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Seventh
World Conference of Community Radio Broadcasters
Milan, 23-29 August 1998 Main | Activities | Local information | Register now! | Virtual Forum | Other links Septième
Assemblée mondiale des radiodiffuseurs communautaires
Séptima
Asamblea Mundial de Radios Comunitarias
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amarc-1
Hi everyone, Forgive me for barging in on this session with a specific request, but I hope it is sufficiently relevant to strategy to warrant your brief attention. I mentioned in a previous note that the International Telecoms Union (ITU) recently set up (at the instigation of the Platform for Cooperation on Communication and Democratisation) a Focus Group to look at the question of telecommunications and NGOs. I am Rapporteur for that Group. Our group will examine how NGOs currently benefit from the use of telecommunication, how such benefits could be extended, the barriers to them (including for instance, lack of access to the ITU), and short-term as well as strategies ways in which NGOs could use telecommunication better. A key question we want to consider is how deeper involvement in the ITU (or perhaps the WTO also) could be justified by on-the-ground benefits to NGO and development aims. The idea is that the Focus Group will report to the ITU in a year or so, and include recommendations for how the ITU has open out to include the interests of civil society (as they are already reaching out to - desperately - the private sector). Since the Focus Group has been set up by the ITU-D Conference itself, we are hoping that our report cannot be ignored. THIS IS WHERE YOU MAY COME IN. Our Focus Group is gathering experiences, from a few paragraphs to majors reports, of examples where NGOs have benefited from the innovative use of telecommunication (for instance internet, or radio …), of where their absence has caused problems and ESPECIALLY where activities related to the ITU hinder or enable NGOs to carry out their objectives. We are also interested in examples of where national authorities that are active in the telecoms (regulators, Departments of communications) have had similar impact (e.g. the allocation of spectrum, or lack of). AMARC has a member sitting on the Focus Group, and hopefully will be contacting you in due course on the matter. We will also discuss it at some point at AMARC 7. But in order to get to you all at once, and perhaps encourage you to think about this, I thought I should broadcast this now. I think this is a good opportunity to turn much of our talk about influencing the ITU into practical action - just what is it we want them to do, and why? How could their actions enhance development and democratising media? The first meeting of ITU Focus Group Rapporteurs is in Geneva in early September (needless to say, the ITU does not pay the travel …) and I would like to have some solid feedback by then. I myself will be in Milan only for a few days of the conference, but would be glad to discuss it with any of you. THANKS FOR LISTENING Sean O Siochru «»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»«»« Sean O Siochru tel: +353 1 473 0599 office NEXUS Research tel: +353 1 2720 739 home office 14 Eaton Brae fax: +353 1 473 0597 office Shankill fax: +353 1 2720 034 home office Co. Dublin e-mail: [email protected] Ireland Web site: http://www.iol.ie/nexus ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ AMARC 7 Foro Virtual Forum Virtuel http://www.amarc.org/amarc7 to unsubscribe / pour se desabonner / para abandonar : e-mail "unsubscribe amarc-1 " to: [email protected]