..Press Release................................ UNESCAP News Services

Date: 3 September 2008
Press Release No. G/38/2008

United Nations Strengthens ICT Capacity of Government Leaders in the Pacific

UN-APCICT holds training workshop on Cook Islands

Bangkok, Thailand (UN/ESCAP Information Services) – Knowledge and familiarity with information and communication technology (ICT) in the Pacific is receiving a boost with the holding of a key United Nations training programme for some of the region’s policy-makers and government officials.

The United Nations Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology (UN-APCICT), in collaboration with Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC), is holding a four-day workshop on ICT on the Cook Islands from 2 to 5 September, 2008. The workshop is based on a UN-APCICT training curriculum, the Academy of ICT Essentials for Government Leaders, but with changes so that it is now customized to suit the Pacific Island context. The workshop is the first time that UN-APCICT, a subsidiary body of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, has held its Academy in the Pacific region.

The workshop aims to provide the relevant knowledge and skills needed to fully leverage opportunities presented by ICTs to achieve social and economic development goals and bridge the digital divide. The workshop is running parallel to PacINET 2008, an annual regional conference on the use of ICT in the Pacific Islands.

The customized Academy will focus on the following three modules: the linkage between ICT applications and development; ICT for development policy, process and governance; and e-government applications. The modules will examine and discuss the linkage of ICT and the Millennium Development Goals through case studies of ICT applications in key sectors of development in the Pacific; the process of developing ICT for development policies and strategies, including strengthening ICT capacity and governance; and the development of various e-government applications.

The Cook Islands’ Academy training workshop is being coordinated by Mr. Siaosi Sovaleni, SOPAC’s ICT Adviser – and a graduate of UN-APCICT’s first training-of-trainers Academy workshop, which was held in June.

For more information, please visit: http://www.unapcict.org/news/academy-pacific

UN-APCICT
http://www.unapcict.org
The United Nations Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology (UN-APCICT) is a subsidiary body of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), established with a membership identical to that of ESCAP and is located in Incheon, Republic of Korea. APCICT aims to strengthen the efforts of the member countries of ESCAP to use ICT in their socio-economic development through building human and institutional capacity for ICT.

SOPAC
http://www.sopac.org
The Pacific Islands Applied Geoscience Commission (SOPAC) is an inter-governmental, regional organization with 16 full and 3 associate member Pacific Island Countries and Territories (PICTs) as well as Australia and New Zealand. SOPAC is dedicated to providing services to promote sustainable development in the PICTs that it serves. SOPAC’s work is carried out through its Secretariat, based in Suva, Fiji.

For further information, please contact:
Ms. Hyeun-Suk Rhee, Director
UN-APCICT
Incheon, Republic of Korea
Tel: +(82) 032 245 1700
Email: rhee@unapcict.org