The United Nations Group on the Information Society (UNGIS) has been launched to serve as an interagency coordinating mechanism within the UN system to implement the outcomes of the recently concluded World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). The Summit set critical targets for global connectivity and ICT for development to be reached by 2015 and established 11 action lines to achieve the objectives of the Information Society. The outcome outlines a detailed blueprint involving governments, the private sector, civil society, the United Nations and other international organizations for implementation and follow-up at national, regional and international levels.
UNGIS will enable synergies aimed at resolving substantive and policy issues, avoiding redundancies and enhancing effectiveness of the system while raising public awareness about the goals and objectives of the global Information Society. The Group will also work to highlight the importance of ICTs in meeting the Millennium Development Goals.
To maximize its efficiency, UNGIS agreed on a work plan in which it would concentrate its collective efforts each year on one or two cross-cutting themes and on a few selected countries. In the coming period, the Group will focus on bringing the efforts of the UN system to bear on expanding access to communications and during the first year, it will be chaired by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), with UNESCO, UNDP and WHO acting as vice-chairs.