TechPlus+
Technology and Development Redux
Visa on Arrival
My passport seems to profess a deep love for visa stamps. Every time the possibility of travel to another country arises, I can hear its excitement of filling yet another passport page with a brand new and (maybe) shiny visa
Read more
Heading to Baghdad III: A time-space warp
No one on the team traveling to Iraq was very excited about missing the helicopter. Most of them had slept close to nothing in the last 24 hours and were really yearning for a comfortable place to rest. I was
Read more
Heading to Baghdad II: So close but yet so far
It still seemed like the middle of the night when we exited the plane and started walking on the tarmac. A UN security guide was leading us into the US Army base located at the airport. The base is called
Read more
Latinux Magazine Interview
“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
Read more
South Africa BTOR
1. The two day mission to Johannesburg/Pretoria on 14/16 May had two objectives: 1) To participate in the ICTD Strategy Task Force meeting that the Department of Communications (DoC) is leading with support from the Markle Foundation; 2) continued dialogue
Read more
Mozambique BTOR
Mozambique BTOR 1. The two day mission to Maputo on 12-14 May had three objectives: 1) assess the status of the ICTD programmes; 2) assist the CO in the ongoing ICTD mainstreaming efforts; and 3) discuss with GoM and the
Read more
Out of (South) Africa
Flying from Maputo to Johannesburg, which takes 45 minutes, is an efficient gateway to easily notice the huge gap between the two countries. The same goes for most of the sub-Saharan African nations. It is almost like flying from Mozambique
Read more
Maputo in May, again
Six months is probably not a long time to expect and run into major changes in most countries. Mozambique is, of course, no exception. Maputo is still an intriguing city with its beautiful geographical surroundings and coastline that hosts the
Read more
Africa ICTD Strategies Workshop
Today we had a lunch meeting with Salomao Manica (ICT Policy Commission), Laureno Chemane (ICT Policy Commission), Aeneas Chuma (DRR) and Violet Kakyomya (PO). Salomao started by explaining the reasons as to why they would rather not hold a meeting
Read more
Dominican Republic BTOR
Back to Office Report Mission to Dominican Republic 21-25 April 2003 Garry Garriott, SURF Panam�, and I visited the country at the request of the CO who recently signed an MoU with INDOTEL, the Dominican telecom regulator. The main purpose
Read more
Dominican Republic
This was my first time back in Santo Domingo since 1999. I must admit the city has changed quite a bit. The first thing one notices is the development of physical infrastructure, buildings and roads specially. The long and beautiful
Read more
Bridge-IT Global Support Team meeting in DC
Nokia, IYF, Pearson and UNDP held its quarterly meeting on 4 April. The meeting concentrated on 3 central isssues: International launching for Philippines pilot in May; discussion on the guidelines for visual representation of the partnership including use of logos;
Read more
Meetings with WB/DGF in DC
Yesterday afternoon I visited he offices of the DG at the WB. I met with Sid Kane to introduce me to gateway stuff. I also met Carlos Braga and Robert Valentin. The meeting with Carlos centred on OS. The WB
Read more
Visit to Microsoft
Bruce Jenks, Stephen Browne, Sarah McCue and I traveled to Seattle to discuss with MS a potential partnership on e-learning and related initiatives. The meeting took place on Friday, 21 March 2003. Here are my notes. MS key ideas and
Read more
2nd Open Source Conference in DC
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
Read more
Bangladesh Mission
Great trip to Bangladesh. We have an SDNP project with great potential and lots of resrouces. The Staff is top notch too and support from the host institution is rock solid. The report spells out the recommendations I am making
Read more
Ecuador
Lack of both time and connectivity prevented me from using the Net more effectively in Quito. The recent volcano eruption was also to blame, at least partially. I could neither connect from the hotel room as the UNDP SITA config
Read more
Mozambique VI
The trip back was even longer than the one going there. I have done this before but somehow keep forgetting about it… The public meeting for the presentation of the UNDESA/Italy e-gov mission, held at the luxurious Polana Hotel, was
Read more
Mozambique V
Today we had UNDP day. Early in the morning we had a debriefing with the DRR before the UNDESA/Italian mission arrived. The big idea here is to make UNDP the coordinator or facilitator of all e-governance activities by integrating the
Read more
Mozambique IV
On Wednesday morning, the mission heads went to see the MZ PM. The PM thanked UNDP for helping field this mission. No substantive issues came up nor any funding details, luckily… The rest of the mission started the 2nd work
Read more
Mozambique III
I am running two days behind due to the digital divide at work, i.e., lack of easy and speedy access to the Internet. Tuesday was basically spent in two long sessions. In the morning, the mission along with the Policy
Read more
Mozambique II
A series of interesting meetings on Monday with the government counterpart and the Italian delegation. There has been live discussions as to which of the e-gov priorities presented on the ICT Policy Implementation Strategy should be supported. The Italians have
Read more
Mozambique I
I arrived after almost 24 hours of travel. All well but I was told today (yes, it is Monday morning here) is a holiday and although UNDP is open for business the Gov is not. The DESA mission starts tomorrow
Read more