In a public presentation, the DSF demonstrated the potential of innovative information technologies for reducing the digital divide. It appealed for active commitment from all stakeholders.


On 20 March 2007 in Geneva, the global Digital Solidarity Fund publicly presented the “Digital Solidarity Pact”.  Before a gathering of more than 100 people (including founding members of the DSF, diplomats, representatives of international organisations and civil society, journalists, delegates from IT companies and ICT specialists), a new vision for reducing the digital divide was proposed. It demonstrates that the digital divide can be reduced by 2015, thanks to a combination of 3 factors: the development of new technologies that facilitate access to ICTs, the shared interest of public authorities and businesses in launching a massive plan to provide access to ICTs, and the adoption of a new financial mechanism to specifically tackle the digital divide.

Reiterating “that it won’t be possible to achieve the Millennium Goals unless we can first connect 85% of the world population that doesn’t have access to the Internet”, the Executive Secretary of the DSF, Alain Clerc, affirmed his belief “that connection is possible thanks to the latest technological developments”. To illustrate this potential, the DSF invited two companies from the digital sector. Sun Microsystems SA presented a design for a console (screen + keyboard) connected via the Internet to a server that simulates 10,000 computers, which could solve the computer shortage problem. The second company, StratXX, unveiled its plans for a stratospheric geostationary platform (HAPS) that delivers a wireless network (Wi-Max) covering an area of up to 1,000 km in diameter!

"These information technologies aren’t an end in themselves, but a tool for development, particularly in the areas of health and education", explained the President of the DSF, Guy-Olivier Segond. "It is important for us to recognise that the digital divide is not a technical issue, but a political issue. And that information technologies are not a gadget for rich countries, but the means of accessing knowledge, by contemporary means, for the whole population of the planet."

The "Digital Solidarity Pact" was proposed to all stakeholders from the public sector, private sector and civil society, with the specific commitment of adopting the "1% digital solidarity" principle. The DSF is strongly in favour of organising an International Conference on Financing Digital Solidarity, to support its financing principle. The Executive Secretary of DSF commented: “Only a new mechanism will be able to reduce the digital divide. The international community must recognise this need and make a firm commitment to address it. It’s a win-win mechanism. It doesn’t cost anything and brings a lot. It will make it possible to build a more equitable information society based on principles of solidarity.”

For more information, visit:
http://www.dsf-fsn.org/cms/content/view/180/219/lang,en/