The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is ready to play a leading role in two new bodies set up by the United Nations – the UN Knowledge Sharing Task Force and the UN Group on the…
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is ready to play a leading role in two new bodies set up by the United Nations – the UN Knowledge Sharing Task Force and the UN Group on the Information Society (UNGIS).
“As the newest specialist agency, we are in a good position to contribute some fresh ideas,” said Eduardo Fayos Sola, UNWTO Head of Education and Knowledge Management (UNWTO.EKM).
“In the case of knowledge management, in particular, we already have a very good track record. We have six or seven years’ experience in this field, which is not found elsewhere in the UN system. We believe our efforts will be appreciated by the other UN organizations and will help give our work added visibility.”
The objective of the first meeting– staged by video-conference in July – of the knowledge sharing task force was to discuss the terms of reference, a work plan and financing for a UN system-wide strategy designed to support the Millennium Development Goals.
After presenting a proposal by UNWTO to run a small-scale pilot project to help assess the new system, Dr Fayos Sola said the task force would provide the Organization with “an extremely good opportunity to make some of our programmes better known”.
The UNGIS meeting, also held in July, in Geneva, helped highlight the value of the Information Society and the need to co-ordinate between agencies to promote effective communication and collaboration that benefits the UN system as a whole, he added.
Its main objective will be to coordinate on the implementation of the Geneva Plan of Action and the Tunis Agenda adopted by the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).
Once again, UNWTO put forward a proposal for a pilot scheme, which will involve its knowledge management methodology being included in UNESCO’s Community Multimedia Centre project.
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