At the opening of WSIS Forum 2015 on 26 May, UNESCO’s Deputy Director-General, Mr Getachew Engida emphasized that the transition to new SDG requires moving beyond ICT pilot projects, and scaling up ICT integration throughout all relevant activities. Mr Engida also highlighted the importance of multistakeholder cooperation and collective action, underlining the central role of UNGIS in the WSIS review process and beyond. >> More

Today, over 1 billion people are living with some form of disabilities and suffer from social and economic exclusion and discrimination. ICT have a huge potential to help them to overcome these obstacles, and to participate fully in all spheres of social and economic activity. A high level session was organized by UNESCO, civil society, governments and IT industry for an open dialogue on access to information and knowledge using ICT for inclusion of persons with disabilities. >> More

A facilitation meeting focused on raising awareness on the contribution of ethical dimensions of the information society to Sustainable development Goals (SDG). In a constructive dialogue panelists and participants exchanged knowledge and discussed future activities under this Action Line in view of the post-2015 agenda. Specific attention was paid to the needs of vulnerable groups, women and girls and persons with disabilities are needed. >> More

“Free, independent and pluralistic media online and offline serves the premise to the achievement of all Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals, but they are under tremendous challenges and treats in the converged media landscape with ICT and Internet,” stated participants of the 10th facilitation meeting at the WSIS Forum 2015. The discussion focused on the emerging trends related to media activities in the context of the Post-2015 Development Agenda.  >> More

UNESCO has long advocated that culture, in its diverse manifestations, is a driver of the economic, social and environmental aspects of sustainable development. ICT have a direct impact on the way cultural expressions are created, produced, disseminated and accessed. In this context, a discussion panel on cultural and linguistic diversity and identity took place at the WSIS Forum 2015. >> More

A session on E-learning and E-science at the WSIS Forum 2015 focused on open solutions to support inclusive knowledge societies: Open Educational Resources (OER); Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and Open Access to Scientific Journals (OA). The discussions concentrated on how open solutions – software, content and knowledge resources available on an open license such as Creative Commons – can contribute to achieving the Post-2015 Development Goals. >> More

While the contexts of “Openness” and “Inclusiveness” have been appreciated as the two key pillars to improve access, their interplay within the broader realm of globalization still remain to be properly understood. A session at WSIS Forum 2015 discussed how "Openess" and "Incluseveness" can improve access to information and knowledge. The panel agreed that numerous global collaborative initiatives are shaping the Post-2015 and the WSIS +10 Development Agenda. >> More