The Communication Initiative
Development action with informed and engaged societies
The Communication Initiative
After nearly 28 years, The Communication Initiative (The CI) Global is entering a new chapter. Following a period of transition, the global website has been transferred to the University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) in South Africa, where it will be administered by the Social and Behaviour Change Communication Division. Wits' commitment to social change and justice makes it a trusted steward for The CI's legacy and future.
 
Co-founder Victoria Martin is pleased to see this work continue under Wits' leadership. Victoria knows that co-founder Warren Feek (1953–2024) would have felt deep pride in The CI Global's Africa-led direction.
 
We honour the team and partners who sustained The CI for decades. Meanwhile, La Iniciativa de Comunicación (CILA) continues independently at cila.comminitcila.com and is linked with The CI Global site.
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Global Support for Information Society Targets

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Summary

What are the most important goals to ensure an information society for all? Should cyberspace be declared a resource to be shared by all for the global public good? In an effort to address these questions, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), which organises the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), conducted a survey among 1250 online respondents around the world between April 10 and May 10 2004.


The survey indicates that almost all of the respondents (94%) - consistently across all regions surveyed - believe that if the information society is to be one in which all citizens throughout the world can equally access and use information resources for sustainable economic and social development, cyberspace should be declared a resource to be shared by all.


ITU also sought to obtain views on the perceived importance of the 10 targets outlined in the WSIS Plan of Action, which were agreed upon by 175 countries during the first phase of the Summit in Geneva (December 2003). These targets describe goals for improving connectivity and access in the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) by 2015. Survey participants ranked these goals as follows (the figures listed below represent the percentage of overall respondents who ranked that particular target as "very important"; for details about differences between particular regions, please click on the link provided below the list):

  1. Connecting universities, colleges, secondary schools and primary schools with ICTs - 85.43%
  2. Connecting scientific and research centres with ICTs - 84.76%
  3. Ensuring that more than half the world's inhabitants have access to ICTs within their reach - 69.2%
  4. Connecting villages with ICTs and establishing community access points - 65.75%
  5. Connecting all local and central government departments and establish websites and email addresses - 65.53%
  6. Connecting health centres and hospitals with ICTs - 64.89%
  7. Connecting public libraries, cultural centres, museums, post offices and archives with ICTs - 64.87%
  8. Adapting all primary and secondary school curricula to meet the challenges of the Information Society, taking into account national circumstances - 62.82%
  9. Encouraging the development of content and to put in place technical conditions in order to facilitate the presence and use of all world languages on the Internet - 52.79%
  10. Ensuring that all of the world's population have access to television and radio services - 47.80%

Click here for the full press release on the ITU website.