United Nations Information Technology Services (UNITeS)
Updated October 2003
 

Guiding Principles/Objectives

Programmes

UNITeS is an initiative that the UN Secretary-General announced in his Millennium Report, April 2000.

The UNITeS initiative has three primary goals:

1. Improve and build the capacity of individuals and institutions in developing countries to make practical use of ICTs in their development processes, through the co-operation of volunteers from all around the world.

2. Establish a significant knowledge base/network on applications of ICT to various areas of human development (e.g., support to small and medium enterprises, health, education, governance, gender equity, environment, humanitarian aid etc…)

3. Promote ICT volunteering in development initiatives and organizations, particularly among volunteer-sending agencies (VSAs), resulting in increased participation of volunteers in efforts to bridge the digital divide over the next years.

UNITeS draws support and collaboration from a growing network of collaborating organizations: governments, NGOs and other civil society organisations, development and volunteer-sending agencies, UN agencies, academia and the private sector.

The United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme coordinates the initiative. See the “United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme” entry for more details.

Areas of Application:

► Education
► Governance
► Health
► Women empowerment
► Access
► Support to SME
► Environment
► Humanitarian assistance

UNITeS has helped place and support approximately 150 ICT volunteers in more than 50 developing countries including 28 Least Developed Countries (LDCs). More than 60% of these volunteers are from developing countries themselves.

The online UNITeS community is made of both UN Volunteers, ICT volunteers in other programs, and people not formally associated with UNV but who are promoting ICT volunteering in developing countries.

UNITeS continues to explore and promote new ways that ICTs can be used to help better connect with and support volunteers.

The ever-growing Knowledge Base has been prepared specifically to help volunteers working under the UNITeS initiative, and to help online volunteers supporting UNV-related projects, or any onsite or online volunteers supporting ICT efforts in international development.

Participation in Multi-donor Programmes:

► UNDP/Cisco Networking Academy for LDC Initiative
► UNDP
► UN ICT Task Force
► World Health Organisation (WHO)
► UNESCO
► NetAid
► World Links for Development Programme (WorLD)
► UN Foundation
► Equal Access

Global outreach

See the “United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme” entry

info@unites.org