1. The present report has been prepared in response to the Ministerial Declaration of the Economic and Social Council of the year 2000 and its resolution E/2000/29 which called for the creation of an information and communication technologies task force on the basis of consultations with all stakeholders and Member States to be undertaken by the Secretary General.

2. In order to assist him in carrying out this mandate, the Secretary General designated Mr. José Maria Figueres-Olsen, the former President of Costa Rica, as his Special Representative on ICT and a group of highlevel advisers on ICT, composed of representatives of governments, private sector, foundations, NGOs and the academic community, and chaired by Mr. José Maria Figueres-Olsen. Several teams, headed by members of the Advisory Group, conducted wide-ranging consultations during October-December 2000 with governments and other relevant stakeholders, including the private sector, in all regions.

3. In addition, a Note Verbale was addressed to all member states to elicit views and suggestions on the implementation of the ECOSOC resolution regarding ICT for development. A similar request was addressed to organizations of the United Nations system. Responses received were forwarded to the Advisory Group to be taken into account in developing the Group's proposals and recommendations.

4. At the end of January 2001, the Advisers adopted their report which was subsequently submitted in early February 2001 to the Secretary General with a view to assisting him formulating his recommendations to ECOSOC on the establishment of an ICT Task Force. In their submission, the Advisers stressed that their report should be seen as the first step in an evolving process of collective thinking which the Task Force itself will need to further develop and refine as a basis for its actions.

5. The outcomes of consultations testify to the fact that there is wide agreement that Information and Communication Technologies can be a potent instrument for accelerating broad-based growth and sustainable development and for reducing poverty. ICT are creating a new context for development, thereby offering both a unique opportunity and an urgent requirement for an unprecedented new initiative.

6. However, there is concern that at present the huge potential that the IT revolution provides for development is not yet adequately reflected in development policies, programmes and projects. There are many initiatives and activities at all levels and in all regions of the world attempting to address this challenge. This diversity of efforts is essential, because there are no universal solutions to different regional, national and local conditions and needs. At the same time, the development impact of these initiatives and projects could be significantly enhanced through strengthening synergies, ensuring complementarities, promoting awareness and through supporting, replicating and scaling-up of successful practices.

7. The major conclusion from the consultations was that the initiative to establish an ICT Task Force was considered very timely and enjoyed broad support, including by the private sector. It was repeatedly stressed by stakeholders that an endeavour of this magnitude and importance, predicated on genuine partnership of diverse stakeholders from both developed and developing countries, needed to be spearheaded by an "honest broker" and that the United Nations role, in particular the role of the Secretary General, in this regard is indispensable.

8. For this endeavour to be sustainable and effective, support and participation of the private sector is imperative. A "win-win" situation must be created where boosting development and expanding markets are complementary and mutually reinforcing. The private sector can play a key role by developing the business models and technology innovations to reach poor people for wealth creation.

9. The United Nations, with its moral authority and its universal and representative character is uniquely positioned to shape a vision for ICT as an enabling factor to build a poverty-free world. Under the leadership of the Secretary General, the United Nations can lend a truly global dimension to efforts to bridge the global digital divide, foster digital opportunity and thus firmly put ICT in the service of development for all. For the Organization to perform this role, the proposed Task Force should bring together all stakeholders in strategic partnership based on genuine commonality of interests and shared goals focusing on synergies rather than on coordination. It should add value, for all stakeholders, to other existing initiatives and activities of similar nature. It should adequately reflect their diverse needs and perspectives. It is with these considerations in mind that the present report sets forth proposals for a broad strategic framework for the Task Force's role in spearheading the ICT-for-development effort on a global scale.

10. The High-level Group of Advisers identified a number of key elements of the role that the Task Force should play in harnessing ICT for development. These are summarized below.

11. New information and communication technologies are creating a New Economy and a new global information society. The challenge before us is to enable the currently excluded four billion of the world's population to participate in and benefit from the information revolution. ICT is not an end in itself but a means to an end. The Task Force should aim to harness ICT to bridge the social and economic gaps that divide the world -- not as a substitute for broad development efforts, but to complement them as a leveraging factor that can empower the poor with the knowledge and skills they need to grow out of poverty. The Task Force should serve as a strategic instrument for developing bold, new and innovative approaches and of thinking "outside the box" to devise technological solutions that can help the poor countries and people to leapfrog traditional technologies and stages of development. It should seek, embrace and encourage best practices and programmes. It should help bridge the "generation gap" by using children, boys and girls alike, as a " leading edge" and an accelerator for development. It should help develop balanced approaches that can address issues of promoting access, development of skills, of local content and the desire and capacity to use ICT for development.

12. The urgency of the task is particularly acute due to the fact that business models and regulatory environment have not been fully established so far. There is, therefore, a unique window of opportunity for laying the groundwork broadly for the development of models that are inclusive and encompass the needs of the poor.

13. Raising awareness, mobilizing commitment by political leaders at the highest level and helping create conducive and independent regulatory frameworks and institutions, developing norms and guidelines based on available experience and knowledge and creating the broad conditions for affordable access, and development of local applications, content and entrepreneurship should be key goals of the Task Force. The Task Force should also serve as an interface to bridge the gap between the ICT and development communities. It should help develop instruments to integrate ICT into development cooperation policies and practice so that ODA can be leveraged in new and innovative ways.

14. The Task Force should set bold targets and goals with specified timeframes and carry out stakeholder campaigns to mobilize governments, the private sector, NGOs, academic and local communities and businesses to achieve these goals. Bringing the best available talent to bear on these efforts, the Task Force, while striving for longer-term goals, should also aim at short-term wins to show tangible and visible results.

15. The Task Force, by virtue of being established under the authority of the Secretary General and of representing all relevant stakeholders, should be well placed to issue a unifying call for urgent action, to build strategic partnerships and bring about the essential awareness and coherence to both current and future efforts without, at the same time, compromising the benefits of diversity of initiatives and activities. The Task Force is not intended to take over or supercede other important processes in this area. In fact, one of the basic principles of its operation must be achieving synergy with other activities that share similar objectives, in particular the dot force initiative launched by the G8.

16. To achieve tangible and sustainable results, action in the area of ICT-for-development needs to be local, cooperation should be promoted at the sub-regional and regional levels, but the broad agenda should be set globally. The United Nations, through the ICT Task Force, should contribute to this effort at a qualitatively new level that should reflect the Organization's unique strengths -- legitimacy, universality, experience, and presence on the ground as well as its convening and catalytic role that can help set global priorities and leverage and add value to existing and new initiatives at the local, national, regional and global levels.

17. The Task Force is not envisaged as an operational or executing agency. For the execution of programmes and projects that it would wish to promote and support, it will need to identify appropriate entities and facilitate connections among interested parties.

18. 18. At the Millennium Summit held in September 2000, leaders of the world set the goal of reducing the proportion of people living in poverty by half by 2015. This goal can be achieved only if growth is accelerated substantially and poor people are empowered to participate in its benefits, not as objects but as part of the solution. The Task Force can help achieve this goal by contributing to the efforts to harness the full potential of ICT for development and poverty reduction. The overall aim of the Task Force should be to spearhead efforts to integrate ICT in development plans, programmes and projects and promote ICT development and ICT applications in all sectors of the economy. Developing countries, in particular African countries and other least developed countries, should be the major focus of the effort.

19. Keeping in view the poverty reduction goal of the Millennium Summit and drawing upon the key elements of its role as outlined above, the Task Force should advise the Secretary General on the overall strategy for integrating ICT in development activities. It should develop a decentralized approach to cooperation on the basis of identification of problems and gaps in existing activities related to ICT-for-development which may benefit from reflection and discussion at a more global level. This approach should include development of national, regional and sub-regional Task Force mechanisms to support the work of the global Task Force. While more detailed arrangements are to be finalized in the course of developing a Programme of Action (see paragraphs 22 and 25 below under "Modalities"), the following key elements that should be built upon are outlined below:

20. Areas of priority of the Task Force's activities should be those established by the Ministerial Declaration of ECOSOC 2000. Within this, particular emphasis should be placed on:

i)

raising awareness and understanding among policy-makers on the potential of ICT for development as a prerequisite for the emergence of strong political leadership and commitment of governments in this area;

ii)

promoting universal and affordable access to ICT, particularly bringing ICT to the poorest men and women for improved income, health, education and information. To this end, emphasize breakthroughs to achieve rapid results using new models and leveraging innovations;

iii)

assisting Member States in creation of national ICT strategies, policy frameworks, and regulatory environment, including appropriate independent regulatory frameworks for telecommunications, conducive to investment, infrastructure development, fostering a competitive environment, local entrepreneurship and poverty reduction by facilitating self-employment by poor people, particularly poor women, and promoting small and medium enterprises and wealth and job creation for poor people;

iv)

human resources development and institutional capacity building, including government and education and training, promotion of programmes such as community-based technology training, and on-line training and education with a focus on young girls and boys; and promoting a balance between economic and social goals or 'digital equity';

v)

promoting coherence and synergy of the existing initiatives and activities at all levels by: — developing a cooperative research and communications agenda to identify problems and gaps, particularly in areas such as how to seed a market for small vendors and consumers to develop, promoting digital literacy and promoting the participation of private sector and civil society in the application of ICT for development; — sharing information on priorities, strategies and activities; — establishing close links with regional and national initiatives to leverage their experience, avoid duplication and promote replication of successful practices;

vi)

building partnerships, networks and consortia for actions among relevant stakeholders, including the private sector, at global, regional and national levels; and facilitating the sharing of relevant experience of both developed and developing countries and lessons learned in: — ICT for development programmes;- ICT for development programmes; — the development of human resources; — the development of local applications and content; — the experiences in e-government; — preserving and disseminating traditional knowledge; — promoting South-South cooperation;

vii)

identifying and mobilizing new and additional resources, financial, technical and human, for promoting and funding ICT-for-development programmes and projects with particular attention to: — replication and scaling-up of successful projects and programmes and practices; — social venture capital models that are designed to provide private venture capital for seed money for socially responsible and sustainable development of markets; — R&D for new business models and technical innovations to expand access to poor people and to remote and rural areas and at lower costs;

viii)

promoting cooperation and coordination among UN agencies and help develop a broad strategy for the United Nations system on ICT-for-development, building on their strategies and activities taking into account areas such as the mobilization of financial, technical and human resources as well as synergies with other initiatives;

ix)

promoting an open, inclusive and participatory approach to setting standards, regulatory frameworks and governance mechanisms for ICT-related activities, including in areas such as privacy, cyber-crime and commercial and financial transactions drawing on the work underway in a number of international bodies and industrial consortia aimed at developing solutions to regulatory issues;

x)

providing global leadership for promoting a better balance between women and men in the ICT-for-development programmes and activities.