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The international conference "UNESCO between Two Phases of the World Summit on the Information Society" (Saint Petersburg, Russia, 17-19 May 2005) was attended by 482 representatives from 50 countries that represented all the continents and interested parties - the state and private sector, civil society, international organisations, research and education community, cultural institutions, and mass communication media.
The Conference became a timely and productive dialogue and a kind of a brainstorming session directed at the multifaceted discussion of the whole range of Information Society development problems, one of them was Multi-stakeholder partnerships (MSPs).
It was advised that the Conference recommendations presented in the Final Document be forwarded both to UNESCO and to the heads of the national delegations of the countries participating in the Summit’s preparatory process for submitting to the Tunis discussion. The full text of the Final Document is available at the conference web-site. Here we are citing the recommendations related to MSPs only:
Information / Knowledge Society Development Policies
We call upon UNESCO and other stakeholders:
- to create a framework for a multi-stakeholder approach to policy-making and further actions related to Information Society and Knowledge Society development;
- to ensure that the civil society actively participates in policymaking process from design to implementation.
Information / Knowledge Society Research
We recommend UNESCO, with the possible help of other UN specialised agencies, to create a number of inclusive, transparent, multi-stakeholder and multi-disciplinary international research / working groups with the following missions:
- to study the new phenomenon of the Information / Knowledge Society - Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships (MSPs); to develop the basic principles of effective, equitable, transparent and inclusive MSPs; to prepare a set of guidelines to be endorsed by the United Nations Organisation concerning the ethical standards of MSPs as well as decision-making and decision-implementing mechanisms for MSPs;
- to study and to propose new international public law mechanisms and structures that would allow for the institutionalisation and recognition of MSPs accountable, among other places, to the United Nations Organisation.
Cultural Diversity in Knowledge Societies
We recommend UNESCO:
- to develop partnerships for action of cultural professionals, societal and political actors engaged in promoting cultural diversity in order to:
- establish prioritised common objectives and methodologies;
- encourage research and monitoring tools focused on user needs;
- promote the development of virtual communities and networks that contribute to generation of new knowledge through interactive dialogue.
Stakeholders’ Partnership and Cooperation. NGO Role in the Information Society
We recommend UNESCO and other stakeholders:
- to recognise and promote Multi-Stakeholder Partnerships (MSPs) as an important tool to foster Information and Shared Knowledge Society and Sustainable Development;
- to support and implement multi-stakeholder partnerships aimed at promoting Culture, Education, Science and Linguistic Diversity and helping Good Governance;
- to model effective ICT partnerships with civil society and the private sector for other institutions by demonstrating clear rules of conduct, transparency, human social capital, balanced representation, equal participation, and focused work plans and evaluations;
- to collaborate with civil society by initiating partnerships, facilitating support and funding for civil society participation, capacity-building, and reaching beyond the traditional UNESCO and UN NGO communities;
- to promote the importance of the ICT content and services issues, freedom of expression and online and offline media freedom, cultural diversity, capacity-building, and universal access to information as well as emphasising the principles of openness, including open source, open standards, and open content; and
- to facilitate sharing of information, analyses, and best-practices among civil society networks at the local, regional and national levels.
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