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About this Report

This Special Report provides a forum for diverse perspectives on the Information Society and what's ahead for ICT as a development tool. Participating in this Special Report are our online communities focused on:
	Afghanistan Reconstruction
	Culture & Development
	E-Government
	E-Learning
	Environment
	Food Security
	Foreign Direct Investment
	Gender and Development
	HIV/AIDS
	ICT for Development
	Indigenous Issues
	Iraq
	Knowledge Economy
	Microfinance
	Non-Governmental Organizations
	Poverty
	Space Applications
	Trade and Development
	Urban Development
	Water Resources Management
	Youth for Development



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Special Report

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Contributors

The Development Gateway Foundation is grateful to the people whose interviews have contributed to this Special Report "Information Society: The Next Steps." The range of stakeholders in advancing the use of ICT for development indicates the tremendous contribution that information and communication technology can make in improving the life chances of people in the developing world. Discussions under way during Phase 2 of the World Summit for the Information Society, hosted by the International Telecommunication Union in Tunis, Tunisia, from November 14-16, 2005, will address many of the issues presented in this Special Report.

Renata Bloem – Switzerland
Renata Bloem is the President of CONGO, an international, membership association that facilitates the participation of NGOs in United Nations debates and decisions. In this capacity she has been involved in numerous UN meetings, lead a CONGO delegation to the World Conference Against Racism, the World Summit on Sustainable Development and organized through the CONGO Working Group on Asia the Asian Civil Society Forum 2002 in Bangkok.

Daan Boom - Netherlands
Daan Boom is Principal Knowledge Management Specialist and Chairman of the ICT Community of Practice at the Asian Development Bank, based in Manila, Philippines. A native of the Netherlands, in 1993, he built one of the first corporate Intranets DOKOS. In 1997, he became involved in the Global Knowledge Management Steering Committee of KWorld, the knowledge sharing initiative of the international KPMG organization. At ADB, his main responsibility is heading the KM Center and implementing the Knowledge Management Framework for ADB.

Mridul Chowdhury - Bangladesh
Mridul Chowdhury is an ICT-for-Development Consultant who has worked in various Asian countries in the areas of e-Governance, e-Commerce and rural applications of ICT. As a Research Affiliate of Harvard University’s IT Group based at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Harvard Law School, he has done research in Thailand, Malaysia and India. He was on the research team for the Global Information Technology Report 2001-2002 published jointly by Harvard University and World Economic Forum. In Bangladesh, he has worked as a Consultant for the Ministry of Planning, UNDP, and Bangladesh Enterprise Institute (BEI). He was the principal researcher for various studies on the status of e-Governance and e-Commerce in Bangladesh funded by CIDA, JICA and the Asia Foundation. He regularly gives lectures on ICT and development issues at the Bangladesh Public Administration Training Center (BPATC) attended by mid-to-high-level government officials. He has presented papers at numerous international conferences and has several publications in international journals on ICT policy issues and on computational economics.

Walter Fust - Switzerland
Since September 1993 Walter Fust has been the Director-General of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). Mr. Fust is Chairman of the Board of the “Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP)”, a network dealing with information and communication technologies (ICTs) within the scope for cooperation. He is also a member of the United Nations Task Force on ICTs. Furthermore he is member of the Steering Committee of the "Global Governance Initiative" of the World Economic Forum (WEF) and of the Policy Committee of the Global Coalition for Africa.

Charles Geiger - Switzerland
Charles Geiger, a Swiss national, is the Executive Director of World Summit for the Information Society (WSIS) sponsored by the UN’s International Telecommunications Union. He served previously as a diplomat with the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was posted at Berne, Brussels and Tegucigalpa. Since 1989 he has served as Chief Legal Adviser of SDC, the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation. From 1995 to 1997 he was acting Director of Administration and Finance for SDC. His last posting was Resident Coordinator of SDC in Bangalore, India from 1997 to 2001. Mr. Geiger was born in Paris, France, in 1949. He graduated from Zurich University (Master of Law) in 1977 and was admitted as advocate to the bar by the Zurich High Court in 1980.

Pierre Guislain - Belgium
Pierre Guislain is the manager of the World Bank Group’s Information and Communication Technologies Policy Division, where he is in charge of the Bank’s ICT, telecommunications and postal sector strategy, projects and analytical portfolio. Prior to this position, he was based in Brussels, where he managed a joint program between the World Bank and the European Commission on Private Participation in Mediterranean Infrastructure. He has authored and edited numerous publications on ICT, infrastructure sector reform and privatization.

Nagy Hanna - USA
Nagy Hanna is the co-founder of the e-Leadership Initiative and a senior fellow at University of Maryland. Author, keynote speaker, thought leader, and executive coach. He served in several capacities with the World Bank for nearly three decades including senior advisor on national ICT strategies and first chair of the e-Development Thematic Group. Previous positions at the Bank included: lead evaluator of development effectiveness, lead corporate strategist, lead private sector development officer, lead economist and chief staff officer on information management. Internationally experienced development strategist with extensive knowledge of national and corporate competitive strategies and the use of information and communication technology to support such strategies. Lectured and published extensively on e-development, e-leadership, e-government, national competitiveness, strategic planning, change management, executive education and institutional development.

Cornelius Hopmann - Nicaragua
Cornelius Hopmann is the Executive Director of eNicaragua, a project of AIN (Internet Association of Nicaragua) where he coordinates the Nicaragua Country Gateway Project for the Development Gateway. He also heads the Computer Information System Department at Ave Maria College and was formerly General Manager & President of the Board of Sistemas Abiertos, a software development company. In the 1980s, he founded and was first director of Nicaragua’s School for Computer-Engineering at the National Engineering University.

Shafika Isaacs – South Africa
Shafika Isaacs is Executive Director of SchoolNet Africa, a network linking schoolnet practitioners, education policymakers, teachers and learners in 31 African countries through national schoolnet organizations. Based in Johannesburg, South Africa, she was previously Senior Program Officer with the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) Acacia Program which promotes development in Africa through the use of ICTs, where she promoted the SchoolNet Africa initiative and supported youth, womens' empowerment and schoolnet projects in a range of African countries. She is formerly Director of the Trade Union Research Project (TURP) which is a labour research service organization based at the University of Natal in South Africa. Isaacs is a founding member of the Cape Town-based Primary and High School Schools Tuition Program and the Skills Training and Education Centre. A finalist for the World Technology Network Award in 2003 and recipient of the Mandela Scholarship to University of Sussex, she serves on the Board of Directors of OneWorld Africa and on the Steering Committees of Southern African Network of Universities, the UN ICT Task Force Global eSchools Initiative and on the World Summit for the Information Society (WSIS) Gender Caucus.

Kiran Karnik - India
Kiran Karnik is president of NASSCOM, an association representing India’s IT software and service industry. In this capacity, he works closely with the industry and the Indian Central & State governments to formulate policies and strategies for the advancement of IT locally as well as internationally. Prior to joining NASSCOM, Karnik was the Managing Director at Discovery Networks India, spearheading the launch of Discovery Channel and Animal Planet in South Asia. Previously, he worked for over 20 years in the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

Peter Knight - Brazil
Peter Knight founded Telemática e Desenvolvimento Ltda, a Brazilian company specialized in e-development, e-government and e-learning, in 2001 after co-establishing a virtual firm based in Washington DC, Knight-Moore Telematics for Education and Development in 1997. Before joining the private sector, he led the Electronic Media Center at the World Bank from (June 1994-February 1997), and before that was Chief of the National Economic Management Division in the Bank's Economic Development Institute (EDI) and Lead Economist for Brazil. His World Bank career spanned over 20 years, with more than eight devoted exclusively to work on Brazil. Before joining the World Bank in 1976 he held positions at Cornell University, the Ford Foundation, and the Brookings Institution.

Muhammad Aimal Marjan - Afghanistan
Aimal Marjan is the National IT Advisor for the Ministry of Communications of the government of Afghanistan, where he works on ICT policy issues and gives consultation to the Minister on various ICT issues. Previously he worked as IT Advisor to the Director of Afghan Assistance Coordination Authority (AACA) where he conducted IT-related project appraisals and feasibility studies for different ministries. He is a former project manager of GDLN, a project of the World Bank, and is the founder and President of the Afghan Computer Science Association.

Bernard Mazer – USA
Bernard J. Mazer has over twenty years experience in the field of information communication technology (ICTs), including 16 years experience project management and 10 plus years experience in systems development. Currently he is the chief of Information Communications and Technology team within the Infrastructure and Engineering Office in USAID. His team provides information technology support to USAID overseas activities, assists in procurement services and commodities support for ICTs, and supports current electronic governance initiatives within the Agency's development assistance portfolio. For the past ten years he has worked in technology for development in such areas as ICT policy issues, requirements analysis, system design, implementation, verification and validation. Recently, he has been involved with rural access assessments and recommendations in host countries.

Frederick Noronha – India
Frederick Noronha is an Indian independent journalist and co-founder of BytesForAll. He writes on development issues, free software and documentary films, among other themes. He is based in Goa and can be contacted via email fred@bytesforall.org

Jean Philbert Nsengimana – Rwanda
Jean Philbert Nsengimana is Business and Strategy Coordinator for the Rwanda Development Gateway and has served as its Project Manager since its implementation phase began in April 2004. An assistant lecturer in computer science at the National University of Rwanda, Philbert is currently pursuing a Master’s degree program in software engineering.

Danilo Piaggesi - Italy
Danilo Piaggesi is chief of the Information Technology for Development division (SDS/ICT) in the Department of Education, Science and Technology at the Inter-American Development Bank, Washington D.C. The division is charged with structuring and implementing policy to introduce ICT into the Bank’s project portfolio, providing technical assistance to borrowing member countries, and advising governments regarding ICT and its applications. He formerly worked for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Africa and Latin America and, in the 1990s, was part of the technical staff of TELESPAZIO, Societá per Azioni per le Comunicazioni Spaziali, TELECOM-Italia Group in Rome.

Sam Pitroda - India
	Sam Pitroda is the Chairman and CEO of World-Tel Limited, an International Telecom Union (ITU) initiative. He is also the Chairman and Founder of Sevend High Technology and founding chairman of the non-profit Foundation for Revitalization of Local Health Traditions in India. Pitroda is widely credited for revolutionizing the state of telecommunications in India, providing a model for other developing nations. Making the case that accessibility, not density, should be the focus of implementing telecom, he brought the telephone to some of the world’s most previously isolated region and introduced the bright yellow STD PCO boxes now known throughout India. He holds more than 50 patents and has lectured extensively on telecom, technology and development throughout the world.

Rinalia Abdul Rahim - Malaysia
Rinalia Abdul Rahim is Executive Director of the Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP), the world's first Multistakeholder Partnership in the area of ICT-facilitated development. Rinalia established the GKP Secretariat in Kuala Lumpur upon its transfer from the World Bank Institute in 2001. She now heads its operations and provides leadership and strategic guidance. She is currently an ex-officio member of the GKP Executive Committee and serves as a member of the International Advisory Panel for the World Summit on the Information Society's ICT4D Platform as well as UNDP's Asia Pacific Development Information Program (APDIP).

Amanda Reilly - USA
Amanda manages The Tech Museum Awards, awarded in San Jose, California, USA. It is a program that recognizes innovators from around the world who are using technology to benefit humanity in the areas of equality, environment, economic development, education, and health. She holds a B. A. in Organizational Studies Economics from Pitzer College and was a Fellow in the Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business.

Partha Pratim Sarkar - Bangladesh
Partha Pratim Sarker is co-founder of Bytes for All a leading citizens’ network in South Asia, where his goal is for the network to be driven entirely by users of its readers forum. A specialist in ICT for development, he is currently project coordinator for APC Asia ICT Policy Monitor Network and has been a consultant for IDRC, UNESCO Asia Pacific Regional Office, GKP Secretariat, APC, and Asian Development Bank Instiitute.

Ulla Skidén - Sweden
Ulla Skidén is project manager of the Stockholm Challenge Award, a global ICT award and networking program which is run by a joint group of the Royal Institute of Technology, the City of Stockholm, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and Ericsson. Ulla Skidén is a Swedish citizen and has been the editor in chief of the Swedish IEEE publication Elektroniktidningen. She also served as project manager of the Technology Empowerment Network (TEN) – an initiative by the Technology Pioneers of the World Economic Forum.

M.S. Swaminathan - India
M.S. Swaminathan is president of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources and currently president of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs. He was acclaimed by TIME magazine as one of the 20 most influential Asians of the 20th century. He was Chairman of the UN Science Advisory Committee set up in 1980 to take follow-up action on the Vienna Plan of Action and was Independent Chairman of the FAO Council. A plant geneticist by training, Professor Swaminathan's contributions to the agricultural renaissance of India have led to his being widely referred to as the scientific leader of the green revolution movement and "the Father of Economic Ecology".

Yahya Tabesh - Iran
Yahya Tabesh is a faculty member anThe requested resource (/editor/default/) is not availabled the Director of the Computing Center at the Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, Iran. He is also the President of the Science and Arts Foundation – Iran and a member of the Iranian High Council of Informatics.

Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales – United States
Jimmy "Jimbo" Wales is the founder of Wikipedia and chairman of the Wikipedia Foundation based in Tampa, Florida, US. An Internet entrepreneur born in Huntsville, Alabama, he founded Nupedia, a project designed to distribute encyclopedias on the Internet. When this project failed due to its “top-down management model,” Wales created Wikipedia, an open source web-based encyclopedia that allows anyone to edit content. Today, Wikipedia is an Internet phenomenon, published in 100 languages with contributions from thousands of volunteers worldwide. In the mid-1990s Wales started Bomis, a search portal focusing on aspects of pop culture, one of the first users of the freely licensed data of the Open Directory Project, and in 2004 founded Wikia, a wiki-style search engine.

Ken Zita – United States
Ken Zita is Managing Partner of Network Dynamics Associates LLC, a telecom sector consultancy based in New York, and founder of Delian Holdings LLC, a developer of low-cost, IP-based wireless access networks. He recently served as the principal U.S. telecom advisor to Afghanistan where he prepared the national telecommunications sector development strategy and new Telecommunications and Internet Policy. Since the mid-1980s, he has worked as a policy architect and deal negotiator serving as a cabinet-level advisor with EBRD, UNDP, USTDA and others throughout East, Central and South Asia, and the former Soviet Union. He is published widely and a frequent media commentator.

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