Preparations are on track for the second World Information Technology Forum (WITFOR) taking place in Gaborone, Botswana from 31 August to 2 September.
Alicia Ramaribana, head of the Botswana government computer bureau and a WITFOR representative, says more than 380 delegates from around the world have already registered for the conference. These include ICT ministers, senior policy-makers, researchers, academics, NGOs and representatives from the private ICT sector.
Work is also in progress to develop the draft Gaborone Declaration, which will be presented at the WITFOR for review. Following this, it will be submitted to the UNESCO General Conference 2005 and the World Summit on the Information Society 2005.
"The biggest challenge was securing sponsorship for the numerous WITFOR activities and events," says Ramaribana. She says the organisers made a commitment from the onset that the WITFOR would be a hi-tech conference. Thus, a lot of money needed to be secured to meet this objective.
WITFOR is an international forum aimed at ICT policy-makers and practitioners. The conference will address issues that are considered to be critical to developing countries, such as the application of ICT in fighting HIV/AIDS, poverty, access to education and environment, as well as social, ethical and legal consequences of IT. It will also showcase ICT solutions for economic development and best practice projects from around the world.
The conference will take the World Summit on the Information Society`s Plan of Action a step forward by converting policy statements to actual projects that can be implemented. This will in turn help developing countries to achieve the UN Millennium Development Goals.
"WITFOR will stimulate research and development strategies in Africa and in particular, in Botswana. It will also enable ICT practitioners in Botswana to formulate IT education and training programmes and to help set standards for IT development and application," Ramaribana says.
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