If the goal of knowledge societies is to foster peace and sustainability, it is imperative that strategies for action ensure that decisions at all levels promote the integration of knowledge within people’s lives in ways to maximize the benefits and minimize harms. This is the spirit guiding this Report, which draws on multiple case studies, highlights lessons since the first World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) meeting in 2003, and sets out ideas for renewing UNESCO’s vision of knowledge societies.

This report highlights lessons across several issue areas - formal and informal education and learning, media and mediated content, freedom of expression, freedom of information and political transparency, gender sensitivity, environmental sustainability, and ethics. This analysis is especially useful now, as UNESCO supports countries in reaching the Millennium Development Goals by 2015 and as it sets a new global development agenda to follow.

In renewing its vision of knowledge societies, UNESCO will play a role, alongside citizens and civil society organizations, in establishing the way information resources, including media content, are produced and applied within societies. It is essential to ensure that all stakeholders are held accountable for their strategies and actions. If information asymmetries are not addressed, enhanced participation will have relatively little impact.