27 Feb 2018 WSIS recognizes WACC’s communication work

WACC’s programme of support for communication development projects in partnership with Bread for the World is a WSIS Prizes 2018 Champion.

Out of 492 nominated ICT success stories from around the world, following a comprehensive review by the Expert Group of 685 projects submitted by the WSIS Stakeholders’ community, WACC’s Development Initiatives Program was among the top five in the category Ethical dimensions.

WSIS Prizes is a unique international contest developed in response to requests from stakeholders in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) to create an effective mechanism to evaluate and recognize individuals, governments, civil society, local, regional and international agencies, research institutions and private-sector companies for outstanding success in implementing development oriented strategies that leverage the power of ICTs as an enabler of development.

From 2016 to 2020, under its Development Initiatives Program (DIP) WACC is supporting 65 one-year-long communication projects aimed at advancing, strengthening, and implementing the communication rights of marginalized and excluded peoples and communities in countries of the global South. (Photo right: WACC partner IBON Foundation, Philippines, uses community media to monitor urban poverty.)

These projects include a range of activities, including providing communication infrastructure, capacity-building, advocacy, and media monitoring. Both a short and a longer-term impact can be seen from institutionally and individually strengthened capacities as well as outputs.

WACC’s rights-based approach to communication means prioritizing improved levels of accessibility and affordability, so that the most marginalized and “least served” are empowered and inequalities reduced.

It also means enabling communities and vulnerable groups to participate in decision-making processes; and it means monitoring progress in realizing communication rights in order to hold governments and gatekeepers to account.

Building upon the outcomes of the United Nations General Assembly Overall Review on WSIS as well as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, the WSIS Prizes reflect close linkages with achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The WSIS Prize Champions will be awarded their certificates at a ceremony at the WSIS Forum 2018 on 20 March 2018 in Geneva, Switzerland. WACC will be represented by its UK Development Manager, Sara Speicher.

Besides being published in the WSIS Stocktaking Report 2018, WACC’s initiative will appear in the “WSIS Stocktaking: Success Stories 2018”. Both publications will be released during the WSIS Forum 2018.