UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION

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1 Distribution: limited IFAP-2009/Bureau.XV/3 Paris, 20 November 2008 Original: English UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION Intergovernmental Council for the Information for All Programme Fifteenth Meeting of the Bureau UNESCO House, Paris, Fontenoy Building, Room IX February a.m p.m. and p.m. BACKGROUND REPORT AND ANNOTATED AGENDA By Karol Jakubowicz, Chair of the IFAP Council, AGENDA ITEM 4. ENDORSEMENT OF THE STRATEGIC PLAN OF IFAP BY THE EXECUTIVE BOARD AND FOLLOW-UP. a. Implementation of items and 16 of the Executive Board Decision on strengthening IFAP, providing more financial and staff support for it, and ensuring adequate coordination with IFAP and its Council in planning and implementing UNESCO s Regular Programme related to IFAP The 180th Session of the Executive Board (30 September 17 October, 2008) endorsed the IFAP Strategic Plan for , highlighted the importance of the role of the Intergovernmental Council for IFAP in the implementation of the Strategic Plan and devoted considerable attention in its debate and Decision to ways of strengthening IFAP. The relevant parts of this Decision are reproduced below: 11. Recalls 33 C/Resolution 57, adopted at the 33rd session of the General Conference, on Strengthening of the Special Fund for the Information for All Programme and urges again Member States to continue to contribute to the IFAP Special Fund; 12. Requests the Director General to take appropriate measures in accordance with document 34C/5 to allocate sufficient funds in the current biennium from the regular budget to finance assistance to Member States, particularly for developing countries in the formulation of national information policy frameworks and strategies; 13. Requests the Director-General to identify extra budgetary funds to contribute to IFAP s Special Fund, to take appropriate measures in order to facilitate together with the IFAP Council members the fundraising process for the IFAP Special Fund, both from Member 1

2 States and from private sector donors and provide adequate resources by, inter alia, strengthening administrative support; 14. Further requests the Director-General to take appropriate measures in order to ensure an adequate coordination with IFAP and its Council in planning and implementing UNESCO s Regular Programme related to IFAP; 15. Invites the DG when carrying out the planned evaluation of strategic programme objective 12 of 34C/4 Enhancing Universal Access to Information and Knowledge, to include assessment of IFAP and measures undertaken to strengthen IFAP; 16. Requests the Director-General to consider allocating in view of the priorities of UNESCO, additional funds and staff support to IFAP s activities in the budget proposal for the next biennium (35 C/5). The purpose of this item of the Agenda is to express satisfaction with the Executive Board Decision, adopted with very broad support among the Board s members. As the Executive Board gave the Secretariat a very clear orientation on how to implement the Decision, the purpose will also be to establish what is being done in this respect, and what is planned for the future to augment funding and administrative support for IFAP. Representatives of the Secretariat will provide an oral report on the Director General s actions and plans in this respect. The Chair has also requested that the Bureau be given a chance to read the draft Programme and Budget for the next biennium (35 C/5), in the form available at the time of the Bureau meeting, to ascertain how the Executive Board s Decision is reflected in this document. AGENDA ITEM 5. SECRETARIAT REPORT ON THE FINANCIAL SITUATION OF IFAP The Secretariat will provide a written report on this subject. The Bureau should then consider ways of raising funds in order to finance IFAP activities, supplementing the budget from UNESCO which in the current biennium covers primarily administrative costs. Though the Programme and Budget (34 C/5) authorizes the Director General to assist in the formulation of national information policy frameworks, in particular within the framework of the Information for All Programme (IFAP), no funds from the regular budget are available for this purpose. AGENDA ITEM 6. REVIEW OF ACTION POINTS FROM 5TH SESSION OF COUNCIL a. Assistance to Member States in developing and implementing national information policies The Bureau will be invited to review progress in pursuing the main objective of IFAP in this biennium, i.e. to (i) develop Information/Knowledge Policy and Strategy Templates, (ii) revive, update and maintain the online Information Society Observatory, and (iii) publish an annual report on information society policies. It is to be hoped that the identification of a 2

3 consultant who will be commissioned to implement this project will be concluded before the Bureau meeting. However, the Bureau may need to consider the formal and financial aspects of the contract with the consultant, and especially ways of ensuring the continuation of appropriate activities beyond b. IFAP contribution to attaining the objectives of the Medium Term Strategy (34 C/4) See above and the whole Strategic Plan. c. IFAP contribution to the international information society debate and implementation of WSIS Action Lines (i) Multistakeholder Consultation Meetings for the implementation of the WSIS Action Lines in Geneva, Switzerland, from 19 to 23 May 2008; plans for the Consultation Meetings in May 2009; (ii) Internet Governance Forum, Hyderabad, December Multistakeholder Consultation Meetings for the implementation of the WSIS Action Lines in Geneva, Switzerland, from 19 to 23 May 2008 Council members volunteered to represent IFAP representation during Multistakeholder Consultation Meetings for the implementation of the WSIS Action Lines in Geneva, Switzerland, from 19 to 23 May 2008 Consultation meeting IFAP represented by: С1. The role of public governance authorities Antonin Chlum, International and all stakeholders in the promotion of ICTs Cooperation Department, Ministry of for development the Interior, Czech Republic, C3. Access to information and knowledge Divina Frau-Meigs, Professor, University Paris-Sorbonne, France Verena Metze-Mangold, Germany, German National Commission C8. Cultural diversity and identity, linguistic diversity and local content Pauline Dugré, Canada, Programme Officer, Communication & Information, Canadian Commission for UNESCO C9. Media Pauline Dugré, Canada C10. Ethical dimensions of the Information Divina Frau-Meigs, France Society C11. International and regional cooperation\ Antonin Chlum, Czech Republic 3

4 Also the Secretariat took the opportunity of the Consultation meetings to inform participants about the work of IFAP. A full report on the IFAP contribution to these meetings, together with excerpts from presentations by Council members was provided in IFAP BRIEF, June Plans for the Multistakeholder Consultation Meetings in May 2009 Depending on progress achieved in (i) developing Information/Knowledge Policy and Strategy Templates, and (ii) developing the draft Code of Ethics for the Information Society (see below), IFAP may organize public presentations of these documents in Geneva, to submit them to public consultation before their consideration by the Intergovernmental Council of IFAP. 3. Internet Governance Forum, Hyderabad, December 2008 At the invitation of the Council of Europe, the Bureau of the Information for All Programme (IFAP) / UNESCO and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) agreed to hold a joint workshop during the Internet Governance Forum (Hydebarad, India, December 2008) on Delivering universal access and public value of the Internet: a goal of national information policy. The programme of the workshop included the following presentations by participants representing or associated with IFAP: a. Market failure, including the failure of the Internet to provide access to core Internet services and tools - Karol Jakubowicz, Chairman, Information for All Programme (IFAP / UNESCO) b. Media and information literacy - Divina Frau Meigs, International Association for Media and Communication Research, Professor, University of Sorbonnne, France; c. National information policies - Karol Jakubowicz, Chairman, Information for All Programme (IFAP) / UNESCO d. Effective access to the Internet which is language and culturally specific / multilingualism - Karol Jakubowicz, Chairman, Information for All Programme (IFAP) / UNESCO Since the involvement of the UNESCO Secretariat in the preparation of this workshop or in funding travel costs for IFAP speakers could not be obtained, they accepted funding from the Council of Europe. Unfortunately, in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, the Council of Europe decided at the last moment to withdraw from the IGF. Therefore, IFAP speakers could not attend the workshop and though efforts were made to secure distribution among participants of an IFAP paper on national information policy and its importance in promoting the development of the Information Society, that ultimately proved unsuccessful. d. IFAP National Committees: results of a survey of National IFAP Committees and plans for cooperation with them 4

5 In June 2008, a questionnaire was sent out to IFAP National Committees to obtain basic information about them, as a point of departure for planning closer cooperation with and among them. This followed a similar exercise in 2006, when only 2 replies were received. By the end of 2008, the current questionnaire elicited 19 responses from IFAP National Committees in Austria, China, Cuba, Denmark, Egypt, France, Hungary, Iran, Israel, Jamaica, Jordan, Republic of Korea, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Nigeria, the Phillipines, Poland, Russia, Slovakia. Additionally, IFAP National Committees had just been, or were being established in Brazil, Chile, Germany, Togo and Thailand. Canada replied that IFAP-related issues are handled by a staff member at the Canadian Commission for UNESCO. The questionnaire will be continued to obtain information about more IFAP National Committees. The chair of the Russian IFAP National Committee has announced it is hoping to be able to organize a meeting of IFAP National Committees in Russia in The Bureau is invited to study the results of the survey so far and consider ways of cooperating with IFAP National Committees and involving them more closely in the work of IFAP. The Bureau is also invited to consider ways of recognizing particularly active and productive IFAP National Committees, as a way of encouraging others to follow in their footsteps. AGENDA ITEM 7. IMPROVEMENT OF THE EFFECTIVENESS AND EFFICIENCY OF IFAP As is clear from the Executive Board Decision cited above, responsibility for strengthening IFAP and for improving its effectiveness and efficiency rests equally with IFAP itself and with the Director-General and the Secretariat, and crucially depends on: - Considerably augmented funding, from the Regular Budget and from fundraising; - Strengthened administrative support; - Adequate coordination between the Secretariat and IFAP and its Council in planning and implementing UNESCO s Regular Programme related to IFAP. These actions are primarily in the hands of the Secretariat. However, IFAP itself also has an indispensable role to play in this respect. The Bureau is invited to consider and propose ways of improving IFAP s effectiveness and efficiency by its own efforts. Work Plan 5

6 This should involve the development of a Work Plan for 2009, covering the activities of the Bureau, Working Groups and IFAP National Committees. The Bureau is invited to discuss ways of developing such a work plan. Working Methods The Bureau is not regulated by IFAP Statutes or the Rules of Procedure of the IFAP Council, except to say that the Bureau [is] considered as a subsidiary body of the Council (Statutes, Art. 4.2) and that the Bureau shall discharge such duties as the Council may confer upon it (Statutes, Art. 6.3). The document Functioning of the Council, presented by the Director-General to the 1 st Session of the Intergovernmental Council in 2002, describes the role of the Bureau in the following terms: The role of the Bureau, that is composed of a Chairperson, three Vice-Chairpersons, three other members and a Rapporteur, all representatives of Member Sates of UNESCO, is to discharge such duties as the Council may confer upon it. This includes to - Instruct the Secretariat of the Council to convene its ordinary sessions ; - Cooperate with the Secretariat in the preparation of the provisional agenda of the sessions of the Council ; - Designate a replacement of the Chairperson, if she/he ceases to represent a State, member of the Council, or is so incapacitated that he/she can no longer hold office ; - Revise the list of international governmental and non-governmental organizations that may be invited to participate in the proceedings of the Council once the Council has established the conditions on criteria for such invitations ; - Consult the Members by correspondence, should the approval of the Council be required for measures of exceptional urgency and importance while the Council is not in session. The document says the Council may also entrust to the Bureau responsibility for establishing criteria for the design and the implementation of extrabudgetary projects. The implication of these regulations is that the Bureau is not designed to be the executive body of the Council and is called upon to perform only formal functions. This view is supported by Article 8 of the IFAP Council Statutes, according to which The Secretariat of the Council shall be provided by the Director-General of UNESCO, who shall place at the Council's disposal the staff and other means required for its operation and that The Secretariat shall provide the necessary services for the sessions of the Council and meetings of its subsidiary bodies. In other words, unless the Council delegates work directly to the Bureau (during its 5th Session, the Council requested the Bureau: to establish multistakeholder Working Groups to deal with the five IFAP priorities and to revise the draft [Strategic] plan ), implementation of 6

7 Council decisions should, as suggested by this language, be carried out by the Secretariat. Hence the requests addressed to the Director-General by the Executive Board, as noted above. However, there is a clear limit to how much IFAP can do and what it can achieve with current Bureau working methods. Pending the full implementation of the Executive Board s requests, the Bureau is faced with two options: - either to stick to the role foreseen in the documents cited above, which would not increase IFAP s efficiency and effectiveness, and is already contradicted by the way IFAP activities are managed today, - or to acknowledge that it is, or should be, the executive body of the Council and assume responsibility for most of the day-to-day work, requiring Bureau members to make a greater commitment of their time and effort to IFAP activities. The Bureau is invited to consider these two options with a view to deciding whether there should be a change in Bureau working methods. If the second option is chosen, this would ultimately require amending the Statutes and the Rules of Procedure, and for now a decision adopted in an online consultation by the Council, delegating standing tasks to the Bureau and its members, including a division of labour within the Bureau. This could potentially involve assumption by particular Bureau members, in consultation with the Chair and in cooperation with the Secretariat, of responsibility for: - contacts and cooperation with Council members; - development and operation of Working Groups; - cooperation with IFAP National Committees; - fundraising; - IFAP projects - oversight of the IFAP website; - outreach to, and contacts with, various stakeholder groups and organizations; - operational relations with UNESCO Member States which are not members of the Council; - Other. The Bureau is also invited to consider ways of obtaining more active involvement of Council members in IFAP s work. AGENDA ITEM 8. IFAP SPECIAL PROJECTS 1. Past projects The Bureau will be invited to review implementation of projects it approved in the past, e.g. the three projects that the Bureau decided to allocate funds to during its 13 th session in 7

8 September 2007: Information Literacy Training-The-Trainers Project, Establishment of Open Source Archival Repository and Preservation System and Increasing Global Awareness on Information Ethics and E-Government. 2. Future Projects The Secretariat, acting in consultation with the Chair, has written to regional UNESCO advisers for communication and information with a request for assistance in identifying projects in their regions that IFAP could support. Once such a list is compiled, a fundraising effort will be launched to obtain funds for IFAP to finance projects of its choice. The Secretariat will provide a written report on past and prospects for future projects. The Bureau is invited to consider other ways of obtaining information about projects IFAP could support (e.g. by requesting Council members, IFAP National Committees and others to identify them) and of raising funds for these purposes. Active and effective fundraising is crucial to the success of IFAP and the achievement of its mission and objectives and requires involvement by all Council members, in addition to Secretariat efforts. IFAP could also institute a scheme for granting IFAP s logo and label to activities resolutely falling under its mandate by supporting and promoting in such a way projects deserving recognition by IFAP. This could be done at the outset on an ad hoc basis, but if successfully continued, it might require amendments to article 8 of the Statutes by adding a 5th item saying that the Secretariat could prepare requests for patronage by IFAP and submit those to the Bureau. AGENDA ITEM 9. IFAP WORKING GROUPS 4 working groups are in the process of being established. Information Literacy Efforts were initiated by Professor Fay Durrant, Rapporteur of the Bureau, who developed Terms of Reference for the Group, subsequently approved by the Council. Prof. Durrant then informed the Chair she would not stand for election as Chairperson of this group. The Chair therefore asked Professor Divina Frau-Meigs of France (who had volunteered to lead this group) to become its convenor and possibly Chairperson, if elected by the WG. At present, the composition of the group is as follows: 8

9 1. Professor Divina Frau-Meigs, France, Professor at the University of Paris 3 2. Professor Fay Durrant, Jamaica, Council member, Head, Dept of Library and Information Studies, Jamaica 3. Professor Tibor, Koltay, Hungary, Head of Department of Information and Library Studies, Szent István University Faculty of Applied and Professional Arts, 4. Izzeldin Osman, Sudan, Council member, Professor and Chairman of Research and Faculty Development Committees, Sudan University of Science and Technology 5. Dr. Hesham Hassan Makhlouf, Professor in the Institute of Statistics, Cairo University, 6. Professor Niv Ahituv, Marko and Lucie Chaoul Chair for Research in Information Evaluation and the Vice President and Director General of Tel Aviv University Information Preservation The group is being formed by Mr. Dietrich Schueller, IFAP Bureau member. He has promised to circulate the list of candidates for membership in the WG in mid-january. It is to be composed of members of the the MoW Sub-Committee on Technology ("SCoT"); representatives from libraries and archives and their NGOs (IFLA, ICA; IASA), including personalities of political and strategic competence; and representatives from the private sector. Information Ethics (draft Code of Ethics for the Information Society) At the suggestion of the Secretariat, IFAP has agreed to consider the draft Code of Ethics for the Information Society, which emerged from regional meetings of the ethical dimension of the Information Society in An informal online working group has been established, which may later be transformed into a full-fledged Information Ethics WG. It is composed of the following members 1. Czech Republic Antonin Chlum, IFAP Council member, International Cooperation Unit, Ministry of the Interior; 2. Canada prof. Michael Geist, holder of the Canada Research Chair of Internet and E- commerce Law, University of Ottawa 3. Egypt - Dr. Ibrahim Mohamed Shabaka. Prof. in Faculty of Engineering-Cairo University, 4. France Prof. Divina Frau-Meigs, Professor at the University of Paris 3, Expert, French National Commission for UNESCO 5. Sudan Izzeldin Osman, IFAP Council member; Professor and Chairman of Research and Faculty Development Committees, Sudan University of Science and Technology 6. Poland - Dr Karol Jakubowicz, Chair, IFAP Council (temporary convenor of the group), Information for Development 9

10 This group is being formed by Mr. Theophilus Mlaki of Tanzania, IFAP Council member. Its current composition is as follows: 1. Theophilus Mlaki (Tanzania), Director of Information and Documentation, Tanzania Commission for Science and Technology 2. Molnár Szilárd, Research Director, University of Technology and Economics of Budapest, Information Society and Research Institute (ITTK), 3. Izzeldin Osman, Sudan, Council member, Professor and Chairman of Research and Faculty Development Committees, Sudan University of Science and Technology Dr. Boshra Mosaad Awad, Prof of Chemistry, College of Women for Arts, Science and Education-Ain Sharns University, 5. Kingo Mchombu, Professor and Dean, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Namibia, All the Working Groups that have not yet done so will be asked to develop their ToRs, for approval by the Council. AGENDA ITEM 10. PREPARATION OF THE DRAFT PROGRAMME AND BUDGET (35 C/5) IFAP role As instructed by the Council, the Bureau has prepared and submitted, on the basis of a questionnaire among Council members, the IFAP contribution to the development of 35 C/5. The state of preparation of 35 C/5 was reported, on the basis of documentation available at the time, in IFAP Agenda for October It did not appear at the time that IFAP proposals were fully reflected in the draft. Secretariat report The Secretariat will provide an oral report on the preparation of 35 C/5. As noted under Agenda item 4, the Chair has also requested that the Bureau be given a chance to read the draft Programme and Budget for the next biennium (35 C/5) in the version currently available, so as to be able to implement the decision of the 5th Session of the IFAP Intergovernmental Council that IFAP should make its contribution to the preparation of that document. This may require IFAP to address further proposals to the Director-General. 10

11 AGENDA ITEM 11. SECRETARIAT PRESENTATION ON ACTIVITIES RELATED TO IFAP (IPDC) An IPDC representative will make a presentation concerning the work of the IPDC. AGENDA ITEM 12. MISCELLANEOUS Any other business. 11