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World Economic Forum and UNESCO Joint Press Release- New Global Alliance to Catalyse Education Reform Announced

Brussels, Belgium, 2 May 2007

The private sector, governments, international organizations and donors have joined forces in an unprecedented partnership to accelerate progress towards Education for All (EFA). The new Partnerships for Education (PfE) was announced by the World Economic Forum and UNESCO at today's "Keeping Our Promises on Education" conference in Brussels.

Key organizations driving the Partnership include leading World Economic Forum member companies - AMD, Cisco, Intel Corporation and Microsoft; the Education for All Fast Track Initiative (FTI); UNESCO as global lead UN agency in EFA; and the World Economic Forum, through its Global Education Initiative (GEI).

Partnerships for Education builds on the best practices and lessons learned from existing multistakeholder partnership models, including the World Economic Forum GEI country initiatives launched in Jordan, Rajasthan and Egypt in recent years. "These initiatives of our member companies have demonstrated the synergy and win-win possibilities of using coordinated multistakeholder partnerships to make more effective use of the resources available in a country to strengthen its education reform process," said Rick Samans, Managing Director, World Economic Forum.

In bringing together this diverse set of stakeholders, each member of the Partnership will contribute their unique core competencies that will result in a combined pool of the skills and resources to help implement the EFA objectives in countries around the world. Specifically, over the next few months, the Partnership will begin exploring opportunities to work directly with countries to help them implement their education reform plans, in particular by mobilizing a range of relevant private sector capabilities from domestic and multinational firms. The first countries selected to receive this support will be announced in January 2008.

Representing the Fast Track Initiative, a global partnership between donors and developing countries to accelerate progress towards the Millennium Development Goal and EFA goal of universal primary education by 2015, Desmond Bermingham, Head of the EFA-FTI Secretariat said: "We look forward to working together with the members of this Partnership to help achieve and catalyse the implementation of the EFA-FTI objectives. Working through the FTI framework will maximize impact and ensure consistency with ongoing programmes for education in developing countries."
"Achieving Education for All requires the participation of all," said UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura. "Partnerships for Education is a giant step in this direction and we have great expectations for it."

In a joint statement from the private sector participants of the Partnerships for Education, Hector Ruiz (CEO, AMD), John Chambers (CEO, Cisco), Craig Barrett (Chairman, Intel Corporation), and Bill Gates (Chairman, Microsoft Corporation) said: "We all realize the importance of education and the urgent need for increased collaboration to help provide the education that will allow all citizens of all ages the opportunity to realize their potential and their dreams. The time for action is now. We look forward to working with our counterparts and providing the skills and resources that will result in developing innovative and creative solutions to help catalyse the education reform process." Contributions from the private sector will take the form of providing specific expertise in education subject matter, seconding programme management resources, and collaborating with the countrys local industry t! o develop and implement solutions that meet the countrys education requirements.

Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan, who has been leading the Jordan Education Initiative (JEI)  the first country education initiative of the Global Education Initiative which has served as a model of multistakeholder partnerships in action - added, "Jordan supports the launch of this innovative and important Partnership. We look forward to sharing the models developed in the JEI with the countries who are also embarking on a similar journey."

UNESCO and the Forum will play a key role in making sure that members of the Partnership can contribute not only financial but also technical resources and expertise. It will play a crucial role in ensuring efficient donor coordination as well as enabling country-level participation of the private sector as an important stakeholder in the development and improvement of national education systems.

The new Partnerships for Education represents a major contribution towards the fulfilment of a promise made by over 160 countries at the 2000 World Education Forum held in Dakar, Senegal, to mobilize resources from other parts of society -including different levels of government, the private sector and non-governmental organizations' in the quest to achieve Education for All by the target date of 2015.

A key to success will be the alignment and coordination of the added private sector engagement alongside the efforts of major education donors. The World Economic Forum and UNESCO, on behalf of all members in the Partnerships for Education, look forward to facilitating increased collaboration with all key education donors over the coming months to achieve these objectives.

For further information, see
http://www.promises-on-education.org/

GOOGLE'S Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist, Vinton Cerf, spoke at IDB on current status of the Internet

Google's Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist, Vinton Cerf,spoke on Thursday, Feb. 1 at the Inter-American Development Bank Forum on the Americas on "Tracking the Internet into the 21st Century".

The event took place at 6 p.m. in the Main Auditorium of the Enrique V. Iglesias Conference Center, 1330 New York New York Ave., N.W., in Washington, D.C. President Luis Alberto Moreno delivered the welcoming remarks and introduction, and Danilo Piaggesi, chief of the Information and Communication Technology for Development Division coordinated the forum.

Dr. Cerf Presentation

2006 Development Gateway Award Winner

The Development Gateway Award recognizes outstanding achievement in the use of information and communication technologies to improve people's lives in developing countries. It was created to raise awareness about the impact that information and communication technologies can have in poorer countries and to encourage the replication of best practices.

The 2006 Development Gateway Award went to South Africa's Mindset Network, in recognition of its efforts to develop and disseminate educational materials on a mass scale through information technology.The theme of the award was ICT and the empowerment of youth. Mindset Network provides assistance through a satellite-based technology platform that distributes high-quality multimedia educational content. In addition, it trains young people and health care professionals in the use of the associated technology. The organization has installed receiving equipment in more than 1,500 schools and 250 hospitals and clinics. Content is also available in over 1.5 million homes via satellite broadcast.

The Award Ceremony took place at the Telecom World 2006 in Hong Kong on December 5, 2006 at a special lunchtime forum. Danilo Piaggesi, Chief of the Information and Communication for Development Division of the Inter-American Development Bank and Chair of the Jurors panel of the DGF Award Program, made the closing remarks.

The six finalists for the award were Biblioredes (Chile), Center for Research and Consulting on Management (Vietnam), Colibri: Educacion, Cultura y Nuevas Tecnologías (Mexico), Committee for Democracy of Information Technology (Brazil), Digital Divide Data (Cambodia), and Tech Age Girls (Uzbekistan).

Global Prize for IT Benefiting Youth in Developing Countries


Call for Nominations for US$100,000 Development Gateway Award

The Development Gateway Foundation (DGF) is calling for nominations for its US$100,000 prize for outstanding achievement in the use of information and communication technologies to improve lives of people in developing countries. Sponsored in part by Intel Corporation, this year's Development Gateway Award is focusing on initiatives that empower or improve the conditions of youth. This is the second year that the Development Gateway is awarding a prize.

The competition for the Award this year was launched in Vancouver, Canada, on June 20, 2006, at the United Nations' World Urban Forum III , during a special reception for youth participants following the close of the weekend's World Youth Forum, an event that took place prior to and in conjunction with the Urban Forum. Both events brought together people from around the world to focus on critical development issues.

Both individuals and organizations are eligible to apply for the DGF Aaward. Applicants must demonstrate that their initiatives are successful, as well as sustainable and replicable. The initiatives must also demostrate significant impact on youth in areas that are important to social and economic development, such as employment, education, health or agriculture.

"Better access to basic information or services through technology can change the life of a poor person,"said Mark Fleeton, Chief Executive Officer, Development Gateway Foundation. "As first adopters of new technologies, young people in urban areas can often benefit most quickly. As entrepreneurs, they are also critical to spreading the benefits across their communities and to the rest of the world."

The first DGF Global Award in 2005 was presented to the ITC eChoupal program in India for its overall contribution to development. eChoupal helps increase the incomes and productivity of millions of farmers by giving them greater participation in markets through improved access to pricing and product information, via village-based Internet kiosks. eChoupal is now expanding its service to include education.

Danilo Piaggesi, Chief, Information and Comunication Technology for Development Division, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has been re-confirmed as Chair pf the panel of jurors. He encourages youth from the Latin American and Caribbean region to presente projects for consideration.

For complite information on Award criteria and to access an online application, please go to Development Gateway. The application deadline is August 11.

Microsoft unit remarks US$1mn for education program

(Business News Americas) The Chilean unit of Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) plans to invest up to US$1mn this year to introduce a local version of the company's Innovative School program, Microsoft Chile general manager Hernán Orellana told BNamericas.

The investment adds to others made by the Chilean government and municipality of Peñalolén, and will focus on Erasmo Escala school, one of three Latin American schools selected for the program.

This is a network of 12 schools around the world that will exchange knowledge, information and best practices, he said. Microsoft's investment will go towards providing IT solutions, guidance and experience and a road map for defining which kind of technology would improve students' learning processes. In Chile the program will fall under the government's "Plan Bicentenario" program, which includes a digital inclusion program promoting the use of new technologies, reducing the digital divide and pushing innovation in industry.

"With this particular school we plan to go a little bit further [than the original program] and we aim to build a testing center to develop a new educational model in which IT plays an important role," Orellana said. "The idea is not to promote technology itself, but to use it as an education tool. So we will develop the program and also replicate several successful experiences Microsoft has had with its School of the Future initiative in Philadelphia," he added.

The Innovative School program is part of an agreement Microsoft has signed with the Chilean government for mutual cooperation and collaboration. "Our intention is that as long as we obtain successful experiences we can replicate the program across the entire country," Orellana said.

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Last updated: 05/29/07