IDUAI Making Information Accesible

1. 1
Bhanu R. Neupane
19 September, Toluca
IDUAI Making Information
Accessible

2. What is IDUAI
• On 17 November 2015, UNESCO adopted a resolution (38 C/70)
declaring 28September of every year as International Day for Universal
Access to Information (IDUAI).
• UNESCO initiative is an outcome of advocacy of the African Platform on
Access to Information (APAI), building on work of FOIAnet.
• In its Resolution 222, for the African Union to consider proclaiming 28
September “as International Right to Information Day in Africa”.

3. History of IDUAI
• IDUAI falls within a long history of UN attention to this area.
• Universal access to information is bound up with the right to
information, which is an integral part of the right to freedom of
expression.
• It is also covered by Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights (1948), and Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights.

4. A pending resolution at 2019 UNGA
• UNESCO resolution 38 C/70 requests the UNESCO Secretariat to draw
the attention of the UN General Assembly to the IDUAI for its
consideration and possible adoption.
• Steps have been initiated accordingly with the possibility that this year
it will be approved by the General Assembly in New York.

5. Other contexts of IDUAI
• Central in the context of the UN’s World Summit on the Information
Society (WSIS)
• IDUAI advocates the ambition of creating inclusive Knowledge Societies.
• “Accessibility” and “Openness” as two of the four principles in UNESCO’s
ROAM model of Internet Universality (alongside Rights, and Multi-
stakeholder Participation).
• IDUAI has particular resonance/relevance with the 2030 Development
Agenda
• The day is also significant for Goal 2, 9, 6, 11, and 17

6. IDUAI in the past
• IDUAI was first celebrated in 2016 at the UNESCO headquarter
• In 2017 it was celebrated in Africa highlighting the significance of access
to information for SDG
• In 2018 it was celebrated in Asia, highliting the context of digital
revolution and digital devidents
• In2019 it is being celebrated in Latin America with the theme “ No one is
left behind”. Primarily to advocate inclusiveness and non commercial
element in access to information for the global south.

7. WHY IDUAI is important for
Global OA movement ?

8. In the next 3 (three) hours
 Globally enough information will be consumed to fill
51 million DVDs
 Some 250000 meaningful blog posts will be
written
– enough to fill the TIME magazine for 256 million
years;
8

9. Shall we be happy and complacent?
 Presence of “Knowledge Challenges”,
that requires our concerted and
synergized action.
 Multi stakeholder partnership to address
openness of knowledge
 Relevance, inclusiveness and “truth” are
widely debated
9

10. “Knowledge challenge”.
• UN secretary General’s vision document “the future that we want”
established a new context for knowledge
• Intrinsic linkages between knowledge dissemination processes,
education, economic growth, digital innovation, and technology
penetration.
• New role for knowledge was highlighted

11. As we are unpacking elements of SDG 2030 and their linkage
with the technology and innovation, a few things have
become clearer:

12. Humanity still has to brace itself for
• a world where prospects for justice are uncertain for at least 10 percent
of the humanity:
• 11% people are still uneducated
• (of this 56 % are women)

13. STEM as the Game Changer:
• HLP (President Ellen J Sirleaf, Prime Minister Sushilo Bangwan and Prime
Minister David Comeron) tasked to evaluate MDGs and provide key
recommendations for SDGs, unanimously noted a key role that STEM
could play in achieving broad goals for the humanity.
• STEM education was a limiting factor in the world’s pursuit for MDGs and
will remain as one of the most critical element for the achievement of SDG
during the next 11 and a half years.
• STEM education thus has to continue producing workforce that can ensure
timeliness and robustness of the way information and knowledge can be
delivered.

14. So why should we care?
• 10 out of 17 sustainable goals require
continuous and open access feed of
research outputs.
• It requires millions of scientists,
engineers to establish the knowledge
link from both Global North and Global
South?

15. STEM education has disparity
• STEM disparity may be much worse than disparity in
education.
• Real challenge is to appreciate “how empty is the
other half of the same glass”.

16. Even within OECD
• GERD/GDP
• Translate this in $

17. BERD/GDP
• Some help from
Private sector

18. Global BERD/GDP
• China and India : 20%, steep
rise since 2008
• Former Soviet states: 2.6%
• Middle East and Africa : 2.4%
• Latin America: 1.5% Few LA
countries have used the
commodities boom to embrace
technology-driven
competitiveness .
• Japan and Asian Tigers
stable: 22%

19. But Patents are still dominated by a few….

20. • Scientific output
isn’t consistent

21. From Basic to applied
• STEM education has to be elevated from the basic to applied form
• In 2015 there was 97 billion $ of research dollars available for “applied
and relevant” science development
• STEM education thus must gear to solve the bigger challenges that are
jeopardizing the very existence of human being – viz. climate change,
energy , health and food security, etc.
• 87 Percent of the research budget available for Larger agenda (Energy
research, Biotechnology research, climate research, cancer research….)
• STEM education thus have to have the “utilitarian agenda” in its delivery.
• Should Journals change too??

22. Fact based research in STEM:
• There is a growing requirement that data and information utilized for
STEM have to be made openly available, so that the research can
generate the same result, irrespective of where the scientific research is
replicated, barring locational specificities.

23. STEM education isn’t possible without Open Access
• Openness is now viewed as the way-to-go!
• There is a pleasant shift in innovation and research outputs towards
Open data and Open Sciences.
• But only 27% of the global research in STEM is Open
• Its much less for openness of data

24. Open Access
• STEM education will rely on Open Access
• free access to information and unrestricted use of electronic resources
for everyone has been mainstreamed.
• By year 2020 EU has already decided to go Open
• Plan S will become a reality

25. Open Access
• Unfortunately, the academia is still stuck with impact factor and ranking of
journals this has hampered more freer flow of STEM knowledge.
• It’s a must that STEM uses Open and inclusive culture in its delivery
• Lure of impact factor is more in Global South than in the North (based on
the review of hiring and promotion policies)

26. How to deal with it?
• Even to create science, the cost related to openness must be borne by
someone – cost/benefit, source etc. resistance from the present
beneficiaries?
• There are some obvious tell-tell sign that increasingly the disparity is now
changed from the erstwhile “ability to access” to now “ability to share”
knowledge?

27. UNESCO strategy for Global South
ABCD

28. Advocacy
» Policy support
» Ecosystem of STEM education
» Policy guidelines

29. Bridging
• Of knowledge pools and resources
• Between and among countries
• Preferably between the countries of
north with those in the south
• Create Multi-stakeholder platforms

30. Capacity Building
» UPSTREAM CAPACITY BUILDING
» NEW APPROACH TO TEACHING AND LEARNING

31. Dissemination
» Of common understanding
» Of regular monitoring reports