The world’s least developed countries are narrowing ‘digital divide,’ and with millions of people now taking advantage of smart phones and other digital devices, keeping up this momentum can put their societies on the fast track to sustainable development, the United Nations said on Wednesday.
An independent panel reviewing the effectiveness of the UN Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) has proposed the programme be recast as the Organization's 'urban champion,' including through the establishment of a coordinating mechanism to complement its work and convene all UN agencies and partners on urban sustainability.
Many vulnerable rural families in Iraq will now be able to safely receive income thanks to a newly adopted mobile money transfer technology that is part of a cash-for-work programme to rehabilitate farming infrastructure, according to the United Nations agriculture agency.
From drones dropping food and medicines, to handheld devices that can diagnose Ebola with a drop of blood, the latest technological advances are converging to make the “unthinkable happen,” said global innovators and heads of tech companies invited to the United Nations today to discuss how to emerging technologies can boost achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Addressing the Partnership Forum convened by the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), senior UN officials today discussed how to promote infrastructure growth in the least developed countries, particularly in Africa, to reach the world's development goals by 2030.
The UN Secretary-General Adviser on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development urged the mobile industry to work together and develop policy frameworks and technical standards that would ensure no one is left behind at the World Mobile Summit.
Approximately 5,000 people, including high-level government officials, civil society leaders and internet policy experts, will gather both - in-person and online - at the 10th Annual meeting of the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in João Pessoa, Brazil (10 to 13 November) to discuss the crucial role the internet must play in the successful implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
United Nations Member States and relevant stakeholders will meet in New York this week to review the use of information communication technologies (ICTs) for improving people’s lives and to discuss how to bridge the digital divide.
The business community and the private sector can make a difference as United Nations Member States are in the process of formulating a new sustainability agenda, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today said at the General Assembly, which was meeting to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the UN Global Compact.
