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 Analysis, ICT, Global: Nobel Peace Prize winner and Managing Director of Grameen
Bank Professor Muhammad Yunus announced at the ITU Telecom World 2006 opening
ceremony that ITU would team up with several major telecoms companies to
combine the power of these enterprises with micro-financing for the poorer
members of the tele-community...
In addition to Grameen, ITU’s partners will include Cisco
Systems, Qualcomm and the newly formed consortium Enclusion. They would put
together a virtual, global “ICT Empowerment Network” as part of their
collaboration through the Connect the World initiative.
Professor Yunus stressed: “We need to press the
international community into action, so I am grateful to ITU for helping push
this cause…This is just the beginning of an exciting, new, open collaboration
and I encourage others to join us in this global effort.”
What is the ICT
Empowerment Network?
In fact, the new ICT Empowerment Network represents the
first concrete area of collaboration flowing from a broader agreement signed by
Professor Yunus and ITU Secretary-General Yoshio Utsumi. The door will be open,
it is hoped, to broader cooperation between the two organisations, with the aim
of combining Grameen’s micro-credit expertise with ITU’s experience in
implementing ICT development programmes and partnerships.
The ICT Empowerment Network seeks, in addition, to
implement the vision outlined by Professor Yunus when he received the ITU World
Information Society Award on 17 May 2006. During his
acceptance speech, Professor Yunus called on global ICT companies to take part
in a global effort to combine the power of ICTs with micro-credit financing to
help the poor earn sustainable incomes. To help make this initiative a success,
Grameen will reach out to more than 3,000 microfinance organisations and 100
million borrowers worldwide. ITU will lever the support and participation of its
191 member states and some 650 private sector members from around the world.
New honorary patrons
- with strong emerging market presence
In its drive to Connect the World, ITU announced that five
honorary patrons had been appointed, primarily to combat and alleviate poverty
via ICT. Five such patrons had been invited by Yoshio Utsumi to help popularise
and build public support for the Connect the World initiative. A strong
emerging-market presence can be identified from the five new patrons:
Nobel Laureate Professor Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen
Bank and leading advocate of ICT combined with micro-credit financing to
empower the poor;
HRH Maha Chakri Sirindhorn, Princess of Thailand, whose
efforts help people with disabilities gain independence and skills using ICT;
HRH Sheikha Al Mayassa Bint Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Qatar,
Chairman of “Reach Out to Asia” a non-profit initiative to expand access to education using ICTs;
Professor M S Swaminathan, Founder and Chairperson of
“Mission 2007”, a widely recognised movement in India to
make every village a “knowledge centre” using ICTs; and
Roberto Irineu Marinho, President of Globo and its
Foundation. Globo is a major Brazilian broadcast company and Internet provider
responsible for UN-recognised projects in broadcasting educational content to
underserved communities. more info:
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Date: 2 - 5 September 2008