27th August 2007, Geneva, Switzerland: The ICT4Peace Foundation is pleased to announce the launch of its ICT4Peace Inventory Wiki, accessible immediately from http://www.ict4peace.org/inventory-1.html.

The ICT4Peace inventory wiki is one of three key foci of the ICT4Peace Foundation. It will be updated regularly and highlight emerging best practices from the field, significant research initiatives and well-grounded examples of ICT4Peace as defined in the Foundation’s mandate. This will include cataloguing at least 100 existing ICT tools and mechanisms – operational, legal and conceptual – geared towards conflict mitigation. The inventorisation will include initiatives identified in 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.

“This tool provides a comprehensive overview of the many ways in which ICT is already used in crisis management.” said Daniel Stauffacher, Chairman of the ICT4Peace Foundation on the occasion of the launch of the launch of the ICT4Peace Inventory Wiki. He went on to say that “Over time, it will be an invaluable resource for policy makers, academia as well a practitioners in the field to share and learn from best practices and examples of ICT4Peace across the world.”

The ICT4Peace process spearheaded by the Foundation aims to enhance the performance of the international community in crisis management through the application of information and 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.

Two other key foci of the Foundation are to enhance the performance of the international community in crisis management through ICT and develop templates for ICT, media and communications in conflict management. 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 will establish broad principles derived from operational best practices, integrate them into UN processes and make ICT part of UN evaluation exercises.

For more details on ICT4Peace and the Foundation’s work, please read our mission statement - http://www.ict4peace.org/mission-1.html. The Foundation also has a growing library of content related to ICT4Peace and a list of events that can be accessed through its library and events database respectively. Please visit our website for more information – http://www.ict4peace.org.

We encourage you to get in touch with the Foundation with details of your work and to find out more about the ICT4Peace process. Please email Mr. Daniel Stauffacher, Chairman of the ICT4Peace Foundation, at danielstauffacher@ict4peace.org.