Another short week but this time due to an official holiday. I met with the RBA focal point for the Millennium Villages (MVs) which UNDP has been supporting, in partnership with the Earth Institute ,for the last 5 years or so. RBA contact me due to our involvement in the e-health working group of the…

Last week I read this  article, Facebook is the New Superpower, which no doubt builds on the current hype we are seeing in the Western Media on Social Networks. The article makes the extraordinary claim that Facebook is just like any other sovereign state, with the big difference that is it a global state, or…

Last week I read this  article, <a title=”Facebook is the New Supepower” href=”http://theconversation.edu.au/articles/facebook-is-the-new-superpower-897″ target=”_blank”>Facebook is the New Superpower</a>, which no doubt builds on the current hype we are seeing in the Western Media on Social Networks. The  article makes the extraordinary claim that Facebook is just like any  other sovereign state, with the big difference…

It was a short week for me as I had some minor but painful health issues. I was in the office only two days although I was checking email most of the time. We finally got an official reply from Italy regarding the unused funds from the Macedonia e-accounting project. The official communication, send by…

I spent most of the week on mission, attending an international seminar on Technology and Citizen Participation, co-organized by UNDP México and the Electoral and Citizen Participation Institute of the State of Jalisco in México. I have already shared my back to office report will all concerned parties. As mentioned in the latter, I met…

For the last month or so, we have been discussing this issue with the UNGIS co-chairs. I even had a private call with the current UNESCO chair and asked for more details. After careful analysis our idea was to once to pass on this offer (as we did back in 2007/08). While on mission I…

Yesterday afternoon, I got a surprise call from UNDP Cairo late in the afternoon -or almost midnight in Egypt. UNDP Cairo has been essentially covering GKP. I thus shared my mission report with them. But the call was not about GKP, not at all. While the governance team here in NY and in the RSC…

The World Bank has launched a new strategy for Africa’s development. The strategy is here. The strategy has two key areas and one core pillar. The key areas are: competitiveness and employment; and vulnerability and resilience. The core pillar is governance and public sector capacity. This pillar focuses on fostering service delivery, providing access to…

I spent part of the week trying to “save” my surplus leave days (6 in total) that i will lose on midnight 31 March. But I was only able day off (Wednesday) and spent part of it on a longish UNGIS conference call discussing the future strategy for the group. I am sure I will…

ICTs and LDCs: Opportunities and Challenges Introduction More than ten years after the onset of the UN Millennium Declaration, developing countries have, on average, made substantial progress towards the achievement of Internationally Agreed Development Goals (IADGs). Governments, in partnership with the private sector and civil society, have redirected strategic resources to directly tackle poverty and…

Here are some additional inputs on the above, in response to comments provided by the Director of KM. 1. Let me start by saying that this is not really a NEW area for of work for UNDP. We have been “pushing” this, with a focus on the programme side, from the DGG/ICTD/egov side for the…

I was away most of the week on mission attending the Executive Committee (ExComm) meeting of  GKP. I heave shared my BTOR, which I completed almost immediately will all DGG staff. I did not mention a few things. One is that ExComm is anxiously looking for funding at almost any cost. One of the ideas…

Below is a concise proposal submitted to DGG to BDP’s Policy Group as part of the so-called multi-practice proposals that the Bureau plans to launch. This is still a very early stage in the process. Concept The explosive growth of mobile technologies and social networks’ role in recent events in the Middle East provides fertile…

I ran into Douglas Gardner, DD BDP, on my way to the restroom and this conversation on mobile technologies started after he asked me what we were doing in this area. After 20 minutes of discussion, he asked me to send him a short note on the subject. The note is below. He then asked…

Most of this week was dedicated to corporate stuff as we had to finalize the revision of corporate outcomes early in the week, We also found out on Wednesday that DGG annual report to be presented at the Executive Board and due on Tuesday was never prepared. As previously agreed with OG,DGG was to focus…