I N V I T A T I O N

Under the Patronage of the President of the Italian Republic

XI INFOPOVERTY WORLD CONFERENCE

E-SERVICES: THE NEW PARADIGM FOR DEVELOPMENT AND THE ACHIEVEMENT OF THE MDGS

24-25 MARCH 2011

New York - UN Headquarters; Milan - European Parliament Office Paris (UNESCO); Lesotho (ICT Village Mahobong); Peru (ICT Village Villa El Salvador) Pr

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SPECIAL THANKS

Reducing and eliminating poverty is not only the main objective of the European Union's Development policies as underlined in the Lisbon Treaty, but also a moral obligation and a real need in the long term interests of the EU and the world as a whole. The Millennium Summit held in September 2010 at the UN General Assembly made clear that it is impossible to reach the MDGs through traditional practices. Only the massive and widespread use of the new technologies can eradicate poverty affecting large segments of the world's population and give general welfare. For eleven years the Infopoverty World Conference has outlined the evolution of the digital revolution and its deep influences on our lives and have made traditional aid practices obsolete. It has pointed out the most effective solutions and best practices that have been implemented within the homonymous Infopoverty Program with a commitment to partnership focused on the most disadvantaged communities. The implementation of ICT Villages in Africa, Asia and Latin America, where telemedicine and e-phytopathology services, training in jobs and job creation through e-commerce have been tested, enabled entire communities to free themselves from isolation and to create resources for a sustainable development. These models have been certified in the WSIS Village in Borj Touil in Tunisia (2005) and in the Millennium Village in Sambaina in Madagascar (2006) and they are now ready for further implementation and dissemination as new paradigms of MDGs achievement. Building new nations and redesigning the existing ones more efficiently on a democratic basis is the Millennium biggest challenge in order to give solid foundations to the same objectives. The Conference works in this direction with the European Parliament, the UN agencies, the Global Alliance for ICT and Development (Gaid), Government bodies of different Countries, the South – South Network, social networks, the academic networks of the Infopoverty Institute, the most advanced industrial companies, the NGOs. This edition of the Infopoverty World Conference focuses on e-services, whose extraordinary benefit can be seen in the health, educational, economic and social system: entire populations already connected can have access to successful low cost solutions that enable them to bridge the gap that has historically excluded them. It is now possible to transfer not only knowledge but also expertise that could be immediately used to solve dramatic health and food security problems: hospitals, research centers, universities can be virtually relocated and directly assist populations with their doctors, technicians, teachers and experts. This new 6 billion user market opens new economic and social perspectives, but how can we protect the developing countries' weak and diversified systems in relation to productive and commercial strongly capitalized and centralist systems? The rights of all with the interests of few? How can we integrate in the process women and young people seen as carriers of widespread innovations oriented to the real needs of the different communities? Which e-services must have priority and how can they be developed on a large scale, considering the inherent complexity of the systems whose connectivity, hardware and software, services providers networks, training and widespread distribution can successfully influence nation building and development policies and can enable a new sustainable welfare system? Which stakeholders, public or private, are able to successfully take action in the process? How can the European institutions, the UN and their working agencies be the catalysts of this process gathering the mobilization for the MDGs the proposals of the EU as the hub for successful and innovative actions in different countries that are able to give a model to reach the MDGs even though in a patchy way?

PARLAMENTO EUROPEO Ufficio d’Informazione a Milano Corso Magenta, 59 Tel. +39 024344171 Fax +39 02434417500 Email: epmilano@europarl.europa.eu

OCCAM Piazza Duomo, 21 20121 Milano Italy Tel. +39 0286991392 Fax +39 028057573 Email: occam@occam.org

Infopoverty Institute c/o the University of Oklahoma, 555 East Constitution, Norman Oklahoma (USA) Tel. +1 405.325.1428 Fax +: 405.325.7763 Email: steffens@ou.edu;

Government Liaison,special projects Kins Group 131 E 66th Street, New York Tel. +01 212 628-1743 Fax +01 212 288-6848 Email: kinsgroup@aol.com

CONTACTS

PRESENTATION WITH THE PATRONAGE OF

TECHNOLOGICAL PARTNER

PLENARY SESSIONS

New York, UN Headquarters Conference Room 6

Milan, Sala Pirelli Palazzo delle Stelline, Corso Magenta, 59 Parallel Sessions

9.30 am Opening Session

Choi Soon-Hong, Chief IT Officer, Assistant Secretary General, UN* Stefano Cacciaguerra, First Counsellor, Mission of Italy Pierpaolo Saporito, President, OCCAM, Founder of Infopoverty John Steffens, Executive Director, Infopoverty Institute 10.00 am First Session Nations building prosperity

Co-Chair: Mongi Hamdi, Head of Secretariat , UN Commission “Science and Technology for Development”, UNCTAD

Fredrick B. Norkeh, Minister of Post and Telecommunications, Liberia Radhakrishna Lutchmana Padayachie, Minister of Communications, South Africa Lila H. Ratsifandrihamanana, Director, FAO Liaison Office in NY Luca Neri, Past President, WINFOCUS Daniel Fletcher, Berkley University Scott McCallum, President & CEO, The Aidmatrix Foundation, Inc

14,30 (Italian time)

Reading of the addresses by: Renato Schifani, President of the Senate, Italy Gianfranco Fini, President of the Chamber of Deputies, Italy Co-Chair: Luciano Bresciani, Minister of Health, Regione Lombardia, Italy Giampaolo Landi , Councillor of Health, Comune di Milano Costantino Bolis, Head of international Projects, Hospital of Lodi Claudia Sorlini, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Milan Paolo Cortesi, DIPSA, University of Milan Fabio Marazzi, Member of the Board EXPO 2015

ICT Village Lesotho

Mothetjoa Metsing, Minister of Communication, Lesotho Mphu Ramatlapeng, Minister of Health, Lesotho

New York, UN Headquarters

Conference Room 6 Parallel Sessions

ICT Village Peru

María del Pilar Nores Bodereau de García, Primiera Dama, Peru Virginia Borra, Minister for Women and Social Development Bertha Jáuregui F., President, FEPOMUVES

2.30 pm Second Session

ICT and new strategic alliances to achieve the Millennium Development Goals

Chairman: John Mary Kauzya, Chief, Public Administration Capacity Branch, DPADM, UNDESA

Zamba Batjargal, Coordinator, WMO Liason Office in New York Philippe Dongier, Sector Manager for the ICT, the World Bank Alphonse Ntita Misakabu, Coordinator, NICT Dept., Ministry of Post, DR Congo Kamran Elahian, Chairman, Global Katalyst Partners Michael Landau, CEO, Map International Quinn Sutton, Executive Director, Digital Alliance Foundation Arafat Hossain, Principal Business Consultant, Swiss Foundation for Technical Cooperation Mathew Taylor, World Ahead Senior Solutions Architect, Intel Corporation Bruno Lanvin, Executive Director, eLab INSEAD 4.00 pm Third Session

How civil society can implement its actions

Chairman: John Steffens, Executive Director, Infopoverty Institute

Adele Smithers, President, The Smithers Foundation; Peter Whatnell, CIO Sunoco Corporation; Timothy Anderson, President, World Computer Exchange; David Neely, President, ACI; Richard Greenly, Water 4 Project; Joshua Silver, University of Oxford; Lola Poggi Goujon, General Secretary, CICT-UNESCO; Sarah Dewhurst, Columbia University,Timor-Leste; Terri Hasdorff, Foundation Director; Lindy Blanchard, Foundation President; Anupam Govil, President Avasense & Partner, Avasant; Sofia Perazzo, Cisneros Foundation; Peter Psaras, International Consultant; Laura Lederer, President, Global Centurion; Majlinda Myrto, It-Albania, Professor; Chhavi Rajawat, Mayor, Soda, India

THEMES Thursday, March 24, 2011 Friday, March 25, 2011

PROGRAMME

ITALIAN SESSION

Milan, Sala Pirelli Palazzo delle Stelline, Corso Magenta, 59

10.00 am (Italian time) Italian Excellences for Development

Chairman: Piergiacomo Ferrari, President of the Promotion and Development Committee, OCCAM

Emo Agneloni, President, Network “The First Brick” Antonio Grioli, President, Management Committee, Zucchetti Alberto Nicolai, Marketing Director, UCIMU Daniela Mainini, President, Centro Studi Grande Milano Cesare Casati, Editor in chief, L’Arca Massimiliano Vavassori, Director Centro Studi, Touring Club Italiano Salvatore Crapanzano, Metropolitana Milanese Carlo Mango, Director for Scientific Research, Fondazione Cariplo Cecilia Strada, President, Emergency Eugenia Rinaldi, CINECA Alfredo Ronchi, World Summit Award Italy Mario Po’, Administrative Manager, ULSS 8, Asolo

New York, UNESCO Liason Office 2, Un Plaza, Room 900

Milan, Sala Pirelli Palazzo delle Stelline, Corso Magenta, 59 Parallel Sessions

10.00 am Fourth Session

Co-Chair: Roland Rich, Executive Head, United Nations Office for Partnership Genc Pollo, Minister of Innovation and ICT, Albania Rick Barton, US Representative to the ECOSOC of the United Nations George Laudato, Special Assistant for the Middle East, USAID Francis Lorenzo, President, South South News Steve Davenport, Development Gateway 12.00 am Fifth Session Round table and approval of the Final Declaration

Chairman: Pierpaolo Saporito, President, OCCAM

Genc Pollo, Minister of Innovation and ICT, Albania Fredrick B. Norkeh, Minister of Posts and Telecommunications, Liberia Radhakrishna Lutchmana Padayachie, Minister of Communications, South Africa Mongi Hamdi, Head of Secretariat , UN Commission “Science and Technology for Development” John Steffens, Executive Officer, Infopoverty Institute Roland Rich, Executive Head, United Nations Office for Partnership

15,00 (Italian time) Co-Chair: Maria Grazia Cavenaghi Smith, Head of European Parliament Information Office in Milan Cristiana Muscardini, Vice President Committee on International Trade, European Parliament Pier Antonio Panzeri, President Delegation for relations with the Maghreb countries and the Arab Maghreb Union, European Parliament Nokwe Nomvuyo, Consul General of South Africa in Milan Cesare Spreafico, Director General, COREPLA Mariolina Moioli, Councilor for Family, School and Social Policies, City of Milan*

UNESCO, Paris Janis Karklins, Vice DG for Communication, UNESCO Georges Dupont, ITU Arduino Patacchini, CEO, Skylogic* Inoussa Housseini, President, IFTC-UNESCO

* tbc

PLENARY SESSIONS

Operative convergences in new development policies: can ICT play a catalyst role?

SESSION 1 Nations building prosperity Representatives of Governments and International Organizations will participate to this session, during which the most innovative digital services in the fields of food security, welfare and e-government will be presented, services which, if applied on a wide scale, can allow emergent Countries to promote an endogenous economic and social growth. Thanks to the experience OCCAM and its partners, together with many other experts in the field of ICT for development, it has been widely demonstrated that e-services, as well as services provided by mobile phones, can support Governments and International Organizations in many respects. It is now time to make those services readily available to the wider parts of the world population that are still left behind the digital revolution. SESSION 2 ICT and new strategic alliances to achieve the Millennium Development Goals The second session will focus on the initiatives promoted by the UN Global Alliance for ICT and Development (UN-GAID). The Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies and Development (GAID), an initiative approved by the United Nations Secretary-General in 2006, was launched after comprehensive worldwide consultations with governments, the private sector, civil society, the technical and Internet communities and academia. The session will also enjoy the participation of participants to other similar endeavours at the international level SESSION 3 How civil society can implement its actions Civil society (NGOs, universities and no profit entities) is strongly engaged in fighting poverty and promoting development. In a moment like the present, in which resources become more and more limited, it is thus necessary to rethink through the various strategies of action, which must include the new technologies. SESSION 4 Operative convergences in new development policies: can ICT play a catalyst role? As per tradition, this session, organized by the European Parliament Office in Milan is aimed at comparing and updating on the progress made by EU and US - the two main global aid donors - in promoting sustainable development and fostering social, cultural and economic growth in those Countries most afflicted by poverty. SESSION 5 Round table and approval of the Final Declaration The last session of the Infopoverty World Conference will discuss on how to make e-services for development be included in global policies towards development and will formally endorse the Final Declaration of the Conference.