News
IFAP promotes good evidence for expanding Access to Information for All at the EuroDIG 2023
UNESCO Information for All Programme (IFAP) organized a session titled 鈥Expanding access to Information for All through good evidence鈥 at the held in Tampere, Finland on 19 June 2023. The session aimed to promote monitoring mechanisms and analytical frameworks that facilitate decision-making to advance digital ecosystem. The event saw participation from over 40 stakeholders participating, including national governments, policy makers, academia and NGO representatives.
During the opening remarks, Ms. Sandra Hofeirichter, Secretary General of EuroDIG, emphasized the importance of the partnership between EuroDIG and UNESCO IFAP in strengthening inclusive multi-stakeholder and evidence-based approaches to digital governance and digital policies.
Marielza Oliveira, Director of the UNESCO Division for Digital Inclusion, Policies and Transformation and Secretary of IFAP, introduced IFAP鈥檚 mandate and highlighted its strategic objectives in addressing the challenges of digital development. She also underlined IFAP's contributions to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), WSIS 20+, the Global Digital Compact and the UN Secretary-General's Roadmap for Digital Cooperation.
Giacomo Mazzone, Member of the EuroDIG Board and the co-chair of Policy Network Meaningful Access of the IGF, emphasized the need for a meaningful internet that reaches the 2.5 billion unconnected population, highlighting the responsibility of UNESCO, through IFAP to lead global efforts in this regard.
Tomasz Komorowski, Project Coordinator at the Polish National Commission for UNESCO, stressed the interdisciplinary nature of the issue of access to information and called for collaboration among UNESCO鈥檚 Sector and programmes to tackle the complexity in an efficient manner.
Polya Kanyova, Chief Expert from the Directorate of the Ministry of Electronic Governance in Bulgaria, shared the progress of the national ROAM-X assessment and good practices in transparency and access to information.
Yves Poullet, Chair of the IFAP Working Group for Information Ethics, stressed the risks associated with global digital platforms acting as gatekeepers and emphasized the importance of transparent collaboration between these platforms and authorities.
Andreas Salz, representative from the German Commission for UNESCO, highlighted the usefulness of ROAM-X indicators for national assessments of the digital sphere and expressed a willingness to share experiences with other national commissions and partners.
Participants recognized the good practice of UNESCO in implementing the Internet Universality ROAM-X framework, which serves as a critical toolkit for measuring digital ecosystem and assisting Member States in developing and improving evidence-based digital policies.
IFAP Secretariat emphasized the need to synergise and update existing measurement frameworks for keeping pace with the fast development of digital ecosystem. IFAP will continue to promote monitoring mechanisms and analytical frameworks for evidence-based decision-making in the digital ecosystem, including UNESCO's Internet Universality ROAM-X, , , and .
The session at EuroDIG 2023 facilitated discussions on the importance of multi-stakeholder partnerships to promote a human rights-based, open and accessible digital environment in Europe and beyond.
