Useful Links

Please note the links below are provided for reference only and do not necessarily represent endorsement of the content or organisation by the World Bank Group.

 

 

WORLD BANK GROUP LINKS

Education
Globalization and rapid technological change have made knowledge a critical determinant of competitiveness in the world economy. The World Bank is playing an important role in assisting countries in taking advantage of the opportunities in information and communications technologies (ICTs) to contribute to education goals and poverty reduction strategies.

Science, Technology and Innovation
An abundant supply of low wage, unskilled labor is no longer a route to rapid growth and national prosperity.  In today’s world, characterized by intense global competition and rapid technological change, the key to prosperity is a well-educated, technically skilled workforce producing high value added, knowledge intensive goods and services and employed in private enterprises that have the managerial capacity to find, adapt, and adopt modern, up-to-date technology and sell sophisticated goods and services in global markets. Meeting these challenges will require concerted action by education institutions, R&D institutes, the private sector and the national government.  It will also require close links and cooperation between each of these actors.

GenderStats
GenderStats is an electronic database of gender statistics and indicators designed with user-friendly, menu-driven features. It offers statistical and other data in modules on several subjects. The data in each module is presented in ready-to-use format. Users have the option of saving the country views in Excel (or another spreadsheet software) to customize them for their own reports.

Gender and ICT Seminars
To raise awareness of gender and ICT issues, the World Bank started the Gender and ICTs seminars in 2000. Through this program, practitioners, policy-makers, and academics are invited to discuss the impact of ICT on gender relations, and ways ICT can be used to overcome gender inequalities.

Engendering ICT Toolkits

Globally, ICTs transform the way production is organized and information is shared. ICTs offer flexibility of time and space, a way out of isolation, and access to knowledge and productive resources. They are enabling tools for economic development and social change. These attributes make ICTs a valuable resource for women in developing countries who often suffer from limited availability of time, social isolation, and lack of access to knowledge and productive resources. The purpose of this toolkit is to identify opportunities, highlight innovative projects and activities, and suggest how the World Bank and other agencies can help realize the potential for gender equality. The toolkit is divided into 10 sections and it contains checklists, evaluation tools, examples of good practices, and resources that can be used to incorporate gender into ICT projects and project components. The toolkit has been designed for general distribution to researchers, educators, and development practitioners.

International Symposium on Women and ICT
The first International Symposium on Women and ICT took place between June 12-14, 2005 in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Two hundred and fifty participants representing six continents and 28 developing and developed countries, including leaders from business, government, non-government agencies, and education, gathered to explore concrete ways to increase girls' and women's participation and leadership with Information and Communication Technology in order to effect economic, social, and political change. The symposium was organized and co-hosted by the Center for Women and Information Technology (CWIT) at the University of Maryland, Baltimore Country (UMBC), the World Trade Center Institute, the World Bank, and Women in Global Science and Technology (WIGSAT).

SME Development Toolkit
The SME Toolkit offers software, business forms, training, and more to help small businesses in emerging markets grow and succeed.

e-Government
The World Bank's e-Government website, hosted by the e-Government Practice Group of ISG. The site is intended as a knowledge repository of e-government related information, best practices and case studies, presented here as a source of ideas and learning.

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OTHER ORGANIZATIONS

IICD
IICD is a Dutcsh NGO with whom the World Bank has partnered in the past in knowledge sharing and infoDev work, they specialize in capacity building and in ICT projects in health, education and rural development.

International Telecommunications Union
The International Telecommunications Union (ITU), headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland is an international organization within the United Nations System where governments and the private sector coordinate global telecom networks and services.

Universal Postal Union
Established in 1874, the Universal Postal Union (UPU) with its Headquarters in the Swiss capital Bern, is the second oldest international organisation after the International Telecommunications Union. With 191 member countries, the UPU is the primary forum for cooperation between postal services and helps to ensure a truly universal network of up-to-date products and services. In this way, the organisation fulfils an advisory, mediating and liaison role, and renders technical assistance where needed. It sets the rules for international mail exchanges and makes recommendations to stimulate growth in mail volumes and to improve the quality of service for customers.

NEPAD e-Africa Commission 
NEPAD recognises the pivotal role of ICT in accelerating economic growth and development, particularly in the context of achieving a common market and continental integration. ICTs also have the potential to foster intra-regional trade and enhance Africa’s global competitiveness. The e-Africa Commission was established in 2001, with the mandate to manage the structured development of the ICT sector on the African continent in the context of NEPAD. The Commission is also required to develop broad strategies and a comprehensive action plan for ICT infrastructure and its use for ICT applications and services.

World Summit on the Information Society
The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) was held in two phases. The first phase took place in Geneva hosted by the Government of Switzerland from 10 to 12 December 2003, and the second phase took place in Tunis hosted by the Government of Tunisia, from 16 to 18 November 2005.

Development Gateway ICT Portal
Development Gateway ICT for Development portal.

Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation
The Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO) is an international development partnership between Commonwealth governments, non-Commonwealth governments, businesses and civil society organisations. It provides the international community with effective means to help bridge the digital divide and achieve social and economic development – by delivering to member organisations unique knowledge-sharing programmes in the use of ICTs in the specific areas of telecommunications, IT, broadcasting and the Internet.

ICT4D Research Program - International Development Research Centre
From its creation in 1970, the International Development Research Centre ( IDRC) has been committed to advancing the role of information in development. A tradition of innovation that began with an emphasis on building databases and information systems has evolved into a focus on the transformative nature of ICTs.

Global Knowledge Partnership
Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) is a multi-stakeholder network of over 100 organisations from all sectors - Public, Private and Civil Society - bound by the two common principles of Sharing Knowledge and Building Partnerships. Members and partners work in concert through the GKP network to promote and deliver innovation in Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) at a global level and in seven operating regions: Africa; Central & Eastern Europe; East Asia; Latin America & Caribbean; Middle East & North Africa; Oceania; and South Asia.

EDUCATION

World Links
World Links is a global non-profit organization whose mission is to improve educational outcomes, economic opportunities, and global understanding for youth through the use of information technology and new approaches to learning. World Links connects youth around the world in a global learning network, allowing them to share their knowledge, their perspectives, their hopes and their dreams with their peers. Through this network, youth develop skills in technology, entrepreneurship and collaboration, and teachers learn to integrate technology into learning for improved educational results. These skills enable youth to participate successfully in the global knowledge-based economy when they leave school.

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development: ICT
The growth and development of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has led to their wide diffusion and application, thus increasing their economic and social impact. The OECD undertakes a wide range of activities aimed at improving our understanding of how ICTs contribute to sustainable economic growth and social well-being and their role in the shift toward knowledge-based societies.

World Trade Organization: Information Technology Agreement
The Ministerial Declaration on Trade in Information Technology Products (ITA) was concluded by 29 participants at the Singapore Ministerial Conference in December 1996. The number of participants has grown to 68. The ITA provides for participants to completely eliminate duties on IT products covered by the Agreement. Developing country participants have been granted extended periods for some products.

Europe's Information Society Thematic Portal
The last few years have witnessed a transformation in the industrial landscape of the developed world. Tele-communications liberalisation, the explosive growth of the Internet and the increasingly networked nature of business and society all point to one thing - the birth of the Information Society (IS). Developing a successful European Information Society is at the very heart of the EU's "Lisbon Goal" of becoming the world's most dynamic and competitive economy by 2010.

African Virtual University
The African Virtual University (AVU) is an innovative educational organization established to serve the countries of Africa. The objective of the AVU is to build capacity and support economic development by leveraging the power of modern telecommunications technology to provide world-class quality education and training programs to students and professionals in Africa. After a successful pilot phase, AVU has been transformed from being a project of the World Bank to an independent reputable Inter-governmental organization based in Nairobi, Kenya with over 57 Learning Centers in 27 African countries.

Fibre for Africa
This site provides basic information about international bandwidth in Africa, its costs and the existence of monopoly access to it. Bandwidth is the means through which Africa as a continent communicates with itself and the rest of the world. Those who have put the site together believe that the high costs of international bandwidth on the continent are an obstacle to the its social and economic development.

Association for Progressive Communications
The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) is an international network of civil society organisations dedicated to empowering and supporting groups and individuals working for peace, human rights, development and protection of the environment, through the strategic use ICTs, including the internet.

Asia Pacific Women's Information Network Center
APWINC was established in November 1996 at Sookmyung Women's University and aims at promoting women's informatization and women-related communication technologies in the Asia-Pacific region, focusing on South Korea. For this purpose, APWINC provides women with web-based ICT educational training at three levels: dissemination, specialization and globalization.

50x15 Initiative
50x15 is a global initiative founded by AMD that aims to accelerate affordable Internet access and computing capability to 50% of the world’s population by 2015.

UNESCO Toolkit on Gender Indicators in Science, Engineering and Technology
The Toolkit provides a survey of the differential gender patterns of participation by men and women in science and technology. It assesses information provided by current sex-disaggregated quantitative data, along with discussing the reasons for differential rates of participation between women and men. The volume also looks at international methods for measuring science and technology activities, personnel and qualifications, and occupations, as well as how these can be properly disaggregated by sex, age and other variables. A key question addressed includes how to define economic and employment activities that can constitute or incorporate scientific and technological activities.

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