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<TITLE>Re: [CS Bureau] No FOSS? RE: [WSIS CS-Plenary] Final draft of the business plan of the Global Alliance for ICTs and Development</TITLE>
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<FONT FACE="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12.0px'>Le 30/11/06 18:48, « Fouad Riaz Bajwa » <bajwa@fossfp.org> a écrit :<BR>
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Dear Philippe and Renate<BR>
</SPAN></FONT><BLOCKQUOTE><FONT FACE="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12.0px'>i have been looking at the global alliance plan and it looks good. I was just wondering if the taskforce for education, academia and research could be added to the stakeholders. A lot of the issues mentioned in the part on education are exactly on par with the points we have constantly been pushing at wsis (see our response to the political chapeau and other interventions). <BR>
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Besides, I would like to reinforce the message by Fouad, about FOSS and the whole free software and open cognition issue. Also what seems to be missing in the plan is media education/literacy (and a major contribution, in the form of a toolkit is coming out of unesco in december, that I edited for Mentor, the international association for media education) and OER (open education ressources, that are seriously being considered by OECD and international associations that are members of the education taskforce, like the long-distance and on-line education unions). Is there any way to introduce these elements in the document? It would facilitate transmission of knowledge in developing countries while allowing them to express their own sense of knowledge worldwide.<BR>
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best<BR>
Divina<BR>
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</SPAN></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000080"><FONT SIZE="4"><FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:13.0px'><B>Dear Philip, <BR>
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Thank you for forwarding this document. Even though I have not been part of the UN-GAID activities, but still as a stakeholder of the Information Society and post WSIS action lines, I would still like to suggest the fact that “Software For Humanitarian Social and Economic Development”, “Software for Public Governance” and in particular “Free and Open Source Software (FOSS)” is clearly missing from the UN-GAID business plan and agenda. <BR>
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With respect to some initiatives in Pakistan, research was underway on the various costing models for using software in Telecenters under a World Bank and Government - Universal Service Funded activity whereby Microsoft proposed US$185 per license (more than the yearly income of citizens) in Telecenters; it was researched into the fact that Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) costs significantly less almost to US$0 (zero) licensing costs significantly reducing costs and enabling that fund to further enhance other badly needed Public and Civic development projects or further enhance and extend the outreach of the Telecenter initiative.<BR>
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Apart from helping nations by enabling ICT Production and Consumption, FOSS provides open and inclusive freedoms to software copying, modification and redistribution under protective and non-protective licensing. But money aside, the strongest argument in favor of FOSS versus proprietary software is that turnkey, commercial systems do little to help build local technical capacities. FOSS, on the other hand, allows users to tinker with the technology (software) and learn as they are doing so. <BR>
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Once I again, I certainly believe that Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) should be a significant part of this agenda. I would also like to refer the committee working on the Business Plan to please consult the following important United Nations documents on FOSS with out neglecting the significant research that United Nations has already put into this issue and request to make it part of the business plan, neglecting this would only result in realizing FOSS potential returning to the same issue at some future point:<BR>
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<B>1. UNU-MERIT policy brief: Open Source and Open Standards: A New Frontier for Economic Development? </B>is a United Nations University Policy Brief that examines the economic benefits of open source and open standards and outlines some issues that public organizations should consider in developing policy guidelines in this area. <a href="http://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/pb/unu_pb_2006_01.pdf">http://www.merit.unu.edu/publications/pb/unu_pb_2006_01.pdf</a><BR>
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<B>2. General Assembly 59th Session Document Clauses 18-19 on FOSS.</B> <a href="http://www.unsystem.org/JIU/data/en/work_prog/Prog_work2004en.pdf">http://www.unsystem.org/JIU/data/en/work_prog/Prog_work2004en.pdf</a> <BR>
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<B>3. Policies of United Nations System Organizations towards the Use of Open Source Software (OSS) In the Secretariats by Louis-Dominique Ouédraogo, Joint Inspection Unit, Geneva 2005.</B> <BR>
This report in the framework of using information and communication technologies (ICT) for development, to contribute in raising awareness on the potential role of open source software (OSS) for the achievement of specific objectives set in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the Plan of Action adopted in 2003 by the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).<BR>
<a href="http://www.unsystem.org/jiu/data/reports/2005/en2005_3.pdf">http://www.unsystem.org/jiu/data/reports/2005/en2005_3.pdf</a> <BR>
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<B>4. Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) and the Millennium Development Goals (Mdgs):</B> Roles of Cities and Local Authorities. Louis-Dominique Ouédraogo. <a href="http://www.it4all-bilbao.org/ponentes/Louis_Dominique_Ouedraogo.pdf">http://www.it4all-bilbao.org/ponentes/Louis_Dominique_Ouedraogo.pdf</a> <BR>
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<B>5. UNDP-APDIP-International Open Source Network</B> – IOSN FOSS E-Primers: <a href="http://www.iosn.net">http://www.iosn.net</a> <a href="http://www.iosn.net/"><http://www.iosn.net/></a> <BR>
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<B>6. Telecenter Handbook (UNDP Europe & CIS). </B>Chapter Section: Telecottage Software Pages 44-48 <BR>
A practical guide to establishing a telecottage as well as a valuable source of experiences and lessons learned, this report was prepared by members of the telecottage movement. The Hungarian experience is used as a reference point throughout the report's different themes and discussions. This publication is intended for ICT professionals, community development practitioners and public administrators who wish to improve social services delivery at a local level, and who recognize that telecottages can be used in service of individual, local and community poverty reduction. <BR>
Issued by/Author: UNDP Europe and the CIS<BR>
Published: June 2006<BR>
<a href="http://europeandcis.undp.org/?menu=p_cms/show&content_id=1EADFC88-F203-1EE9-B04E2BCA1E266BB8">http://europeandcis.undp.org/?menu=p_cms/show&content_id=1EADFC88-F203-1EE9-B04E2BCA1E266BB8</a> <a href="http://europeandcis.undp.org/?menu=p_cms/show&content_id=1EADFC88-F203-1EE9-B04E2BCA1E266BB8"><http://europeandcis.undp.org/?menu=p_cms/show&amp;content_id=1EADFC88-F203-1EE9-B04E2BCA1E266BB8></a> <BR>
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<B>7. UNESCO: </B>Since the launch of its free and open-source software portal in 2001, UNESCO has also been both a practical and ideological leader in supporting the Free Open-source Software (FOSS) development model. The development philosophy of FOSS 174 EX/33 – page 9 encourages solidarity, collaboration and voluntary community work among programmers, librarians, scientists, researchers and computer users. The portal gives access to local and remote documents as well as to websites which are hosting the most popular and useful FOSS software packages in UNESCO’s fields of competence, notably the public sector, higher education and research environment (www.unesco.org/webworld/portal_freesoft <a href="http://www.unesco.org/webworld/portal_freesoft"><http://www.unesco.org/webworld/portal_freesoft></a> ); <BR>
<B>Source:</B> <a href="http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001437/143713e.pdf">http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001437/143713e.pdf</a> <a href="http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001437/143713e.pdf"><http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0014/001437/143713e.pdf></a> <BR>
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Also the plan requires further detail on its mission and particularly the objectives with a transparent timeline indicating what will be achieved in the short and long-term; and how many funds will be allocated; and who will be the monitoring bodies for management of transparent activities. A business plan is only a business plan when the objectives identified have clearly devised-detailed financial forecasts. Also the indicators to measure success and impact need to be added.<BR>
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Also ICT-Assistive Technology support through FOSS for the physically disadvantaged/handicapped is still missing from the plan. I would also like to suggest that still some expert members from the Free and Open Source Software movement should be included in the UN-GAID committees for appropriate expert level advice and direction whether they be from the UN System, from stakeholder Governments or Civil Society. <BR>
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I hope my two cents on this topic will be useful for the concerned and I am available for any further productive input on afore mentioned issues.<BR>
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</SPAN></FONT></FONT></FONT><FONT FACE="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12.0px'><BR>
</SPAN></FONT><FONT COLOR="#000080"><FONT SIZE="4"><FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:13.0px'><B>Regards<BR>
-----------------------<BR>
Fouad Riaz Bajwa<BR>
</B>FOSS Advocate & ICT4D Advisor<BR>
Member of the Board (for Asia) SANTEC : Educational Technology for Development <a href="http://www.santecnetwork.org">http://www.santecnetwork.org</a> <a href="http://www.santecnetwork.org/"><http://www.santecnetwork.org/></a> <BR>
Member BytesForAll Network South Asia <a href="http://www.bytesforall.net">http://www.bytesforall.net</a> <a href="http://www.bytesforall.net/"><http://www.bytesforall.net/></a> <BR>
General Secretary FOSSFP: Free & Open Source Software Foundation of Pakistan ® (Secretariat)<BR>
URL: www.fossfp.org <a href="http://www.fossfp.org"><http://www.fossfp.org></a> ;</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT FACE="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12.0px'> <BR>
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This e-mail message is intended for its recipient only. If you have received this e-mail in error, please discard it. The author of this e- mail or FOSSFP: Free and Open Source Software Foundation of Pakistan (R) takes no responsibility for the material, implicit or explicit.<BR>
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<FONT SIZE="4"><FONT FACE="Tahoma"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:13.0px'><B>From:</B> plenary-admin@wsis-cs.org [<a href="mailto:plenary-admin@wsis-cs.org]">mailto:plenary-admin@wsis-cs.org]</a> <B>On Behalf Of </B>CONGO - Philippe Dam<BR>
<B>Sent:</B> Thursday, November 30, 2006 4:41 PM<BR>
<B>To:</B> plenary@wsis-cs.org; bureau@wsis-cs.org<BR>
<B>Cc:</B> 'Renata Bloem'<BR>
<B>Subject:</B> [WSIS CS-Plenary] Final draft of the business plan of the Global Alliance for ICTs and Development<BR>
</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT SIZE="5"><FONT FACE="Times New Roman"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:16.0px'> <BR>
</SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT SIZE="4"><FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:13.0px'>Dear all, <BR>
<BR>
Find attached the final draft of the Global Alliance business plan.<BR>
It might be released by the end of this week.<BR>
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Feel free to forward us any comment in this regard.<BR>
<BR>
Philippe Dam<BR>
<BR>
<FONT COLOR="#000080"><B>Philippe Dam<BR>
Conference of NGOs (CONGO)<BR>
Program Officer - WSIS and Human Rights<BR>
11, Avenue de la Paix<BR>
CH-1202 Geneva<BR>
Tel: +41 22 301 1000<BR>
Fax: +41 22 301 2000<BR>
E-mail: wsis@ngocongo.org</B></FONT></SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT FACE="Verdana, Helvetica, Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12.0px'> <a href="mailto:wsis@ngocongo.org"><mailto:wsis@ngocongo.org></a> <BR>
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