UNESCO supports organization of community of practice on local e-governance
01-08-2006 (Paris)
UNESCO, through its Information for All Programme, will soon launch an international “community of practice” on local e-government, thanks to the Spanish Government funding a series of UNESCO e-government projects.
The community of practice will help participants to exchange technical information and experiences on the use of ICT for empowerment and participation of citizens in government at local level. It also will be a virtual information center on e-governance. The network will be operational to Spanish speaking experts at the beginning of 2007.
Open to experts of all countries, the community will initially bring together the participants of three training courses developed in cooperation with the Union Iberoamericana de Municipalidades under a project promoting ICTs as tools for improvement of local governance that UNESCO runs since 2002.
The new network will benefit from the technical support of the Observatorio de Sociedad, Gobierno y Tecnologias de Informacion of the ‘Universidad Externado de Colombia that provides the technical platform for this new initiative
“This initiative is an excellent example of efficient complementarity between activities financed by UNESCO regular budget and extrabudgetary funded projects”, says project manager Claudio Menezes from UNESCO’s Information Society Division.
First used in 1991 by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger , the term community of practice refers to the “process of social learning that occurs when people who have a common interest in some subject or problem collaborate over an extended period to share ideas, find solutions, and build innovations” (Wikipedia).
The project is one of UNESCO’s contributions to the implementation of the Geneva Plan of Action adopted by the World Summit on the Information Society that includes the implementation of e-government strategies focusing on applications aimed at innovating and promoting transparency in public administrations and democratic processes, improving efficiency and strengthening relations with citizens.
The Information for All Programme was created in 2000 by UNESCO’s Executive Board as a successor to the General Information Programme and the International Informatics Programme. The Programme is guided in its planning and implementation by an intergovernmental Council composed of 26 Member States of UNESCO that are elected by the General Conference of UNESCO.
Open to experts of all countries, the community will initially bring together the participants of three training courses developed in cooperation with the Union Iberoamericana de Municipalidades under a project promoting ICTs as tools for improvement of local governance that UNESCO runs since 2002.
The new network will benefit from the technical support of the Observatorio de Sociedad, Gobierno y Tecnologias de Informacion of the ‘Universidad Externado de Colombia that provides the technical platform for this new initiative
“This initiative is an excellent example of efficient complementarity between activities financed by UNESCO regular budget and extrabudgetary funded projects”, says project manager Claudio Menezes from UNESCO’s Information Society Division.
First used in 1991 by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger , the term community of practice refers to the “process of social learning that occurs when people who have a common interest in some subject or problem collaborate over an extended period to share ideas, find solutions, and build innovations” (Wikipedia).
The project is one of UNESCO’s contributions to the implementation of the Geneva Plan of Action adopted by the World Summit on the Information Society that includes the implementation of e-government strategies focusing on applications aimed at innovating and promoting transparency in public administrations and democratic processes, improving efficiency and strengthening relations with citizens.
The Information for All Programme was created in 2000 by UNESCO’s Executive Board as a successor to the General Information Programme and the International Informatics Programme. The Programme is guided in its planning and implementation by an intergovernmental Council composed of 26 Member States of UNESCO that are elected by the General Conference of UNESCO.
Related themes/countries
· With IFAP towards Knowledge Societies
· IFAP: News Archives 2006
· Spain: News Archives
· Access to Information: News Archives 2006
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Contact
- Claudio Menezes, UNESCO, Information Society Division
- Marco Peres Useche, Observatics, Universidad Externado de Colombia
- UNESCO
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