implementable activities at national level; The Bureau actively encourage existing IFAP National Committees to share information on their current activities with other Member States that wish to launch or activate their own Committee; The Secretariat establish an online or offline platform to share good practices or examples of activities undertaken by National Committees to contribute to achieving IFAP goals at the national level; and The Secretariat organize an informal meeting of the National Committees during the 34 th session of the General Conference in October. e) IFAP s contribution for the preparation of 34 C/4 and 34C/5 21. The Bureau members expressed their disappointment regarding the proposed Draft 34/C5 which does not adequately take into consideration information society issues; references to concepts such as information literacy, preservation or ethics are missing or not sufficiently highlighted in the document. The IFAP Chair recommended that Bureau members influence the discussion on 34C/5 and 34C/4 through their countries representatives at the Executive Board and possible Draft Resolutions at the General Conference. f) IFAP Work Plan 22. The Bureau was informed on the update of IFAP Work Plan. g) Communications with Council members 23. The Secretariat reported on the work to ensure a better communication between the Council/Bureau and the Secretariat. The difficulty in maintaining a relevant list of s was highlighted: one reason for that being the fact that many Member States are still represented by the members of Permanent Delegations, instead of experts, as stated in the Statutes of the Programme. 24. To improve the communication with Council members, the Bureau requested that the Secretariat disseminate regular information (publications, reports) directly to nominated experts on the IFAP Council, by establishing a mailing list. 6

7 Item 6 Working Group Reports and Actions a) Measurement for Knowledge Societies 25. At its working session prior to the meeting of the Bureau, the Working Group reviewed national initiatives concerning the development of indicators on information literacy. The need to refine the existing indicators was stated, as well as the necessity to invite external partners into the analysis. 26. The Working Group agreed to produce a document for adoption by the Council in The purpose of the document is to present an approach for the development of the information literacy indicators, and could possibly be entitled Towards information literacy indicators. b) Good Practices in Using Information for Development 27. The Working Group on Good Practices in Using Information for Development agreed on the collection of stories designed to illustrate good practices, paying particular attention to scalability and replicability of the projects and to the linkage to the international goals such as the Millennium Development Goals or WSIS Action Lines. The group will further work on suggestions for promoting the dissemination of best examples through translation of the stories, presentation at events (conferences, etc). The link with the Global Database on Good Practices should be considered as well. Item 7 Preparation for 5 th Session of the IFAP Council (2008) 28. The Bureau agreed on the following items: 1. Date 3 5 March 2008 (with Bureau scheduled for 6 March) Dates amended subsequent to Bureau Meeting to avoid conflicts with other UNESCO meetings 2. Venue UNESCO House, Paris 3. Possible agenda items Multistakeholder approach to IFAP: cooperation with the private sector and civil society Evaluation and its consequences Working Group reports Adoption of the document on measurement of information literacy indicators National information policy toolkit Proprietary and open source software 4. Miscellaneous Possible participation of Mr Adamkus, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Knowledge Societies Preparation for the election of new Chair, Rapporteur and other Bureau members 7

8 Holding of Thematic Debates Item 8 Thematic Discussion on Preservation of Information 29. The thematic debate on Preservation of Information was held on 3 April 2007 at the French National Library and was attended by more than 40 participants, including the representatives of Member States, NGOs and UNESCO staff. 30. At the end of the debate, key messages for governments were formulated by the Chair and the Bureau agreed on communicating these key messages to Member States as follows: Send the messages to the Director General during the Executive Board; Send them to UNESCO National Commissions and National Committees; Send them to IFAP Council Members by letter; and Send them through Bureau members for their own countries. Item 9 Agenda, Date and Place of the next meetings of the IFAP Bureau 31. The Bureau agreed to hold the next Bureau meetings as follows: 13 th meeting from 10 to 12 September 2007 with the Working Group sessions on 10 September (am: Good Practices; pm: Measurement) 14 th meeting on 6 March Item 10 Miscellaneous 32. The Bureau noted the report of the Annual Meeting of CCAAA on 30 March 2007, and recalled the need to strengthen relations with NGOs. 33. The opportunity to organize a side event for the celebration of the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage on 27 October (Saturday) was discussed. An exhibition was suggested by the Bureau. 34. The Secretariat presented the Power of Peace Network, a new initiative created as a follow-up to the Global Forum held in Bali (21-23 January 2007). The network is designed to harness the power of communication and information for mutual understanding and peace. 35. The Chair recalled the date of the session of Commission V (25-30 October 2007) during the 34 th session of the General Conference and recommended the Bureau members help in briefing the representatives of their Governments for the General Conference. 36. The Secretariat presented the Consolidated report on the measures taken by Member States for the implementation of the Recommendation Concerning the Promotion and Use of Multilingualism and Universal Access to Cyberspace (176 EX/22) which is now available in six languages and will be submitted to the Executive Board. Item 11 Closure of the meeting 37. The Chairperson thanked the Members of Bureau for their help and guidance and closed 8

9 the meeting by thanking the Secretariat and the Interpreters for their support. 9

10 Annex 1 - Agenda of the Twelfth Meeting of the Bureau for the Information for All Programme (2-4 April 2007) 1. Opening of the meeting 2. Adoption of the Agenda 3. Adoption of Report of the 11 th meeting of the Bureau (21-22 September 2006) 4. IFAP Evaluation 5. Review of action points from 4th Session of the Council & Subsequent Bureau Meetings a) b) c) d) IFAP Projects Funding New Projects WSIS follow-up IFAP National Committees e) IFAP s contribution for the preparation of 34 C/4 and 34 C/5 f) IFAP Work Plan g) Communications with Council members 6. Working Group Reports and Actions a) Measurement for Knowledge Societies b) Good practices in using information for development 7. Preparations for 5 th Session of the Council (2008) 8. Thematic Discussion on Preservation of Information (3 April 2007, National Library of France) 9. Agenda, Date and Place of 13 th meeting of the IFAP Bureau (10-12 September 2007) 10. Miscellaneous a) Report from CCAAA Annual Meeting 30 March 2007 b) Power of Peace Network Report from Bali c) World Day for Audiovisual Heritage 27 October d) General Conference e) Events Diary f) Strengthening relations with NGO groups (CCAAA, IFLA, ICA, IASA, FIAT) g) Announcement on the Consolidated report on the measures taken by Member States for the implementation of the Recommendation Concerning the Promotion and Use of Multilingualism and Universal Access to Cyberspace 11. Closure of the meeting 10