NABU statement submitted to the “Civil society hearing on the longer-term positioning of the United Nations development system. UN HQ, 28 April 2015.”

On April 28, 2015, ECOSOC held a “Civil society hearing on the longer-term positioning of the United Nations development system” at the UN HQ.  NABU was represented by Robert Niewiadomski. Prior to the hearing, NABU team drafted and submitted a statement that was, subsequently, accepted and posted on the UN ECOSOC’s  website. PDF of the Statement from ECOSOC’s website is available here. Full text included below: 

Economic and Social Council

Civil society hearing on the longer-term positioning of the United Nations development system

Statement submitted by NABU – Knowledge Transfer Beyond Boundaries, a non-governmental organization in consultative status with the Economic and Social Council

Sharing knowledge through information and communication technologies (ICT) is a key to attain sustainable development.

An access to quality education plays a key role in addressing issues of poverty, gender equality, health, and democratic civil participation. One of the greatest challenges experienced by developing countries is a lack of or insufficient access to quality education, thus creating a sense of cultural isolation and knowledge deprivation.

Information and communication technologies (ICT) have been transformative forces driving the change of the global social-economic landscape, particularly, in the field of education. ICT has the potential to greatly facilitate the dissemination of knowledge by opening new pathways that were previously beyond reach. ICT can meet the needs of many developing countries struggling with scarce educational resources needed to sustain and expand the traditional educational systems.

Taking into account the post-2015 development agenda, NABU would propose that the stakeholders consider organizational arrangements that would enable greater coordination of effort in promote open sourcing and unrestricted transition of knowledge and information. Moreover, in terms of a partnership approach, we propose that this increased emphasis on coordination should lead to more direct collaboration between member countries seeking to transform their educational systems and NGOs promoting the agenda of ICT-driven dissemination of knowledge.

In order for ICT to be properly disseminated in developing economies and extend its reach, it is necessary to build up and improve ICT infrastructure. We recommend that a series of seminars should be held to engage the private sector and member countries in order to brainstorm solutions and share best practices on how to efficiently and nimbly create an effective infrastructure facilitating knowledge sharing in developing countries.

Free access to quality education, facilitated by information and communication technologies, empowers local communities and whole countries by providing them with access into the global knowledge community; thus, it greatly contributes to their sustainable development.