Distinguished Guests and Colleagues
I warmly welcome everyone to this meeting and the new cycle of the Group on Capacity Building Initiatives, both familiar faces from previous cycles and those who have just joined.
It is a pleasure to see all of you here today.
Let me also congratulate Dr Mustapha Benjilali in his new role as the chair of the GCBI. It is also a pleasure for me to introduce the GCBI vice chair for this cycle, Ms Tessie Leva. We very much appreciate your commitment.
I would like to mention a few important points by way of introduction to our new cycle.
Every day, I see a world that needs digital skills more and more. We cannot have digital transformation without digital skills. They are foundational to everything we want to achieve.
The Telecommunication Development Bureau continues to play a pivotal role in the development of digital skills through capacity development initiatives such as the Academy Training Centers, the Digital Transformation Centers and the ITU Academy.
To support BDT with this broad mandate, the GCBI was established through WTDC Resolution 40, which instructs the BDT Director to establish and maintain the GCBI to contribute to the successful implementation of the BDT capacity- and skills-development activities.
In its advisory role, the GCBI is expected to work in cooperation with the two ITU-D study groups and in accordance with adopted Kigali Action Plan priorities and regional initiatives, as well as to report to the Telecommunication Development Advisory Group on the initiatives, activities undertaken, and results achieved.
In previous cycles, the work of the GCBI went beyond a strategic advisory role to a hands-on involvement in some of the work of the BDT. GCBI members have worked on guiding documents including the drafting of the ITU capacity development taxonomy document, which has become a valuable input to our work.
We have also made substantive progress in harmonizing capacity development work across ITU. This work, which was instigated by this group a couple of years ago, and endorsed by the ITU Council, commenced in 2022 with the establishment of a cross-sectoral task force and stock-taking of ITU capacity development activities. As part of its main outputs, the task force has put together a draft manual which will be used to guide capacity development activities across the organization. When complete, it will include guidelines for development of training courses including aspects of delivery, quality control, quality assurance, and the use of ITU Academy platform for trainers and coordinators.
Now, to the initiatives themselves. The ITU Academy has also grown tremendously in recent years. To date, the Academy has attained over 40,000 users who have access to a comprehensive training catalogue which covers an array of topics needed by the ITU membership such as network infrastructure, digital inclusion, policy and regulation, cyber security to name a few.
In 2022 the ITU launched ITU Academy Training Centres—ATCs—as mandated through WTDC Resolution 73. The ATC programme, just as its predecessor, the CoE programme, delivers high quality training courses tailored to the needs of the ITU membership and targeting policy makers and ICT professionals. Under this programme, 14 centres have been selected and have started delivering training this year.
The Digital Transformation Centres Initiative has also continued to achieve notable results since its establishment in 2019. There are 13 DTCs in 4 ITU regions under this initiative which have trained 250,000 individuals to date. This initiative focuses on strengthening digital capacities of citizens with basic and intermediate digital skills.
In this meeting, I would like to encourage you to reflect on the role of the GCBI and how, as a group, you can assist the BDT in identifying regional needs and priorities for capacity- and skills-development activities, evaluate the progress of related BDT activities, and harmonize ongoing initiatives.
Please keep in mind that we would also like to see GCBI participation in the regional events of BDT wherever possible.
I want to thank continuing members for your valuable contributions over the years. We are where we are because of you. I would also wish all new members a warm welcome to our group. We value your expertise to assist BDT and in turn the ITU to reach its intended objectives: a digital future for everyone.
Let me wish you all a productive meeting.
Thank you!
