ICT for peace foundation - History of Foundation and F.A.Q's

History of Foundation and F.A.Q's

1	What is ICT4Peace?
2	What activities will ICT4Peace carry out?
3	Who else is involved in ICT4Peace?
4	How can I get involved in the ICT4Peace Foundation's work?
5	What is the history of the ICT4Peace Foundation?

1	Q : What is ICT4Peace?
	A : "ICT4Peace aims to enhance the performance of the international community in crisis management through the application of information Communications Technology (ICT) – technologies that can facilitate effective and sustained communication between peoples, communities and stakeholders involved in crisis management, humanitarian aid and peacebuilding. Crisis management is defined, for the purposes of this process, as civilian and/or military intervention in a crisis that may be a violent or non-violent with the intention of preventing a further escalation of the crisis and facilitating its resolution. This definition covers peace mediation, peace-keeping and peace-building activities of the international community. In bridging the fragmentation between various organisations and activities during different crisis phases, ICT4Peace aims to facilitate a holistic, cohesive and collaborative mechanisms directly in line with Paragraph 36 of the WSIS Tunis Commitment." Please read more here.
2	Q : What activities will ICT4Peace carry out?
	A : Enhance the performance of the international community in crisis management through ICT From 2007 – 2008, key partners in ICT4Peace will work with the United Nations, bilateral and multilateral donors, international NGOs, civil society organizations, academia and Universities as well as global business to establish ICT4Peace as integral to their approach to and understanding of crisis management. ICT4Peace aims to enhance the competency and professionalism of the international community in crisis management through improved interagency interoperability supported by practical collaborative frameworks and ICT tools. ICT4Peace will establish broad principles derived from operational best practices, integrate them into UN processes and make ICT part of UN evaluation exercises. Development of templates for ICT, media and communications in conflict management Through the practical application of multi-stakeholder, multi-tier ICT frameworks to augment communication between and within peoples and communities, ICT4Peace will support the design and application of ICT to augment conflict management initiatives in post-conflict contexts. Inventorisation of existing initiatives and tools ICT4Peace will over the next year catalogue at least 100 existing ICT tools and mechanisms – operational, legal and conceptual – geared towards conflict mitigation. The inventorisation will include initiatives identified by the report on ICT4peace by the ICT4Peace Foundation, published in 2005, along with more recent examples from around the world in the use of ICT for conflict mitigation using PC’s, mobile phones, the web and the Internet. Access the ICT4Peace Inventorisation wiki here. Please read more here.
3	Q : Who else is involved in ICT4Peace?
	A : Crisis Management Initiative UN DESA GAID Interpeace ISCRAM InfoShare UN Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
4	Q : How can I get involved in the ICT4Peace Foundation's work?
	A : If your organisation is using ICTs in an innovative way to deal with conflict management based on our understanding of and approach to ICT4Peace , we would like to hear from you. Please request for membership in our partnership network here.
5	Q : What is the history of the ICT4Peace Foundation?
	A : The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) 2003 The Declaration of Principles and Plan of Action of WSIS Phase 1 emphasized the potential of ICTs to help achieve the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations. However, in many countries, armed conflict undermines progress towards the Millennium Development Goals. After the WSIS meeting in Geneva, Daniel Stauffacher (Chairman of the ICT4Peace Foundation, in his capacity as Ambassador of Switzerland to the WSIS) held a number of meetings including consultations with HPCR at Harvard and CMI to set up the ICT4Peace Project, with the support of the Swiss and Nowegian Governments, the Francophonie as well as private Foundations and hosted by the University for Peace, Geneva Office, as a vehicle for the promotion of ideas on ICT for conflict mitigation and peacebuilding. In 2004, the ICT4Peace Project held a series of meetings, including side meetings at: the 6th International Security Forum in Montreux (October 2004) the IT for Crisis Management Conference in Nice (December 2004). In addition, a seminar/workshop for field practitioners was jointly organized with WSP International in Geneva in December 2004. This process resulted in the research and publication of the report "Information and Communication Technology for Peace: the role of ICT in preventing, responding to and recovering from conflict". The ICT4Peace project, after its ground-breaking research and advocacy successes in 2005, then established itself as a Swiss Foundation in Geneva in early 2006. This Foundation will serve as a hub for research, advocacy and networking on the topic of ICT use to prevent, respond to and recover from conflict. ICT4Peace Foundation representatives also attended: the World Conference on Disaster Reduction in Kobe, and the World Economic Forum in Davos. World Summit on the Information Society 2005 The second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society occured on November 16-18 2005 in Tunis. Paragraph 36 of the Tunis Commitment states that: "We value the potential of ICTs to promote peace and to prevent conflict which, inter alia, negatively affects achieving development goals. ICTs can be used for identifying conflict situations through early warning systems preventing conflicts, promoting their peaceful resolution, supporting humanitarian action, including protection of civilians in armed conflicts, facilitating peacekeeping missions, and assisting post conflict peace-building and reconstruction." This paragraph was proposed and introduced to the WSIS negotiations by Daniel Stauffacher (Chairman of the ICT4Peace Foundation, in his capacity as Ambassador of Switzerland to the WSIS) on behalf of the Swiss Government and with the support of the Government of Tunisia, the host of the WSIS in Tunisia in 2005, and with the support and feedback of many delegations. The ICT4Peace report "Information and Communication Technology for Peace - The Role of ICT in Preventing, Responding to and Recovering from Conflic t " was launched at the panel hosted by ICT4Peace at the WSIS on 18 November 2005. You can purchase this report from Amazon here. Panel on "ICT for Peace" at WSIS 2005 The panelists were a collection of oustanding individuals from diverse backgrounds: Martti Ahtisaari, Former President of Finland José Antonio Ocampo, UN Under-Secretary-General Raymond Johansen, State Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Norway Linton Wells, US Assistant Secretary of Defense Dag Nielsen, Director - Ericsson Response Chamindra de Silva, Director - Lanka Software Foundation The panel moderator was Hilary Bowker, former CNN anchor. The panel was chaired by Daniel Stauffacher. The report was introduced by William Drake, Paul Currion and Julia Steinberger. Past Meetings In 2005 ICT4Peace has held: A Consultation Meeting at the WSIS Preparatory Committee 2 in Geneva. An ICT4Peace meeting with Geneva-based humanitarian organisations at the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue (Geneva). For more information on our work, please read The ICT4Peace Foundation Programme of Work 2007-2008 For our vision and mission, please read this. For a more general scope of work of the Foundation, please read this.