Through Connect a School, Connect a Community, ITU will work with a range of partners to identify and compile best practices on polices, regulation, applications, services and practical experiences to be shared with interested countries through the development of an online Toolkit and related capacity-building activities.
ITU launched a new public-private partnership, with the support of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, effort to promote broadband school connectivity to serve both students and the communities in which they live. Connected schools have the potential to serve as community ICT centers to provide access to services for persons living in rural, marginal urban and isolated areas, with a particular focus on disadvantaged and vulnerable groups such as women and girls, indigenous people, persons with disabilities and youth and children.
During the 2009 World Telecom in Geneva the Youth Forum participants worked on a declaration to help launch this important initiative of the ITU. The above text was taken from the ITU-D Connect The World site. Please go there for more information on the Connect a School, Connect a Community initiative.
The 2009 ITU Telecom World Youth Forum has served as platform for the development of global network of youth that truly want to make a difference in the future of information and communication technologies (ICTs).
We are aware of the challenges that stand before all of us in achieving the goal of connecting our world by 2015. However, the dire need to connect the world is too great for us to slow the pace of progress. We urge all UN agencies, national governments, industry and market leaders, educators, and society as a whole support the ITU “Connect a School, Connect a Community” initiative. It will reach those who can most benefit from adequate ICT connectivity and applications: children, and underprivileged groups. The Youth Forum is proud to have been addressed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to support this important initiative and thank ITU Secretary-General Dr. Hamoudon Touré and BDT Director Sami Al Basheer for moving this initiative forward.
The following declaration aims to highlight the most significant challenges related to ICTs today. Our vision is to address these challenges. Our focus is on all ICTs, from basic public payphones and mobile phones to television, Internet and IPTV. We request your kind attention and thank you for taking the following demands for action seriously.
On Monday October 6 the Youth Forum fellows at this year’s ITU Telecom World in Geneva didn’t only have the great honor to meet with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to kick-off the “Connect a School, Connect a Community” initiative. We also had the great pleasure to enjoy a refreshing speech by Singapore’s Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts (Mica) Lui Tuck Yew’s over our lunch.
ITU launched a new public-private partnership, with the support of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, effort to promote broadband school connectivity to serve both students and the communities in which they live. Connected schools have the potential to serve as community ICT centers to provide access to services for persons living in rural, marginal urban and isolated areas, with a particular focus on disadvantaged and vulnerable groups such as women and girls, indigenous people, persons with disabilities and youth and children.
Nicolas is a Computer Science student living and studying in Geneva blogging about swimming, finswimming and other things in life. 
