Intersectoral Objectives

The year 2015 marked a major milestone in the history of ITU as it celebrated its 150th anniversary, focusing on the achievements of both ITU and its membership in connecting the world. The key celebration was held on 17 May 2015 under the theme: “Telecommunication/ICTs: Drivers of innovation”, together with multiple activities all around the world.
The World Telecommunication and Information Society Day (WTISD) is celebrated every year on 17 May. In 2014 the theme was “Broadband for Sustainable Development”. In 2015, “Telecommunications and ICTs as the drivers of innovation”. In 2016, “ICT entrepreneurship for social impact”. In 2017, “Big Data for Big Impact”.
During this period, ITU continued playing a leading role on activities related to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). The activities included, but were not limited to, the organization of the Annual WSIS Forum, hosted by the ITU and co-organized by ITU, UNESCO, UNDP, and UNCTAD, in close collaboration with all WSIS Action Line Facilitators/Co-Facilitators (UNDESA, FAO, UNEP, WHO, UN Women, WIPO, WFP, ILO, WMO, UN, ITC, UPU, UNODC, UNICEF, and UN Regional Commissions).
The ITU World Telecom event takes place every year. In 2014, it was held in Doha, Qatar; in 2015 in Budapest, Hungary; in 2016 in Bangkok, Thailand; and in 2017 in in Busan, Republic of Korea.
The Broadband Commission continued its work during this period. Following adoption of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals in September 2015, the Commission was re-launched as the Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development to showcase and document the power of ICT and broadband-based technologies for sustainable development by bringing together a high-powered community, including top CEO and industry leaders, senior policy-makers and government representatives, international agencies, academia and organizations concerned with development. The Commission embraces a range of different perspectives in a multi-stakeholder approach to promoting the roll-out of broadband, as well as providing a fresh approach to UN and business engagement
There were continuous activities related to other inter-sectoral activities such as cybersecurity, Internet issues, climate change, emergency telecommunications, accessibility, e-health, Smart Sustainable Cities, e-waste, gender, empowerment of youth through ICTs. Their results are described in the corresponding sections for the sector and inter-sectoral objectives.
As a United Nations Specialized Agency, ITU collaborated, participated and interacted all along this period within the United Nations system. Key areas of interest and interaction include ICTs for development (digital divide, gender, youth, inclusion, climate change, technology transfer, capacity building); the WSIS follow-up process; ITU/ICT-related issues (Security Council, Outer Space, Cyber Security); MDG follow-up; Post-2015 Development Agenda/SDGs; and above-mentioned the Broadband Commission.

Linkage of inter-sectoral-activities to the ITU results framework


Accessibility	Objective I.5
Broadband Commission for Sustainable Development	Objective I.1
Climate change	Objective I.4
Cybersecurity	Objective I.2
EMERGE initiative	Objective I.2
Emergency telecommunications	Objective I.4
Empowerment of Youth through ICTs	Objective I.4
Gender	Objective I.4
Internet issues	Objective I.2
ITU 150	Objective I.1
ITU and the United Nations	Objective I.4

Objective I.1

Enhance international dialogue among stakeholders.

Objective I.2

Enhance partnerships and cooperation within the telecommunication/ICT environment.

Objective I.3

Enhance identification and analysis of emerging trends in the telecommunication/ICT environment.

Objective I.4

Enhance/promote recognition of (the importance of) the telecommunication/ICTs as a key enabler of social, economic and environmentally sustainable development.

Objective I.5

Enhance access to telecommunications/ICTs for persons with disabilities and specific needs.

Committed to connecting the world