Background
During the PrepCom 3+ of the
Tunis Phase of the World Summit on
the Information Society Indigenous
delegates and the Swiss Agency for
Development and Co-operation (SDC)
along with Incomindios Switzerland
agreed upon SDC supporting the
development of an Indigenous Portal.
This agreement concluded discussions
that already began during the
PrepCom2 of the Tunis Phase of the
WSIS.
The development of an Indigenous
portal was endorsed by the
Indigenous Caucus at WSIS. President
Joe Shirley of the Navajo Nation was
describing the possibilities an
Indigenous Portal could offer at the
WSIS plenary speech written by the
Indigenous Caucus:
"A portal is much more
than a web interface. It is a focal
point where Indigenous content will
be available from our peoples and
other stakeholders. Our portal will
allow us to share, with our own
voices, our traditions, values,
history and language as well as our
aspirations for the future."
A planning workshop was held on
26th to the 28th of July 2006 to
begin developing an Indigenous
portal. Currently Incomindios is the
organisation that is facilitating
this project and Indigenous ICT
Taskforce will be the Indigenous
organisation that will gradually
take over the entire control of the
project.
Indigenous ICT Taskforce
At the Tunisia phase of the WSIS,
Indigenous delegates agreed to form
an Indigenous ICT Taskforce (IITF)
to continue the work of WSIS and in
particular the aspirations of the
Indigenous parallel event in Tunis
called "Indigenous Peoples and
the Information Society: Towards an
International Indigenous
Portal". The objectives of the
IITF include:
- Continue the Tunis work of
developing an international
Indigenous Portal and the Tunis
e-strategy
- Promote international
development of multi-stakeholder
national and international
Indigenous partnership sites and
working groups
IITF is the first formal
Indigenous information society organ
which also represents the Indigenous
Peoples in the WSIS follow up
process. IITF will establish
sub-committees to work on specific
ICT related tasks such as the
creation of an Indigenous Portal.
The IITF emphasizes that Indigenous
participation in building and
implementing the Information Society
must be based on their right to
self-determination and the
recognition of their cultural
diversity and distinctiveness as
Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous
Peoples need to be represented with
their own visions, philosophies and
concepts in the conceptual framework
of the Information Society and any
action plan for its implementation.
Moreover, their full and effective
participation in the evolution of
the Information Society must take
place in equal partnership with its
non-Indigenous actors.
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