While Facebook is still preparing it supposedly multi-billion IPO (using the content that users have freely provided as proof of success), many people in the poorest developing countries (also in the multi-billion range but not as large as Facebook’s!) have still to log in into the most well-known social networks. This fact has now become…

I received yet another request for support on integrating ICTs into the UNDAF process, this time from Armenia.  Here is my reply. The UNDAF documents are here: http://www.un.am/en/UNDAF Although the UNDAF has four main priorities, on the other hand it has quite a few outcomes eh? In a way this is good as it allows…

Background I was first invited to  Bahrain in late 2010 just two months before the so-called  “14 February Revolution”. I got the invitation from the e-Government Authority (EGA, http://tinyurl.com/6smaraj) which has been organizing the International e-government Forum for a few years. The meeting was planned for mid-May, three months after the protests. I decided to…

Back in Tunis This was my first time back in Tunis since 2005 when I attended the second and final meeting of WSIS. Back then, we could all see and feel the authoritarian character of the regime in the midst of a UN meeting promoting open access to information and louder voice to non-state actors.…

Met with the head of UNMC who has been asked by BDP management to work on the campaign/mobilization side of the psot-2105 process. She expressed some concern about our capacity to deliver on the project output related to the web platform and demanded to know if we have any resources allocated to it. I was…

After the Administrator’s message on integrating ICTs into UNDAF, we have started to get queries from COs as to how to acutally do this. Since we still do not have guidelines, I have been trying to respond to a few of the queries. Below is the example of Suriname. I read the Suriname’s UNDAF is…

Wednesday 7 March Spent most of the day traveling. Arrived in Johannesburg around 8am and managed to get to the hotel in Pretoria at 10. Had lunch with UNDP staff to quickly catch up. Met the RR for almost two hours to discuss the e-skills project and its relevance to UNDP within the broader support…

Spoke to UNDP Ghana’s DCD to explore ways to kick-start, once again, Africa’s e-governance Academy (AfegA). Nothing much has happened since the former project coordinator was let go last September for not performing up to expectations. UNDP Accra had agreed to pick up the pieces but that did not really work out as staff in…

While the use of social networks in India is growing rapidly, latest data indicates that only 55% or 45 million people of the total Internet population in the country uses Facebook for example (see http://www.socialbakers.com/facebook-statistics/india#chart-intervals, a number that represents a very small portion of the population. This was certainly not the case when the Indian…

ICTs in the Health Sector In most countries, the health sector has been one less prone to rapidly adopt state of the art ICTs for its core functions and operations. e-health, as it is called, is thus still in its infancy, specially in developing countries. This situation is in sharp contrast with the rapid adoption…

Here are the updates I got from the team on the above. Our final AWP is here: egov-team-awp-2012-final-02-25 MM Open Governance; OPG oversight and summary refined and finished (on the Wiki). E-governance guidance note: Mapping of other UN agencies working on e-gov. and ICT4D done Guidance on working with other agencies almost finished Motorola; Application…

Monday 12 March Met with the CEO of the e-skills institute (e-SI) to discuss various policy issues. First on the non-existing agenda was the potential to more effectively mainstream e-SI into the various other sectors. Capacity development is after all a means to an end that can benefit all sectors and institutions involved in development…

Monday 5 March We had an all day retreat with DGG advisors ands spent quite a bit of the time discussing the links between DG and sustainable human development. We did not close the discussion which is still ongoing. It was also agreed to hold all day advisors meetings every quarter. Wednesday 7 March Spent…

Innovation and Governance and Innovations in Governance Talking Points  The idea of innovation, which is indeed not new to development practitioners, is once again picking up steam. And it is now a buzzword that seems to permeate many discussions and conversations on development and beyond. What is perhaps new nowadays is the links that we…

Our RCS in Bangkok has commissioned a paper on Social Media and Democratic Space. The latest version on the paper is here: Bangkok-Social-media-democratic-space-AK-additions). Skipping any discussion on the notion of “Democratic Space” (which I personally see as a variation on the good old concept of public sphere), the paper has a heavy focus on the…