The history of the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force

The United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force was created in November 2001 by the United Nations Secretary, General Kofi Annan as requested by the Economic and Social Council. The task force followed in the footsteps of several initiatives including the World Economic Forum and the G8 and was thought to be a broader legitimization of these two initiatives. The intention of the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies (UN ICT) Task Force was to lend a global dimension to the efforts previously made to bridge the global digital divide and to advance digital opportunity for all.

The principal endeavor of the UN ICT Task Force was to offer policy advice to governments as well as international organizations in bridging the digital divide. Partnerships between the UN systems and states, private industry, foundations, donors, trusts and other stakeholders were the intent. Included in the partnerships and organizations were Cisco Systems, Hewlett Packard, Nokia, IBM, Siemens, SAP and Sun Microsystems with global NGOs, governments and international agencies and technical advice provided by high level technical advisors.

The working groups of the UN ICT Task Force were organized around four expansive themes: Information and Communication Technologies policy governance, Enabling Environment, Human Resource Development and Capacity Building and Information and Communication Technologies Indicators and MDG mapping. In accordance with the broad themes were the regional activities that were carried out in five regional networks including: Africa, Asia, Europe and Central Asia, Latin America and Caribbean and Arab states.

The Task Force held ten semi-annual meetings in locations that served as important venues for exchange of best practices. According to the participants the most successful meetings were held in juxtaposition with a series of Global Forums beginning in November 2001 in New York and finalizing at the World Summit on the Information Society held in Tunisia in November 2005. One of the most notable successes of the Task Force was the creation of Global eSchools and Communities Initiative (GeSCI) a non profit organization with the intent to improve education through the use of information and communication technologies.

Bridging the digital divide is yet to be concluded and other groups and initiatives have been developed to continue in the successful footsteps of the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force and strides continue to be made in the bridging.