ITC at WSIS 2005: 
E@Work for SMEs 

 

Printable Version

ITC is joining the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Tunis, 2005, to promote e-trade and business dimensions of the Digital Economy, and bring the voice of Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) of developing countries into global ICT policymaking. 

Sharing its experience since the WSIS in 2003, ITC will lead two workshops in partnership with the Centre for the Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries (CBI), the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (seco), and the Centre de Conciliation et d'Arbitrage de Tunis (CCAT). It will participate in a panel discussion on gender and ICTs, in partnership with ITU and UNESCO, and host an exhibit in the ICT 4 All Exhibition. 

14th November: Joint ITC-CBI Workshop
‘Bridging the Use Divide”

Research findings provide evidence that the use of ICTs among the SME community, even in the most “e-ready” economies, remains low. This is called the ‘Use Divide’

In this workshop, ITC’s e-Trade Bridge Programme for SMEs will address this Use Divide. With inputs from CCAT, it will showcase its experience in building capacities and training SME managers to enable them to make decisions on when, how and how much to use ICTs, and how to integrate the ICTs dimension into their strategies using the tools and materials developed under the programme. (Room ‘Zaghouan’, 09.00 – 19.00)

Click here for more on this workshop. 

 

15th November: Joint ITC-CBI Workshop
‘e@Work: Small Business, ICT and Export Growth’

This workshop will address directly the critical issues faced by business communities of developing and transition economies in their online export operations. Lessons learned from the IT-enabling of services, business process outsourcing (BPO) and the use of e-marketplaces and best practices will be discussed. These will serve as practical guides in the formulation of constructive responses to new global information technology and trade development challenges. (Room ‘Zaghouan’, 14.00 – 19.00)


The interactive workshop on 15 November 2005 will focus on “e@Work: Small Business, ICT and Export Growth”. It will address directly critical issues of online exports faced by business communities of developing and transition economies in their daily operations. 

Click here for more on this workshop. 

 

17th November: Panel Discussion 
‘The Role of ICTs in Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction’

ICTs are promoted as tools to facilitate economic growth. It is also argued that when women have access to ICTs their economic status improves along with that of their families and communities. With inputs from ITU and UNESCO, this panel will discuss and explore specific ways international organisations have used ICTs as a tool in their gender sensitive development projects and highlight best practices and constraints. 
(Room ‘Sousse’, 11.00 – 13.00) 

Click below for Chapter 14 of the UNCTAD paper 'Trade and Gender: Opportunities and Challenges for Developing countries': Part 1 I Part 2

Click below for the International Trade Forum gender articles:

Development Through Trade: Women Exporters Make the Case

In India, Integrating the Informal Sector into the Global Economy

Women’s Business Association Encourages Exporters in Cameroon

ITC Exhibit: 
”E“ @ Work, Stand Number 2202

The ITC Stand will feature ITC’s portfolio of e-related training programmes, tools, advisory services, best practice cases and publications for SMEs in developing countries and transition economies. You can visit ITC’s stand, organized in cooperation with seco, at the Swiss Pavilion, number 2202, in the ICT 4 All Exhibition. (15th to 19th November)

Click here for more details.

 

Background Papers

In response to the issues raised during ITC's workshops at WSIS 2003, ITC has prepared a technical paper focusing on boosting competitiveness of e-stakeholders in the developing world. This quarter's  ITC Trade Forum Magazine also features articles on 'e' in the textiles and coffee sectors.

Click here for more details.