[gu-l] Proposal for Creating the Global Service Trust Fund (GSTF)
Tak Utsumi
utsumi@columbia.edu
Sat, 3 Mar 2001 01:42:18 +0000 (GMT)
<<March 2, 2001>>
Archived distributions can be retrieved as clicking Correspondence" lines in
our home page at <http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/> For those after
2/27/01, visit <http://www.friends-partners.org/mailman/listinfo.cgi>, and
click any of gu group to find the place of archives in the following page.
Peter T. Knight, Ph.D. <ptknight@attglobal.net>
Francis J. Method <fmethod@erols.com>
Christine Maxwell <maxwell@isoc.org>
Vincent Cerf, Ph.D. <vcerf@mci.net>
Dear Peter and Frank:
=====================
(1) Many thanks for your msg (ATTACHMENT I) and excellent work on GSTF
proposal (ATTACHMENT II).
Dear E-Colleagues:
==================
(2) The same is now retrievable at
http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/Tampere_Conference/GSTF/GSTF_2-28-01/Proposal_2-28-01.html
(3) We welcome your comments.
Dear Christine and Vint:
========================
(4) We would greatly appreciate it if your Internet Society can kindly
consider to endorse this GSTF project.
Dear Vint:
==========
Can your MCI Worldcom do the same?
Best, Tak
****************************************
ATTACHMENT I
From: "Peter T. Knight" <peter@knight-moore.com>
To: "Takeshi Utsumi" <utsumi@columbia.edu>, "Frank Method"
<unesco1@cais.com>,
"Frank Method" <fmethod@erols.com>, "Joe Pelton" <Ecjpelton@aol.com>,
"David Johnson" <daj@utk.edu>
Cc: "Bruce Ross-Larson" <bruce@cdinet.com>,
"Jorge Balan" <j.balan@fordfound.org>,
"John Middleton" <jmiddleton@worldbank.org>,
"Denis Gilhooly" <denis.gilhooly@undp.org>,
"Bruno Lavin" <blanvin@worldbank.org>,
"Carlos Primo Braga" <cbraga@worldbank.org>
Subject: Revised and Expanded Global Service Trust Fund Proposal and Seven
Annexes
Date: Tue, 6 Feb 2001 07:50:37 -0200
Dear Colleagues:
Attached please find the revised Proposal for Creating the Global Service
Trust Fund and seven Annexes covering six potential pilot projects (without
budgets) and the budget for the proposal which for which we are now seeking
funding totaling US$235,000.
The Annexes are:
a.. Pilot Projects of the Global University System (Annex 1)
b.. The Millennium Satellite System for the Digital Divide (Annex 2)
c.. The Biosphere Project (Annex 3)
d.. Canal Futura Africano § A 24-Hour-a-Day Portuguese Language
Educational Television Service for Africa (Annex 4)
e.. Conversion of Zimbabwe Open University to Decentralized Web-Based
Learning (Annex 5)
f.. Satellite Web-Based Delivery for the South Institute of Information
Technology (Annex 6)
g.. Budget for GSTF Launch Preparation (Annex 7).
The pilot projects are already in a relatively advanced state of preparation
and could be implemented rapidly as GSTF funding becomes available. All the
annexes are in a single Word 2000 file, but each annex is a section and has
separate page numbering so that they can be separated in hard copies it this
is useful for some purposes.
Each pilot project should now be further developed with a full budget.
I made one substantive addition to Annex 2 (in all annexes I did minor
additiona editing beyond that I did on earlier versions, but there were no
substantive changes). This is to include reference to two-way tranceiver
cards for desktop computers and use of either laptops or liquid crystal
displays in areas without links to the power grid or landlines (page 2, para.
3). It is expected that BroadLogic will be making available these tranceiver
cards at a price of approximately $600, which with a small antenna, could
probably be installed for approximately $1000. Only one card is required for
a room full of networked computers, which could be in a community learning
center or orther instalation in remote areas. This may even be appropriate in
urban areas where fiber is not easily available.
I have sent the current version to some key interlocutors at this time to
facilitate early reading. Jorge Balan at the Ford Foundation, for example,
requested a copy of the documents, but will not be able to meet with us on
February 12. I am working on the meeting at UNDP and have circulated this
draft to Denis Gilhooly, who heads up the dot.force task force there. Bruno
Lavin has a similar role at the World Bank, and Carlos Braga is the person
who suggested that we develop this proposal further and submit it to the
dot.force group. Finally, John Middleton heads distance learning work at the
World Bank Institute and participated in the recent dot.force meeting in
Berlin.
We can make further changes if necessary in hard copies to be delivered to
the potential funders. I have been having some problems with my laptop for
some time, and they seem to be getting worse. I will be sending it in for
repair on Februay 9 when I am back in Washington.
With best regards,
Peter
****************************************
ATTACHMENT II
February 28, 2001
Proposal for Creating the
Global Service Trust Fund
(GSTF)
Peter Knight, Francis Method, Joseph Pelton, and Takeshi Utsumi
Executive Summary
Introduction
Objective
Background and Rationale
Finance and Organization
Criteria for Policy Conditionality
GSTF Launching Event with Global Leaders
Pilot Projects
Deliverables
Duration of This Project
Biodata on the GSTF Organizing Team
Funding Requirements
Summary and Next Steps
Annexes
1. Pilot Projects of the Global University System (GUS)
2. New Millennium Satellite System for the Digital Divide
3. Linking Biosphere Reserves and Universities Via a Distance
Learning Network
4. Canal Futura Africano: A 24-Hour-a-Day Portuguese Language
Educational Television Service for Africa
5. Conversion of Zimbabwe Open University to Decentralized
Web-Based Learning
6. Satellite Web-Based Delivery for the South Institute of
Information Technology
========================================
Executive Summary
Global communications have expanded rapidly in recent years, but there still
are at least two billion people that have major unmet needs in education,
health care, and water supply, sanitation, and nutrition. Many of these
people are located in remote rural areas, with limited or no access to formal
educational systems, health care, potable water, electricity, or jobs related
to the new information economy. These deficiencies are at the core of what
has been described as the "digital divide."
Information and communications technologies cannot replace the need for
teachers and health care professionals, but they can expand and magnify
conventional capabilities in powerful ways. As a result of the G-8 meetings
held in Okinawa, Japan, in July 2000, important initiatives have been
started, and this proposal falls clearly within the suggestions for action in
the Okinawa Charter on Global Information Society.
Although many countries (including some developing countries) are now geared
to establish broadband Internet, their initiatives are mainly domestic.
There is no international organization that provides such a network across
national boundaries, oceans, and continents for the use by non-profit
organizations, e.g., tele-education, tele-healthcare, libraries, and local
governments. This international gap is now a major cause of network
congestion, and there is an urgent need to close it in a rapidly globalizing
world society.
What is needed is both high quality audio/video delivery and high quality
interactivity. Although these terms will be understood and applied
differently in various parts of the world, the objective of increasing
quality, interactivity, and system throughput can be seen as a global
objective for improving tele-education and tele-health services. A true
revolution in distance learning and telemedicine requires high-speed access
to the World Wide Web, and the flexibility to offer a variety of media.
These might include two-way audio, full-motion video-conferencing up to MPEG
2 quality, television-quality netcasting, and high-resolution image transfer
for tele-medicine. Such capabilities require medium to broad bandwidth.
Developing countries need broadband Internet via international satellite and
fiber-optic cable.
The Global Service Trust Fund (GSTF)[i] will address the digital divide by
making available broad bandwidth free or at below market prices for
qualifying education and health projects in developing countries. Ideally,
funding would be sufficient to eliminate or greatly reduce the
telecommunications cost for qualified education and healthcare applications.
This might be done by a voluntary international mechanism akin to the
"E-Rate" now benefiting schools in the United States. In fact, most
developed countries have used public policy tools of some kind to create a
less-than-market rate for education, health, and/or other priority
applications. Another option could be to begin with free bandwidth for
qualifying education and health applications, but raise it toward (expected
to be declining) market prices in gradual steps.
The fund would come from two donor sources: telecommunications companies with
underutilized bandwidth (transponder space, fiber capacity) and organizations
possessing financial resources (foundations; multinational corporations,
international organizations, individual donors, etc.). Funds would be
allocated as grants to qualifying projects and as in-kind assistance with
connections; bandwidth would be allocated in-kind through an auction-like
applications process. The GSTF could function as a bandwidth aggregator
itself or could work with commercial and non-profit aggregators through
business arrangements to be established.
By qualifying projects we mean there would be some policy conditionality
(telecommunications, education, health). This conditionality will be
established in a participatory fashion by working groups convened by ITU,
UNESCO, and WHO. Major stakeholders nations, international organizations,
private companies, NGOs, etc. would be invited to help determine the
minimum acceptable policy framework intended to create an enabling
environment for the development of both broad bandwidth infrastructure and
applications of this infrastructure to meet development needs. The Arthur C.
Clarke Institute for Telecommunications and Information (CITI) will conduct
preparatory work, for which funding is being sought. A minimum
infrastructure is required for running the fund. One possibility is that the
World Bank would provide the secretariat, making use of the same legal
infrastructure established for the Information and Development Program
(infoDev). The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) is another possible
host, and others could be envisioned e.g., an independent neutral entity
under the auspices of UNESCO, WHO, ITU, World Bank, UNDP, etc.
Annexes detail a series of pilot projects that might apply for GSTF funding,
and the budget for the current proposal.
Introduction
Global communications have expanded rapidly in recent years, and the spread
of the World Wide Web has been nothing short of amazing. But there are still
at least two billion people out of a global population of six billion that
have major unmet needs in education, health care, and water supply,
sanitation, and nutrition. Many of these people are located in remote rural
areas, with limited or no access to formal educational systems, health care,
potable water, electricity, or jobs related to the new information economy.
Even in urban areas, many people lack access to the Internet and its great
potential to improve education and health. These deficiencies are core to
what has been described as the "digital divide."
Conventional approaches to these issues such as trying to train new teachers
and doctors cannot possibly meet the needs. In fact, there are more people
to be educated in the next fifty years than have been educated up to this
point in human history. Information and communications technologies cannot
replace the need for teachers and health care professionals, but they can
expand and magnify conventional capabilities in powerful ways that are only
now beginning to be studied and understood.
As a result of the G-8 meetings held in Okinawa, Japan, in July 2000,
important initiatives have been started to address these great needs. The
Okinawa Charter on Global Information Society provides an important framework
statement calling on G-8 governments to "foster an appropriate policy and
regulatory environment to stimulate competition and innovation, ensure
economic and financial stability, advance stakeholder collaboration to
optimize global networks, fight abuses that undermine the integrity of the
network, bridge the digital divide, invest in people, and promote global
access and participation" and called on "all, within both the public and
private sectors to bridge the international information and knowledge
divide ." The current proposal falls clearly within this framework.
The satellite industry that has the technology that can most easily reach the
isolated populations should seek to do its share to address this problem with
innovative answers. INTELSAT has undertaken its Project Share and Project
Access programs over the last 15 years. WorldSpace has set up a Foundation
to support health and education activities. EUTELSAT, ASIASAT, INSAT, the
Chinese National Television University have provided important new
satellite-based capabilities.
Most recently several satellite companies have agreed, in principle to
support the new Global Services Trust Fund (GSTF) initiative that has been
proposed by the Clarke Institute for Telecommunications and Information
(CITI) and the Global University System (GUS). This proposal seeks funding
for CITI to move GSTF toward implementation over the coming year.
Objective
Education and healthcare are basic needs, fundamental for human development.
The main goal of the proposed GSTF Coalition of companies, government
agencies, foundations, and international agencies is to expand educational
opportunities and improve health in developing countries. In particular, the
goal of the GSTF Coalition is to:
* Make full use of electronic distance education and telemedicine
in developing and transitional countries by working with local
educational and health care organizations and supporting their
development goals.
* Participate actively and fully in data-intensive and
media-intensive exchanges with both developed countries and
other developing countries to accomplish improved delivery and
production capabilities. The prime objective is to encourage
educational programming to be locally produced and to employ
local languages wherever possible while upgrading information
delivery systems.
To do this, steps must be taken to:
* Reduce substantially the cost of broadband connectivity to
education and health service providers in poor countries.
* Foster telecommunications policy and regulatory frameworks
conducive to the development of sustainable distance education
and telemedicine.
* Establish high-quality education and health telecommunications
applications in sufficient developing and transitional country
sites to demonstrate technical feasibility, increase demand, and
build support for more extensive use of such technologies.
* Participate interactively and fully in joint research,
professional development, and knowledge-building activities with
educational, health care, telecommunications and information
delivery institutions and organizations.
Ideally all countries would have access to free or low-cost broadband
connectivity and would have the technical capacity to make use of it for
improving education and healthcare. This requires a number of favorable
economic outcomes as well as changes in policy and regulatory environments
supporting the effective use of these technologies.
The near-term GSTF objective is to make available sufficient broad bandwidth
as well as user terminals at free or highly reduced cost to enable a
significant number of developing countries to undertake major new initiatives
in distance learning and telemedicine. The fund might also seek to aid in
the support of tele-education and tele-health programming. But this activity
would be encouraged on the basis of developing many sources of programming in
many different languages rather than seeking a single source of supply.
Background and Rationale
The Internet, with its rapidly expanding and improving infrastructure, will
be the main telecommunication media of tomorrow. It has been extended to
most countries, albeit with slow-to-medium speed in most developing
countries, even in large parts of the developed world. But the full
potential for achieving revolutionary advances in education and healthcare in
developing countries cannot be realized with the currently available
information infrastructure and at currently prevailing market prices.
Improved distance education requires much better ways of presenting
information and of enabling learners to interact with facilitators to enable
the learners to process that information into personal knowledge.
At present most electronic distance learning takes place by one of two
equally primitive programming and delivery modes. On the one hand, much
instruction is primarily text and simple graphics delivered over the web
and/or through email and its derivatives (electronic fora, bulletin boards,
chatrooms). On the other, there is "room-based" or desktop-based
videoconferencing, usually with relatively small groups involved and low
production values so far as the video and audio are concerned. Both
techniques allow significant interaction, but the quality of instruction
suffers from the lack of high-quality audio and video.
High-quality instruction is possible by broadcast television, with
multi-million dollar production budgets having been deployed to good effect
in some countries for example Annenberg/CBP in the US, BBC/Open University
in the UK, The Roberto Marinho Foundation's Telecurso 2000 and Canal Futura
in Brazil, and SCS and MINCS-UH in Japan. There have also been reasonably
high quality and effective programming produced in newly industrializing
countries by the Ministry of Education and Central China Television for the
Chinese National TV University, by the Indonesia tele-education training
center for the PALAPA satellite system, as well as high quality audio
tele-courses produced by the University of the West Indies and the University
of the South Pacific.
Today narrow bandwidth systems and high telecommunications costs will not
allow the use of streaming video and audio on a large scale in developing
countries. Often telecommunications pipes get clogged even with heavy net
use of more conventional kinds. Ironically, many audiences, even in
developing countries, are "spoiled" by commercial television with high
production values when it comes to attempts to promote tele-education course
delivery. Thus audiences, even in developing countries, do not easily accept
jerky movement, small windows, failing connections, and low production
values. The quality of tele-lectures, video inserts and the like has to
approximate that of high-quality commercial television. Nevertheless high
quality online courses at lower bit rate transmissions are also increasingly
in production and every more pervasively available.
As for telemedicine, there is a proven need for high-definition moving
images, or at least extremely high-resolution still images. Even with
low-cost or free broadband connectivity between nations, the cost and pricing
structure of telecommunications in many developing countries keep the cost of
access to the Internet at prohibitive levels, and inappropriate policy and
regulatory frameworks do not encourage efficient use of those public
resources devoted to education and healthcare.
Although many countries (including some developing countries) are now geared
to establish broadband Internet, their initiatives are mainly domestic.
There is no international organization that provides such a network across
national boundaries, oceans, and continents for the use by non-profit
organizations, e.g., tele-education, tele-healthcare, libraries, and local
governments. This international gap is now a major cause of network
congestion, and there is an urgent need to close it in a rapidly globalizing
world society.
In sum, what is needed is both high quality audio/video delivery and high
quality interactivity. Although these terms will be understood and applied
differently in various parts of the world, the objective of increasing
quality, interactivity, and system throughput can be seen as a global
objective for improving tele-education and tele-health services. A true
revolution in distance learning and telemedicine requires high-speed access
to the World Wide Web, and the flexibility to offer a variety of media.
These might include two-way audio, full-motion video-conferencing up to MPEG
2 quality, television-quality netcasting, and high-resolution image transfer
for tele-medicine. Such capabilities require medium to broad bandwidth.
Developing countries need broadband Internet via international satellite and
fiber-optic cable.
The revolution in education and healthcare in developing countries also
requires a more favorable policy environment not just for
telecommunications but also for education and healthcare. A key to bringing
down prices to affordable levels is to establish national and international
competition or at least flexibility in the provision of telecommunications,
education, and healthcare services. Also rapid transfer of knowledge from
developed to developing countries need to be actively encouraged along with
support for higher quality local educational program development.
Finance and Organization
Expansion of high-speed broad bandwidth connections for education and health
applications in developing countries would be financed by the GSTF. Funding
should be sufficient to eliminate or greatly reduce the telecommunications
cost for qualified education and healthcare applications in a significant
number of countries and number of applications. This might be done by a
voluntary international mechanism akin to the "E-Rate" now benefiting schools
in the United States. In fact, most developed countries have used public
policy tools of some kind to create a less-than-market rate for education,
health, and/or other priority applications. Another option could be to begin
with free bandwidth for qualifying education and health applications, but
raise it toward (expected to be declining) market prices in gradual steps.
Under the current model of the GSTF two separate contribution "funds" or
"sources" would be established an in-kind bandwidth transmission source and
a financial assistance source. The Coalition supporting the GSTF would
include commercial and non-profit sources. These should include key
international organizations such as the International Telecommunications
Union (ITU), the United Nations Educational, Cultural, and Scientific
Organization (UNESCO), and the World Health Organization (WHO). Multilateral
development banks (The World Bank and the regional development banks for
Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Europe and Central Asia).
The Coalition would also include bilateral aid agencies, foundations, and
companies contributing to the Fund as well as organizations contributing
education and healthcare knowledge. The Fund could be administered in a
variety of ways, but it should have a credible, well-organized, and
financially scrupulous entity of significant international standing in charge
in the disbursement of funds.
The proposed Fund would be financed from a variety of public and private
sources, which could include:
* Overseas Development Assistance funds of countries belonging to
the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
* Cash contributions from the profits of international financial
institutions, such as the World Bank and the regional
development banks.
* Cash contributions from foundations and companies.
* Contributions in kind from companies owning underused satellite
transponders and/or fiber optic cable for these companies, the
marginal cost of making available underused existing bandwidth
is near zero, but providing it may build future markets for sale
at (declining) commercial prices.
The Fund's bandwidth source might be allocated through a variety of means
that might include an auction process to organizers of distance education and
telemedicine projects in qualifying countries. The GSTF could function as a
bandwidth aggregator itself or could work with commercial and non-profit
aggregators through business arrangements to be established.
The cash source might be used for grants to such projects, with rules
favoring poorer countries and end beneficiaries, assuring a certain
geographical distribution of benefits between regions, encouraging national
initiatives to increase internet access and encourage competitive provision
of bandwidth, and so forth. Grants might also favor international knowledge
sharing. All grants would be made through open competitive process. The
cash source could also be used to purchase additional bandwidth from
companies providing free bandwidth, giving an additional incentive for these
countries to make in-kind contributions.
These are only some preliminary ideas. The details, including the
establishment of a pilot version of the Fund to test operational principles,
need to be worked out during the next stage in proposal development.
Criteria for Policy Conditionality
Some means of limiting and focusing the application of GSTF resources is
needed, for three main reasons:
1. The essential justification for the GSTF is that important
public goods objectives (development objectives) are going unmet
because of lack of access to affordable broadband and related
technology services. Support for the overall initiative
requires that the resources be focused on entities meeting the
public goods criteria.
2. Financial resources will not be adequate, at least initially, to
meet all needs. Unless some means is found to ensure resources
are used for high priority and high quality applications they
may be viewed as undesirable subsidies for less cost-effective
applications without the public good characteristics meeting
local allocation criteria for scarce public financial resources.
3. Technology and bandwidth resources will not be made available by
providers at the scale or the prices necessary to have a
significant impact if there is not some assurance that:
a) The resources will be put to good use on high priority
public goods applications.
b) The demonstration projects will be sufficiently well
identified that they can be monitored and assessed.
c) The GSTF approach is not so open-ended that it precludes
the development of new commercial-rate markets for ICT
technology and services.
At the same time, it is undesirable to burden the GSTF mechanism with complex
conditionality criteria requiring substantial review and judgment by a board
or governing body or with such detailed analysis and reporting processes that
the mechanism becomes a policy-setting, standard-setting or technical
assistance entity. To the maximum extent possible it is desirable to:
1. Set criteria that meet bright line eligibility standards.
2. Limit criteria to those essential to GSTF allocation.
3. Set standards can be determined by entities other than GSTF.
Essential Criteria
Categorical Criteria
1. Which types and categories of education, health, research and
museum or library entities should be eligible? Initially, it may
be desirable to limit participation to degree-granting tertiary
education, medical research facilities with international
affiliation and museums or libraries accredited as national
institutions.
2. What public participation or certification should be required?
Initially, it may be desirable to limit participation to public
entities. Some determination will have to be made for
parastatal entities and for public-private partnerships.
3. How specific should the criteria be? For example, should
eligibility be determined case by case or for whole systems such
as a university system or linked medical facilities? Initially,
it may be sufficient to identify a national entity or Ministry
that could provide approval or certification and take fiduciary
responsibility for the end-user obligations.
4. What geographic criteria are needed? Some means of targeting
eligible countries will be needed. This should be a positive
list of countries determined by the World Bank, UNDP or ITU as
eligible for concessional assistance, e.g., low-income countries
qualifying for International Development Association (IDA,
concessional lending arm of the World Bank Group) assistance,
plus individual countries and special cases to be added through
application to GSTF.
Legal Criteria
1. Each eligible entity will have to exist as a legal entity or
charter, with the authority to make commitments and with
necessary fiduciary and governance responsibilities under local
law.
2. Alternatively, it may be necessary to identify a local
intermediary (Ministry, University, Foundation, organization or
institute) with the necessary legal personality and ability to
take responsibility for the end-user entity.
Ethical and Fair Use Criteria
1. Non-commercial.
2. Access as open and non-restrictive as possible.
3. Mainly for pre-determined public goods uses.
The above criteria may be developed in the form of a set of guidelines for
the initial set of applicants, perhaps as a written certification or
agreement, with modification over time as a result of peer review by other
GSTF participants.
Other Criteria:
1. The initial criteria should be limited in number, possibly the
three suggested above criteria: categories of public goods;
legal status; ethical and fair use certification.
2. Over time, the criteria may be refined and restated as needed,
with substantial participation in this process by the
participants in the initial set of GSTF applications.
3. Some criterion or commitment for self-assessment and reporting
of results might be considered. This would help both to
increase learning and demonstration effects and to refine the
GSTF approach over time.
4. No criterion is suggested for efficacy of the end-use or for
other criteria of success such as solvency or program growth of
the end-user. Instead, it is expected that the arrangements for
initial bandwidth will be time-limited leases or contracts and
that any problems arising in the course of the initial
commitment can be addressed at the time of renewal and
extension.
Arrangements for Developing Criteria
A major effort will be needed to refine the above criteria and to develop
feasible arrangements for screening the applicants. Confidence in the
relevance of the criteria, the technical validity of the criteria and the
arms-length neutrality in establishing eligibility is essential.
Participation by the G-8 Digital Opportunity Task Force (dot force), UNESCO,
WHO and ITU as well as representatives of the technology providers and
relevant specialized NGOs will be needed.
1. As early as possible upon securing the necessary funding, a
working group should be established of four to six members
designated by the above organizations to meet with GSTF
organizers in a workshop to draft initial criteria. This could
be either in North America (NY or Washington) or in Europe
(Paris, Geneva, other) and should be at least two full working
days.
2. Following the completion of draft criteria, each participant
should vet the materials as necessary within their respective
organization and with key officials in the focus countries. The
purpose of this exercise is to refine the criteria, not to
revise the GSTF mechanism or proposal. This process should be
relatively short, perhaps one month, maximum two months.
3. During this same period, GSTF organizers will need to begin
preparation of necessary materials for dissemination and for
application. It should be possible during this period to
complete the graphics and the work plan for duplication and
dissemination.
4. At an agreed date, say two months after the initial workshop, an
additional workshop and decision meeting will be needed to reach
agreement on the final set of criteria and the dissemination
package for the initial set of GSTF applications. This will
require an additional workday, perhaps two days, at a site to be
determined as mutually convenient to the working group.
In addition to its sectoral expertise and convening mandates with respect to
standard-setting for education, for scientific research and for museums and
libraries, UNESCO also may wish to consider roles involving the UNESCO
National Commissions in the processes of disseminating information and
determining eligibility for GSTF at the country level. WHO and ITU may also
have roles both in setting criteria and in coordinating GSTF activities at
the country level.
1. UNESCO should be asked to convene a joint meeting of
representatives of the specialized organizations immediately
concerned with the GSTF as well as of UNDP and the regional
entities concerned with coordination at the country and
sub-regional levels.
2. The major product of this consultation should be agreement on
the appropriate means of disseminating information and
coordinating applications at the country level.
GSTF Launching Event with Global Leaders
The creation of the GSTF requires a focused, high-profile event to launch
this effort in such a way that a number of world leaders and media can
participate in the creation and implementation of the fund. A sustained
effort is needed to build the fund and diversify the level and nature of
participation. The formal launch of the GSTF in a very public way will help
to accelerate this process. This needs to be when the planning and
recruitment of support and the development of policy conditionality have
reached a level sufficient to make early projects possible and sufficient
resources available to make these early projects credible.
This event would be organized by an international invitations committee under
the auspices of the Sir Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Telecommunications and
Information (CITI) and its worldwide affiliates and partners (including
GLOSAS, the Global University System, VITA, the University of Surrey) as well
as others to be agreed such as WorldSpace, INTELSAT, Japan US
Telecommunications Research Institute (JUSTRI), the Japan US Science
Technology and Space Application Program (JUSTSAP).
Preparation of Background Document for GSTF Launching Event
Much more information needs to be assembled to describe the available
technology and service capabilities of existing and planned systems. Also
further efforts are needed to seek expressions of support or commitments from
satellite service providers, ground terminal equipment providers, submarine
fiber optic cable operators, and user computer and telecommunications
equipment. There is also a need to complete an inventory of needs and
organizations around the world that would seek to use the resources of a
GSTF. This would include both a market assessment and an effort to obtain
specific commitments from organizations to support the effort in terms of
in-kind and financial support for tele-education, tele-health or related
programs.
Preliminary Concept of Format for the GSTF Launching Event
The meeting would last no more than 90 minutes and include no more than 30 to
40 participants. The format would be highly scripted. There would be a
multi-media presentation on the purpose, goals, and five-year objectives of
the GSTF. Organizations that have made commitments to support the GSTF would
be highlighted in this presentation. These would include satellite service
and submarine cable providers that had committed to making one to five
percent of their capacity available to support the GSTF, equipment suppliers
that had made substantial commitments to supply free of charge or at highly
discounted prices (earth stations antennas, transceivers, satellite radio
receivers, computers, monitors, digital telephones, etc.), foundations and/or
international organizations, and tele-education and tele-health experts of
national and international aid organizations that had made substantial
commitments to participate in and use the resources of the GSTF (including
their own pledge of resources or in-kind participation).
There would then be presentations from the key organizations that have made
the most important commitments. There would be vision speeches that address
where we might go from here. These speeches might be made by such
individuals as Jimmy Carter, Al Gore, Kofi Anan, Sir Arthur C. Clarke etc.
The meeting would be followed by a high profile press conference that would
announce the formation and nature of the GSTF. Arthur C. Clarke might be
invited to participate in the press conference via satellite relay to talk
about his initial vision of the "electronic tutor" and how the GSTF might be
able to accomplish some of the goals he had envisioned some 2 decades ago.
Pilot Projects
The organizers have already identified a number of potential pilot projects
for the GSTF. These include several projects of the Global University System
(Annex 1); the Millennium Satellite System for the Digital Divide (Annex 2);
the Biosphere Project (Annex 3); Canal Futura Africano A 24-Hour-a-Day
Portuguese Language Educational Television Service for Africa (Annex 4);
Conversion of Zimbabwe Open University to Decentralized Web-Based Learning
(Annex 5) and Satellite Web-Based Delivery for the South Institute of
Information Technology (Annex 6). These projects are already in a relatively
advanced state of preparation and could be implemented rapidly as GSTF
funding becomes available.
Deliverables
1. Final document on GSTF with conditionality statements that will
be disseminated at the GSTF launching event with global leaders.
2. Successful program development for the GSTF launching event with
global leaders.
3. Further development of pilot projects so that they will be ready
for immediate funding following the GSTF launching event with
global leaders.
4. Identification of additional projects that meet GSTF criteria.
5. Event with global leaders to launch the GSTF.
Duration of This Project
The project should be completed one year from the start.
Biodata on the GSTF Organizing Team
* Peter T. Knight, Ph.D. is Partner in Knight-Moore Telematics for
Education and Development (www.knight-moore.com), which he founded in
March 1997 together with Professor Michael G. Moore of Pennsylvania
State University. Dr. Knight's clients include The World Bank;
Inter-American Development Bank; International Monetary Fund; Science
Applications International Corporation; SRI International/National
Science Foundation; US Department of State; United Nations Development
Programme, Pakistan; and Secretariat of Education, ParanƯ State,
Brazil. He was Chief of the Electronic Media Center at the World Bank
from June 1994 through February 1997, and before that, Division Chief
of the National Economic Management Division in the Bank's Economic
Development Institute (EDI), now known as the World Bank Institute
(WBI). Of his over 20 years in the World Bank, he worked eight
exclusively on Brazil, most recently as Lead Economist for Brazil
(1987-88). Before joining the World Bank in 1976 he held positions at
Cornell University, the Ford Foundation and the Brookings Institution.
Dr. Knight's received his Ph.D in economics from Stanford University,
a B.A. in philosophy, politics and economics from Oxford University,
and an A.B. from Dartmouth College (major in government). He is sole,
principal, or contributing author of 11 published World Bank studies;
author of books on new forms of economic organization in Peru (1975)
and Brazilian agricultural technology and trade (1971); and over 30
published articles, book chapters, and numerous unpublished reports
and papers. He was executive producer of 12 videos/TV programs
dealing with telematics, distance learning, and sustainable
development and Internet development in Africa (see
www.knight-moore.com for recent papers, projects). He speaks French,
Portuguese, Spanish, and Russian as well as his native English.
* Francis Method is an educator with extensive international experience
with social sector planning, assessment and service delivery in
developing country contexts. Since 1998 he has been the
Washington-based education advisor to UNESCO (United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization). From1981
through1996, he was Senior Education Advisor at the United States
Agency for International Development (USAID). He also worked
independently on higher education and technical training, with the
Ford Foundation on education assistance strategy and language policy,
and as a Peace Corps teacher and staff member in Nigeria. His
interests include the processes of education policy development,
education technology and media, early childhood development, lifelong
learning, and new understandings of learning, learning organizations
and strategies for functioning more effectively in open learning
environments. He is an advisor to Techknowlogia
(www.techknowlogia.org), the online magazine on education and
technology, and is a member of several working groups on strategic
planning for prevention of conflict. This includes helping
communities to use education and communications media to reduce
isolation and explore new scenarios.
* Joesph Pelton, Ph.D. is currently a Research Professor with the
Institute for Applied Space Research at the George Washington
University (www.seas.gwu.edu/~iasr) as well as Director of the
Accelerated M.S. Program in Telecommunications and Computers. He also
holds concurrent appointments as a Member of the College of Teachers
at the International Space University of Strasbourg, France and as
Professor of Telecommunications at the University of Colorado at
Boulder. He is also the founder and Acting Director of the Arthur C.
Clarke Institute for Telecommunications and Information (CITI
[www.clarkeinstitute.com]) as well as Chairman of the Board of Triana
Worldcast Corporation. Currently he heads several international
research projects in space communications and frequency allocation at
the Institute of Applied Space Research. During 1996/7, he is served
as Vice President of Academic Programs and Dean of the experimental
global virtual university known as the International Space University.
This project, with backing from 400 organizations around the world and
most of the world's space agencies, has a central campus in
Strasbourg, France and 24 affiliate campuses worldwide. The ISU is
also represented on the Space Agency Forum, a group representing NASA,
ESA and 35 other space agencies from around the world, and in this
role has been requested to develop a model space education program for
global implementation. From 1989 to 1996, during the period of his
directorship of the Interdisciplinary Telecommunications Program at
the University of Colorado, this program grew from just over 100
graduate students all on campus to a program of nearly 500 graduate
students, some 230 on campus, 140 in distance learning programs from
the U.S. and 20 other countries and a special intensive Masters
program for 100 students from AT&T and Lucent Technologies. Its
research laboratories during the same period of time grew from an
estimated value of $1 million to $5 million. Dr. Pelton holds degrees
from the University of Tulsa (B.S. 1965), New York University, (M.A.
1967) and Georgetown University (Ph.D. 1971).
* Takeshi Utsumi Ph.D., P.E., is Chairman of GLObal Systems Analysis and
Simulation Association in the USA (GLOSAS/USA) and Vice President for
Technology and Coordination of Global University System (GUS) (see
website at www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS). He is the 1994 Laureate
of Lord Perry Award for the Excellence in Distance Education. His
public services have included political work for deregulation of
global telecommunications and the use of e-mail through ARPANET,
Telenet and Internet; helping extend American university courses to
the Third World; the conduct of innovative distance teaching trials
with "Global Lecture Hall" multipoint-to-multipoint multimedia
interactive videoconferences using hybrid technologies; as well as
lectures, consultation, and research in process control, management
science, systems science and engineering at the University of
Michigan, the University of Pennsylvania, M.I.T. and many
universities, governmental agencies, and large firms in Japan and
other countries. Among more than 150 related scientific papers and
books are presentations to the Summer Computer Simulation Conferences
(which he created and named) and the Society for Computer Simulation
International. He is a member of various scientific and professional
groups, including the Chemists Club (New York, NY); Columbia
University Seminar on Computer, Man and Society (New York, NY);
Fulbright Association (Washington, D.C.); International Center for
Integrative Studies (ICIS) (New York, NY); and Society of Satellite
Professionals International (Washington, D.C.). Dr. Utsumi received
his Ph.D. Ch.E. from Polytechnic University in New York, M.S.Ch.E.
from Montana State University, after study at the University of
Nebraska on a Fulbright scholarship. His professional experiences in
simulation and optimization of petrochemical and refinery processes
were at Mitsubishi Research Institute, Tokyo; Stone & Webster
Engineering Corp., Boston; Mobil Oil Corporation and Shell Chemical
Company, New York; Asahi Chemical Industry, Inc., Tokyo.
Funding Requirements
To date organization work over a period of almost three years has been
carried out on a voluntary basis by the organizing team, and travel has been
undertaken either at the organizers' personal expense or using other sources
of funding not earmarked for the GSTF. To move the GSTF to the launch stage
over the coming year a major effort is envisaged, as spelled out above.
While some additional in-kind funding can be expected from participants
coming from international organizations and private sector companies, we now
seek formal grant finance totaling US$235,000. This includes $40,000 for two
workshops to set policy conditionality; $30,000 for local meetings and
consultations with partner organizations; $50,000 for the GSTF launching
event with global leaders; and a total of $100,000 for administrative
expenses; organizer honoraria, and organizer travel.
Summary and Next Steps
Establishing the GSTF requires a critical mass of global support. The
ability to mobilize financial and in-kind resources for the GSTF depends on
the credibility of the membership of its supporting Coalition. That
credibility would be furthered by early support from such key international
institutions as ITU, UNESCO, WHO, the World Bank Group (including the
International Finance Corporation), the United Nations Development Program
(UNDP), and the regional development banks the African Development Bank,
Asian Development Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and
Inter-American Development Bank. Early support from prestigious private
foundations and corporations committed to addressing the digital divide issue
would be a great asset. No legitimate agency of standing would be excluded
from participating in the Coalition.
Over the past three years a good deal of thought has been given to the idea
of creating the GSTF. The authors who represent the Clarke Institute for
Telecommunications and Information, the Global University System, and GLOSAS
and a growing number of other organizations that support the GSTF Coalition
recommend that the following actions be undertaken:
1. Continue to consult with interested organizations and officials
around the world with regard to the creation of the GSTF and
various pilot projects.
2. Enlist the support of the leadership of the key national and
international institutions, foundations, NGOs, and governments
around the world. This will seek to facilitate and mobilize the
support for the GSTF concept among aid agencies, foundations,
international organizations, multinational corporations, NGOs,
and others.
3. Create working groups on telecommunications policy
conditionality, education policy conditionality, healthcare
policy conditionality, and operational aspects of the Fund and
the Coalition. These working groups would include
representatives of interested international organizations,
bilateral aid agencies, companies, foundations, and NGOs, as
well as of relevant information and telecommunications industry
organizations, e.g., the Global Information Infrastructure
Commission.
4. Hold workshops of policy conditionality working groups to
establish policy conditionality.
5. Strive to expand the quality of the GSTF concept and the breadth
of the GSTF Coalition. In this respect it is hoped that
providers of satellite or fiber optic system capacity would be
willing to join in further working group discussions to shape
the framework for the "pilot version" of the GSTF for
tele-education and tele-health.
6. Hold GSTF Launching Event with Global Leaders.
PKnight/FMethod/JPelton/TUtsumi: 25/02/01
----------------------------------------------
[i] The first draft of this proposal was developed by Dr. Takeshi Utsumi,
Chairman of the GLOSAS/USA with Dr. Salah Mandil of World Health Organization
(WHO) and presented at the International Workshop and Conference on Emerging
Global Electronic Distance Learning (EGEDL'99) held August 9th - 13th, 1999
at the University of Tampere, Finland. EGEDL was sponsored by Alprint, the
British Council, Finnair, Finnish Broadcasting Company, Foundation for The
Support of The United Nations (FSUN), Japanese Medical Society of America,
Ministry of Education Finland, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO),
PictureTel, Sonera, Soros Foundation/Open Society Institute, United States
Information Agency (USIA), United States National Science Foundation, and the
Information and Development Program (infoDev) administered by the World Bank.
The conference conclusions included a recommendation to work for the
establishment of the Fund and the Coalition.
Subsequently a working group was formed at a meeting held at the Pan American
Health Organization in December 1999 to further develop the proposal and
include policy conditionality. That working group presented its proposal at
the inaugural meeting of the Arthur C. Clark Institute for Telecommunications
and Information (CITI), held at INTELSAT headquarters in Washington, DC on 5
February 2000. A later version was presented at a TechNet seminar held at
the World Bank on 19 October 2000.
The present proposal was prepared by Peter Knight (Knight-Moore
Telematics/CDI), Frank Method (UNESCO), Joe Pelton (Institute for Applied
Space Research, George Washington University and CITI), and Takeshi Utsumi
(GLOSAS). Helpful comments on earlier versions of the proposal were received
from Carlos Braga, Michael Moore, Bruce Ross-Larson, and Lane Smith.
****************************************
List of Distribution
Peter T. Knight, Ph.D.
Board member of GLOSAS/USA
Knight, Moore - Telematics for Education and Development
Communications Development Incorporated (CDI)
Strategy, Policy, Design, Implementation, Evaluation
1808 I Street, NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC 20006, USA
Tel: 1-202-721-0348 (dir/vmail) 202-775-2132 (sec.)
Fax: 1-202-775-2135 (office)
Cel: 1-202-255-7215
IP for CU-SeeMe: 198.77.80.46
ptknight@attglobal.net
peter@knight-moore.com
webmail: ptknight@netscape.net
http://www.knight-moore.com
http://www.cdinet.com
http://www.knight-moore.com/partners/partnerindex.htm -- bio
http://www.knight-moore.com/projects/GSTF.html -- about GSTF
Or
Rio de Janeiro Office
Avenida Atl ntica 4022/302
22070-002 Rio de Janeiro, RJ
Brazil
Tel/Fax: 55-21-522-9167, cell 9752-5972
Francis J. Method
Former Director of UNESCO-Washington
Education Advisor to UNESCO
1775 K St. N.W.
Washington, DC 20006
Phone: (1) 202-331-3755
Fax: (1) 202-331-9121
fmethod@erols.com
Christine Maxwell
Trustee
Chairman, ISTF (Internet Societal Task Force)
Vice Chairman
Internet Society
Tel: +33 4 42 66 80 30
French Portable No. +33 6 20 72 40 63
Wildfire Global Tracking Number: +1 415 732 6170
Fax: +33 4 42 66 81 07
maxwell@isoc.org
maxwell@chiliad.co.uk
http://www.isoc.org
http://www.cyberworkers.org/maxwell
Vincent Cerf, Ph.D.
MCI WorldCom
22001 Loudoun County Parkway
Building F2, Room 4115, ATTN: Vint Cerf
Ashburn, VA 20147
Telephone (703) 886-1690
FAX (703) 886-0047
vcerf@mci.net
http://www.isoc.org/inet2000
**********************************************************************
* Takeshi Utsumi, Ph.D., P.E., Chairman, GLOSAS/USA *
* (GLObal Systems Analysis and Simulation Association in the U.S.A.) *
* Laureate of Lord Perry Award for Excellence in Distance Education *
* Founder of CAADE *
* (Consortium for Affordable and Accessible Distance Education) *
* President Emeritus and V.P. for Technology and Coordination of *
* Global University System (GUS) *
* 43-23 Colden Street, Flushing, NY 11355-3998, U.S.A. *
* Tel: 718-939-0928; Fax: 718-939-0656 (day time only--prefer email) *
* Email: utsumi@columbia.edu; Tax Exempt ID: 11-2999676 *
* http://www.friends-partners.org/GLOSAS/ *
**********************************************************************