Broadband Commission for Digital Development

The Broadband Commission for Digital Development was established in May 2010^[1] as a joint initiative by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Its stated purpose is to promote the deployment of high-speed, high-capacity broadband connections to the Internet as an essential part of modern infrastructure, with considerable economic and social benefits in countries at every stage of development.^[2] In particular, the Broadband Commission states that broadband networks are uniquely powerful tools for achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which were announced by the United Nations in 2000 and have a target date of 2015.^[3] The Broadband Commission believes that progress towards the MDGs can be significantly accelerated by using broadband networks to improve the delivery of services across a huge range of social and business sectors.

Membership

The Commission comprises a high-level community,^[4] including CEO and industry leaders, senior policy-makers and government representatives, international agencies, academia and organizations concerned with development. The Commission employs a range of different perspectives in a multi-stakeholder approach to promoting the roll-out of broadband, as well as providing a fresh approach to UN and business engagement. In addition to its chairs and vice-chairs, the Broadband Commission has 51 Commissioners from around the world including well-known figures such as Jeff Sachs, Muhammad Yunus, Hans Vestberg, Mo Ibrahim and Martin Sorrell.

Donors

The work of the Commission is made possible through the support of donors^[5] including Grupo Carso, Digicel Group, Bharti Enterprises, Intel, Ooredoo, Ericsson, Cisco and the Mo Ibrahim Foundation.

Advocacy and Policy Leadership

The Broadband Commission engages in high-level advocacy to promote broadband in developing countries and underserved communities to promote achievement of the MDGs by 2015.^[6] One of the Commission’s stated goals is to advocate that broadband infrastructure be given the highest priority level in future development policy and city planning frameworks. To date, the Commission’s output has included several major reports,^[7] including “A 2010 Leadership Imperative: The Future Built on Broadband” presented to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in September 2010, before the 2010 United Nations MDG Summit in New York. The document constitutes a concise, high-level report that directly reflects inputs from the Commission’s community of high-level business executives and policy-makers and contains a number of policy recommendations and “Declaration of Broadband Inclusion for All”. In October 2011, the Commission jointly co-hosted a Broadband Leadership Summit with ITU Telecom World preceding the ITU Telecom World 2011 event. The Summit convened a number of Heads of State, leading CEOs, senior policy-makers and visionaries from across the ICT sector to debate the issues that matter in the deployment of broadband infrastructure and services. The Commission’s second report – Broadband: A Platform for Progress – was launched during the Summit.

Analysis and Evaluation

Since 2012 the Commission has published an annual State of Broadband report positioned as a snapshot of the global broadband industry.^[8] The reports are issued every year during a high-level meeting on the side of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, and are specifically targeted at government policy-makers, as well as those engaged with setting the UN’s Post 2015 development agenda. Each report includes a country ranking based on key indicators for penetration and affordability. In addition to its annual reports, the Broadband Commission employs working groups to address specific action items or focus areas. Working groups examine such issues as Science, Health, Climate Change, Youth, Education, Gender and Finance and Investment; and reflect the wide ranging impact of broadband technologies across multiple sectors. Past outputs from working groups include reports, consultations and workshops.^[9]

Post-2015

During the countdown to 2015 and the due date for the MDGs, the Commission’s advocacy and policy outreach has increasingly been directed towards actors responsible for setting the Post-2015 Development Agenda, to recognize the importance of ICT/broadband infrastructure, networks, applications and services for sustainable economic, social and environmental development. In April 2013 the, group issued an Open Letter to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s Panel of Eminent Persons,^[10] as well as a broadband manifesto^[11] in September at the 69th session of the General Assembly.

Controversies

In September 2015, the Broadband Commission released a report on "cyber violence" against women, which addressed online harassment targeted at women.^[12] The report has been criticised by some for being anti free speech and advocating internet censorship.^[13][14] Others have criticised the report for providing questionable information that has been poorly cited, which included non-existent sources and a source linking to a file on the author's computer hard drive. ^[15]

References

External links

• www.broadbandcommission.org
• www.itu.int
• www.unesco.org
• www.un.org/millenniumgoals