São Paulo – The city of São Paulo will have the first regional centre for development of the information society. Resulting from a partnership between the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco), the Brazilian Foreign Office (Itamaraty) and the Centre for Studies on Information and Communications Technology (Cetic.br), this organisation will use knowledge from the Cetic.br, which produces statistics regarding the Internet in Brazil, to improve the promotion of information in Latin American countries and Portuguese-speaking Africa.
The agreement for establishment of the office was signed on Wednesday (28), in Paris, by the Unesco director general Irina Bokova, by the Itamaraty representative at Unesco, Maria Laura da Rocha, and by Cetic.br. According to the manager at Cetic.br, Alexandre Barbosa, Cetic.br experience will be employed, together with the Unesco, to help other countries develop statistics related to the Internet.
Cetic.br is responsible for statistical production about Internet use in Brazil. It is an organisation connected to the Information and Coordination Nucleus Dot BR (NIC.br), a non-profit-making organisation that controls the promotion of information on the internet and the creation of domains (the site "name"). It also, for example, studies how children and adolescents view the web and how they behave in it; analyses the success of social networks in Brazil, and the impact of Internet in the Brazilian society.
The opportunity of creating the partnership arose in 2009, when Unesco Brasil participated in a Cetic.br team that developed a research about education. In 2011, the Itamaraty started supporting the initiative of establishing the partnership to promote social inclusion among developing countries.
“Our challenge is to make governments notice the importance of these initiatives to create public policies [for promotion of information]. Cetic already operates in Latin America, but it will be a challenge to work with the Africans. We count on the assistance of the Unesco,” said Barbosa.
According to the director at Cetic, the Regional Centre for Studies for Development of the Information Society in São Paulo will be at the Cetic.br offices and it will be managed by the institution. It has not, however, started operating yet.
Barbosa stated that there are already similar projects in Bahrain and believes that, in future, it will be possible to expand the partnership and exchange information on the projects and the conclusions obtained in Brazil, Latin America and the Portuguese-speaking African countries with the information obtained in the countries of the Middle East. “We may establish cooperation,” he said.
*Translated by Mark Ament
