The Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies and Development (also known as Global Alliance for ICT and Development or GAID) is a subgroup or continuation of the

United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force The United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force (UN ICT TF) was a multi-stakeholder initiative associated with the United Nations which is "intended to lend a truly global dimension to the multitude of efforts to bridge t ...

. GAID was launched by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

Secretary General

Kofi Annan Kofi Atta Annan (8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founder a ...

in 2006, at the end of his tenure.

Mission

According to the United Nations press release, the organization's mission is to facilitate and promote integration by providing a platform for an open, inclusive, multi-stakeholder cross-sectoral policy dialogue on the role of information and communication technology in development. The Alliance organizes events which address core issues related to the role of information and communication technology in economic development, especially of impoverished or disadvantaged segments of society.

Structure

The Alliance makes extensive use of web-based collaborative technologies, thus minimizing the need for physical meetings. Members include both governments and members of the private and commercial sectors. Its inaugural meeting was held on June 19, 2006 in

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

. It is led by an 11-person steering committee, with

Intel Corporation Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California, and incorporated in Delaware. Intel designs, manufactures, and sells computer components such as central processing ...

's Craig Barrett as its initial chairperson, followed by Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, a prominent businessman in the Arab world. A 60-person Strategy Council is composed of 30 governments, plus 30 representatives from the private sector, civil society and international organizations.GAID 2006 progress report

Communities of Expertise

Communities of Expertise (CoEs) are networks convened by GAID to bring together motivated and capable actors to address specific, well-defined ICTD problems in a results-oriented manner and to identify and disseminate good practices. These CoEs include: Education, Entrepreneurship, Governance, Health Cross cutting themes include gender, rural development and connectivity. In October 2006, under the CoE of Governance, the ICT4Peace Foundation was invited to a partnership with the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) and GAID as the focal point for overseeing and promoting the spirit of Paragraph 36 of the WSIS Tunis Declaration. Paragraph 36 flags the potential for the use of ICTs to promote peace and to prevent conflict which, inter alia, negatively affects achieving development goals. On 13 January 2010 the ICT4Peace Foundation created the ICT4Peace Foundation wiki on Haiti Earthquake.

Notes

{{authority control Organizations established in 2006 Internet governance organizations International Telecommunication Union Information and communication technologies for development Organizations established by the United Nations