Working Groups
ICT and the Millennium Development Goals
Given the transversal nature of ICT in development, there is already an important array of references about successful thematic applications of these technologies. This Group will debate about their own experiences and those of other parties, highlighting which ICTs have more relevance at present. Particular attention will be paid to emerging Web 2.0 applications, which in general facilitate online participation. As reference, the Group can use the ICT-MDG matrix developed by the UN ICT Task Force in preparation of the first phase of WSIS. A key question to consider is how the use of such applications can be widely disseminated among cooperation and development actors.
ICT and e-Governance
Governance can be understood as the capacity of a given society to face its challenges. With this understanding, ICT applications for a democratic governance go beyond e-government services, which in turn require substantial incorporation of ICT tools and process in the back-office of Public Administrations. Just these processes alone imply and require significant changes on how government functions are carried out and in their relationship with the citizenry.
Moreover, it is necessary to consider ICT tools and processes as an essential factor to develop digital or e-democracy, since they aim towards a more intense and diversified citizen participation through various channels – from electronic ‘agoras’ (forums) to e-Administration services and even media web/digital campaigns. Topics such as information security and privacy, access to public information, and government transparency/accountability are some examples of what may be treated here.
Reticulating Cooperation- Towards Networking Cooperation
Castells claims that societies in the Information Era organize themselves and function through networks. Consequences for development and international cooperation are arguably deep and multi-faceted. To start with, there is a need to examine the meeting of two paradigms, that of the Network Society (Castells) with the one of Human Development (Sen). What mechanisms facilitate Human Development in the Network Society? What effect does the Network Society have over Human Development processes, and over their essence, the expansion of choices for people?
Moving onto the particular field of international Cooperation, either at the level of a given organization, or from the perspective of the international cooperation system, we can assume that international Cooperation will be increasingly networked. Now, how should we adapt international Cooperation structures to a network environment? How to modify working structures to include network strategies aimed at improving performance and results? What are the attributes of a renovated ‘Network Cooperation’? We are already giving answers to these questions on the go, yet, without guidelines or references. Thus, it seems worth to stop to think and discuss about it. We invite you to do so in this workshop.
Spanish International Cooperation: Towards Cooperation 2.0
Spanish International Cooperation is at an interesting crossroads. On the one hand, the level of public financial resources has increased dramatically (at a national as well as at a regional level). As a result, there are an increasing number of actors involved, as well as support services for them (like Masters in Development, development portals, etc.).
On the other hand, the leading cooperation agency in Spain, AECI (Spanish Agency for International Cooperation) is in the midst of a needed and encouraging reform. As Leire Pajín – Secretary of State for International Cooperation- has put it, this process “encourages us to put our shoulders to the wheel to build a coherent, 21st Century international cooperation structure within the Information Society; an international cooperation which main objective should always be the development of peoples and equal opportunities for all men an women in the world”.
All this seems to be a good argument in favour of supporting this relatively young Cooperation movement. Our challenge now is to shrug shoulders about old methodologies and leapfrog a couple of stages, adapting and assimilating best practices, peering the most advanced countries, while developing our own identity. That is the aim of this particular workshop: to debate and generate new ideas on this challenging and relevant topic, to shape a future for the Spanish Cooperation.
