South-South Awards: E-Government and Sustainable TourismFollowing the success of the South-South Awards: Digital Health for Digital Development in 2011, we will be holding the 2nd Annual South-South Awards at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel New York, during the High-Level Segment of this year’s 67th Session of the General Assembly. Last year’s event had the support of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). The event was hosted by the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda and had the participation of more than 20 Heads of State.The United Nations MDG High-Level Summit recognized that progress towards the MDGs has been mixed in the past 10 years. World leaders stressed theneed to accelerate the pace of progress if the MDGs are to be achieved by 2015. The Summit also recognized that Information and Communication Technologies can be a strategic enabler for speeding up development in the global South. The use of E-Governance to promote Sustainable Tourism is one that promotes both MDGs 1 and 8. It promotes MDG 1by generating employment in the Tourism sector and thus alleviating poverty. MDG 8 focuses on partnership building, which works when countries forge more technical and financial cooperation’s with multi-lateral organizations.South-South News, a news-media platform for best practices among South-South countries, is committed to work with United Nations organizations, such as theInternational Telecommunications Union (ITU), UNESCO, UNDP, UNDESA and others to bring broadband access and innovative web-based applications in the service of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Our objective is to accelerate the pace of development by creating an enabling e-environment for governance, education, health, entrepreneurship and job creation. The demand for a new push to the MDGs has come from leaders of the South as expressed by the recent conference on “ICT and Sustainable Urbanization” heldin Hong Kong, China on 16thApril, 2012.The 2012 South-South Awards will recognize, share and disseminate the most outstanding success stories and lessons learned in South-South and triangular cooperation in using Information and Communication Technologies for development.The selection process for the Awards is led by an internationally recognized jury, and the Awards are organized in close cooperation with several international organizations, under the patronage of the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) andthe United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). The criteria for the nomination and selection of Award winners will focus on achievementsand initiatives, which represent outstanding contributions and advances in the use of ICT and media in advancing the MDGs.The Awardees will include government leaders, business, ICT innovators and practitioners, and also youth leaders.The Awards Ceremony, to be held on September 23rd, 2012, during the United Nations General Assembly, will engage Heads of State and Government, leaders ofthe ICT and Tourism industry, leading civil society stakeholders and key figures from the world of media, culture and entertainment.The awardees will be selected based on an examination of their projects/initiatives/innovations inthe framework of the following criteria:• Level of innovation• Global or large-scale impact• User-friendliness• Scalability, Sustainability and Replicability
Posted on: Tue, 01 Oct 2013 13:18:31 +0000
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