The Expert Group Meeting on the Provision of ICT Access for Disadvantaged Communities through Public-Private Partnership was organized by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) from 12 to 14 December 2007 at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok, Thailand.

Experts from government, private, non-governmental organizations, academia and UN organizations working on ICT access and telecentres for disadvantage communities from China, India, Nepal, Malaysia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, and the Republic of Korea, as well as representatives from ITU and UNESCO, attended the meeting.

The objectives of the meeting were to:

(1) Discuss, from a regional perspective, the role of Public-Private Partnership in providing ICT access for disadvantaged communities;

(2) Examine the following issues in the context of Public-Private Partnership for the provision of ICT access for disadvantaged communities through community e-centres: policies and legislations; provision of ICT infrastructure; content development; capacity building in ICT; financing ICT access; building partnerships; perspective on gender and persons with disabilities; and

(3) Recommend strategies and regional mechanisms for building partnerships for the provision of ICT access for disadvantaged communities.

To achieve the above, the experts shared knowledge and experiences on the provision of ICT access for disadvantaged communities particularly through the establishment of community e-centres and for building public-private partnerships (PPP), in particular exchanged views on specific issues of regional overview of policies and legislations; provision of ICT infrastructure; capacity building in ICT; content development; financing ICT access; partnership building; and perspectives on gender and persons with disabilities.

Related documents:

• Provisional agenda (PDF - 49 KB)

• Tentative Programme (PDF - 104 KB)

• Opening remarks - Mr. Sivasankaran Thampi, Chief, Information, Communication and Space Technology Division (ICSTD), UNESCAP (PDF - 59 KB)

• Summary Report (PDF - 49 KB)

Presentations:

1. Introduction by Ms. Ja-Kyung Yoo, Chief, ICT Applications Section, Information, Communication and Space Technology Division, UNESCAP (Presentation - PDF - 860KB)
2. Regional Overview of Policy and Legislations on Provision of ICT Access for Disadvantaged Communities through Public-Private Partnership, Mr. Dinesh P. Chapagain, Honarary Chairman/President, Network for Quality, Productivity, Competitiveness Nepal (NQPCN), Nepal (Paper – PDF - 158 KB) (Presentation – PDF - 612)
3. An Analysis of Various Models for Wireless Cities, Mr. Kaili Kan, Professor, Beijing University of Posts & Telecommunications (BUPT), China (Paper – PDF - 50KB) (Presentation – PDF - 668KB)
4. Issues of ICT Infrastructure and Public Private Partnership for Providing ICT Access for the Disadvantaged Communities – Experiences from ISRO’S Space Technology Enabled Village Resource Centres (VRCs), Mr. M.A. Paul, Scientist/Engineer SE, EOS Programme Office, Indian Space Research Organization, India (Paper – PDF - 195KB)
5. The Provision of ICT Access through Public-Private Partnership in Yunnan Province, Ms. Zhao Guoyan, Engineer, Market Supervision Office, Yunnan Communications Administration, China (Paper – PDF - 40KB)
6. Content Development in the Philippines, Ms. Grace Martha Amberong, Group Head, Consulting and Services Office, National Computer Center, Commission on Information & Communications Technology, Philippines (Paper – PDF - 71KB) (Presentation – PDF - 1,263KB)
7. Digital Capacity Building for the Disadvantaged in Korea, Mr. Doo-Jin Choi, Vice President, Korea Agency for Digital Opportunity and Promotion (KADO), Republic of Korea (Paper – PDF - 132 KB) (Presentation – PDF - 7MB)
8. Use of ICT as an Enabling Tool in the Enhancement of Livelihood in the Tourism Sector: eBario’s Experience and Capability Building Perspective, Mr. Alvin Wee Yeo, Deputy Dean (Postgraduate and Research), Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology, University Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), Malaysia (Paper – PDF - 2MB) (Presentation – PDF - 13MB)
9. Funding of ICT’s using a Partnership of Civil Society, Public & Private Enterprises, Mr. Debi Prasan Patnaik, Secretary, Forum for Integrated Development and Research (FIDR), India (Paper – PDF - 142 KB) (Presentation – PDF - 10 MB)
10. DATAMATION – A Case Study of innovating Knowledge Services, Mr. Chetan Sharma, Founder, Datamation Foundation Charitable Trust, India (Presentation – PDF -76MB )
11. ICT Accessibility: Perspective on Persons with Disabilities, Mr. Jeong Hong, NRL Expert, Emerging Social Issues Division, ESCAP (Presentation – PDF - 1,445KB)
12. PPP Business Model and Practices, Mr. Arun Varma, Assistant Vice President, IL&FS Education Technology Services Ltd., Program Management Unit, Department of Information Technology, India (Presentation – PDF - 2,367 KB)
13. Strategies for building public-private partnerships for the provision of ICT access for disadvantaged communities - Draft Paper, Mr. Harsha de Silva, LIRNEasia, Sri Lanka (Paper - PDF – 159KB) (Presentation - PDF - 4.5MB)