Category: FOSS

Latinux Magazine Interview

Raul Zambrano e-governance, FOSS, ICTD, On-mission 1 Comment

“Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are not an end in itself but rather a means to reach people and enhance their lives.” (Raúl Zambrano)

Born in Colombia, Raul Zambrano is trained as an engineer, sociologist and economist. He currently works as ICT and e-governance policy advisor at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) headquarters in New York City.

Raul kindly accepted a last minute request to do this interview in the cozy lobby of the Hotel Bella Italia where most of the speakers of LatinWare 2009 were staying. In the midst of a tropical thunderstorm that was hovering over Foz do iguazú (Brazil) since the early morning, we began our conversation around topics that went far beyond technology and focused much more on human and sustainable development, issues

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OSS Follow-up IDRC/Bellanet

Raul Zambrano FOSS Leave a comment

I spoke to Mark Faul from Bellanet on the above. We agreed to:

– organise a conference call next week with UNESCO, UNDP, USAID & Bellanet to see if we can coordinate our efforts.
– support the workshops in Peru (August), Paris (November) and others is available
– discuss the Open Source Resource Centres in LAC & Africa
– explore what networks/communities/collaborations already exist in LAC

He also mentioned that IDRC has met with APDIP and are planning on submitting a joint OS proposal to other donors.

Ra�l

2nd Open Source Conference in DC

Raul Zambrano FOSS, On-mission Leave a comment

Atsushi and I attended the conference which went from 17th to 19 March. The focus of this one was on OSS efforts in the US, Europe and Japan. We made several contracts, including:

– UNESCO: possible collaboration on OS, have a keen interest. A regional OS workshop in Perú is being planned by their regional office. We agreed to work together on this and be present at the July conference. UNESCO will be hosting the next OSS conference in Paris in late November 2003.

– IDRC/BellaNet: interest in OSS in Latin America and Africa especially. They will probably finance workshops and interested in working with UNDP. The Institute for the Connectivity of the Americas (ICA) is struggling a bit and apparently fully committed for the year. The African connection is managed by Steve Song and has 20

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OSS Interview

Raul Zambrano FOSS Leave a comment

I received an email from a WSJ journalist on Wednesday requesting to do an interview over the phone. That happened yesterday at noon. This is one of the results of the conference we co-sponsored in DC. I was on the phone with him for almost an hour. I also gave him contact names in SA. Let us see if I make the cut…

Raúl