For information. (ICOM is a key partner in the Culture and Development
area of the Gateway.)


Patrick Boylan

======================

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 12:26:20 -0400
From: [log in to unmask]

A Gateway for Development

World Bank moves forward with Foundation; New portal


released today


July 30, 2001. Last week, Bank's World Today reported the launch of the
independent Global Development Network, the knowledge sharing initiative. Today
we feature the Development Gateway Foundation -a new entity designed to
help bridge the digital divide.


The World Bank's Board last week supported moving forward with the Bank's
participation in the Development Gateway Foundation: an independent
entity, which combines public and private support for a variety of efforts
geared to addressing the digital divide and reducing poverty. The
Development Gateway Foundation is being established as a non-profit
organization, initially in Washington, D.C.


Many organizations are working on activities related to the digital divide, and
there has been a recent and rapid increase in interest among the donor community
about the power of information and communication technologies (ICT) for
sustainable development and poverty reduction. The demand for programs on the
ground and for support for sharing knowledge on development, as well as
networking and capacity building at all levels is enormous. However, much of
these activities are uncoordinated, and the level of knowledge sharing among the
development community remains sub-optimal.


"The Foundation and the emerging World Bank Group's Knowledge Strategy share a
vision of the importance of knowledge: access, sharing, building and
creating knowledge as crucial to the developing world's economic and
social performance," said World Bank President James Wolfensohn. "This
shared vision will lead to fruitful collaboration among the Foundation,
the World Bank Group, and other partners."


In a Memorandum to the Bank's Board, Wolfensohn indicated that the Foundation
will attempt to fill a major gap and plans to promote the use of ICT for poverty
reduction and sustainable development in several ways, including managing the
Development Gateway portal. The Foundation will also create an ICT Development
Forum for debate and knowledge-sharing on key ICT issues, promoting partnerships
and synergies between civil society and the public and private sectors and
bringing together leaders and entrepreneurs?always with a focus on poverty
reduction through enabling ICT and addressing issues of connectivity


Another proposal is to develop a network of Research and Training Centers in the
developing world, to exchange ideas, test IT applications, and explore
connectivity solutions that will benefit the poor. Examples could include
testing IT applications to help agricultural communities purchase seeds and
fertilizers or obtain information on market prices; developing and disseminating
a database of basic medical knowledge for rural communities; sharing trough
innovative IT tools meteorological information that can help fishermen and
farmers to plan; and establishing cyber kiosks in rural communities.


And, working with infoDev, the Foundation will offer funding for innovative ICT
projects and programs at the local, national, regional, and global levels that
demonstrate real potential to overcome the digital divide.


Foundation Board members are expected to be representatives from around the
world, and will include donors from the public and private sectors. To ensure
broad representation from the development community, a number of seats will be
allocated to representatives from developing countries and civil society. The
first meeting of the Foundation's full Board is expected to be held in early
December 2001.


Fundraising efforts are well on their way, with more than 10 governments and
private companies showing strong interest in participating in the Foundation.
Sufficient commitments are in place to launch the key components of the
Foundation, and formal announcements of funding are expected shortly. The target
is for total annual contributions of $30 to $50 million. Individual
contributions can be made in a combination of ways such as in cash or in support
of specific activities of the Foundation (for example, IT research and training
centers or Country Gateways).


Speaking about the Development Gateway portal, Carlos Braga, ISG's Senior
Manager leading the portal initiative, says that the Internet-based platform
aims to provide quality information on development from a broad array of
sources, as well as services and tools. "This has been developed in
collaboration with donor agencies, governments, universities, companies, and
civil society."


During the development of the Gateway portal, the key activity of the
Foundation, strong support and demand have been demonstrated for a portal
that focuses specifically on development. Sixty-two countries have either
established Country Gateways or expressed strong interest in doing so,
demonstrating the demand to share tools and knowledge on development at
the country level.


A new version of the portal will be  released later today and will include new
or expanded features and services. "This an exciting offering on the world wide
web for the development community using 'open source'  technology that makes it
easy for stakeholders to collaborate," says Monika Quigley who leads the
Gateway's technology team, which worked in collaboration with several outside
agencies and multilateral development institutions, as well as with the Bank's
external web team and several VPUs.


Among its features:

·    An updated project database (AIDA) which brings together information on
more than 300,000 development activities from multilateral banks and bilateral
aid agencies (data through July 2001). The database is already the most
comprehensive repository of development activities around the world, and as new
agencies join, expectations are that its coverage and relevance will grow.
·    The first version of a new service, an e-procurement marketplace providing
information on general and specific procurement notices from multilateral
development banks
·    Extensive information on key development topics (such as gender and
development, e-government, and HIV/AIDS)
·    10 to 12 independent and locally operated Country Gateway prototype web
sites
·    Country Overviews (comprehensive data on more than 150 countries)
·    And, an e-bookstore with material on development from a range of
publishers.
Speaking about plans ahead, ISG VP and CIO Mohamed Muhsin, emphasizes that
"there are several improvements intended in the Foundation's Business Plan.
Since the portal is a service, the Foundation will be really grateful for
feedback and ideas. In addition a major effort is underway to help formally
launch the Foundation's activities in December, by which time the Foundation's
core staff and service providers, which will include the Bank as part of the
transition, will be in place."


Who to contact about the Gateway? Business Development: Gerhard Pohl (ext.
32979); Civil Society: John Garrison (ext. 34742); Content: Nick Harrison (ext.
88002); Communications: Connie Eysenck (ext. 31884); Country Gateways: Robert
Valantin (ext. 32613); Technology: Monika Quigley (ext. 36907); Partnerships:
Eleanor Fink (ext. 34416); Program Management: Sudhakar Kaveeshwar (ext. 30557).

Useful links: For more information about the portal and the Foundation, go to
http://www.developmentgateway.org/.

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