GUIDELINES FOR ORGANIZERS OF PARALLEL EVENTS
DURING THE SECOND PHASE OF WSIS

   

The second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) will consist of two parts:
•  the official Summit , taking place from 16 to  18 November 2005 at the Parc des expositions du Kram in Tunis , and
•  the parallel events, a series of meetings, discussions, workshops and exhibitions to be held from 14 to  19 November 2005 , also in the Kram.

This document, established jointly between Tunisia and the ITU, concerns the parallel events.

  A. GENERAL FRAMEWORK

1. Purpose of the parallel events

The host country of the second phase of the Summit, Tunisia, in the interest of fostering interaction among the different stakeholders in the Summit, in accordance with resolutions of the General Assembly of the United Nations – in particular resolution 56/183, which encourages effective contributions from and the active participation of all relevant stakeholders in the Summit preparatory process and the Summit itself, resolution A/RES/57/238, which recommends that the occasion of WSIS be used for arranging events related to the Summit, and resolution 59/220 – has decided to make available within the Kram a space for the organization of parallel events. The purpose of this space, which is called ICT4All, is to facilitate the sharing of experiences, increase opportunities for dialogue, and provide an impetus for partnerships to build the information society. All events foreseen within this framework should be directly and explicitly relevant to the Summit 's goals and objectives.

2. Parallel events of the second phase of WSIS

The parallel events of the 2005 Tunis phase of WSIS consist of the following.

  • A space under the banner “Partnership for development of the information society”, consisting of:

    – an exhibition organized on the theme “Partnership for development of information and communication technologies”
    – a partnership area , to provide support for the establishment of partnership agreements between the various stakeholders, based on the complementarity of partners and stakeholders in the building of the information society

  • A Space for different activities (meetings, conferences, panels, workshops, project presentations, etc.)
  • Parallel events of global nature

3. Dates and venue

The parallel events will take place from 14 to  19 November 2005 in the Kram, in conjunction with the official part of the Summit .

4. Responsibility

Overall responsibility for the parallel events at WSIS Tunis 2005, with the exception of the Exhibition, is vested in a Joint Committee, composed of representatives of the host country ( Tunisia ) and the WSIS Executive Secretariat.

The Joint Committee will, from the requests received, retain the programme of activities taking place in the different activities as well as the parallel events of a global nature, based upon the available resources (space, timetable, etc.)

The responsibility for the content of each parallel event remains with the organizers of that event.

The Tunis 2005 Organizing Committee will handle the logistics of the parallel events.

5. Criteria for participation

The activities of the parallel events must be directly related to WSIS and the information society, and meet the following general criteria.

•  They must be in line with the main strands of the Summit agenda. Events should preferably focus on themes developed by the Summit process, follow-up activities and commitments in regard to negotiated outcomes or new partnerships and initiatives (including multi-stakeholder partnerships).

•  They must be submitted by stakeholders whose activities have a major impact on the building of the information society.

•  They must be directed at the promotion of the information society and be of a non-profit character.

6. Who can submit requests for parallel events

Parallel events can be proposed by the following entities:

•  governments

•  intergovernmental organizations: entities having received a standing invitation from the United Nations General Assembly, specialized agencies of the United Nations, invited intergovernmental organizations, interested United Nations organs and associate members of regional commissions

•  non-governmental organizations and members of civil society duly accredited under the WSIS rules

•  private sector entities duly accredited under the WSIS rules, including ITU Sector Members.

7. Rules governing parallel events

•  Participation:
-access to the Exhibition is open to the public.
-access to all other parallel events is open to all accredited participants.

•  The Tunis 2005 Organizing Committee will distribute copies of the Programme and provide daily information bulletins (in print or electronic form) with the latest details of events and meetings taking place that day.

•  Event organizers must bear the costs of organizing their own activities.

•  Publicity and the production of brochures and other documents for the events are the responsibility of the event organizers.

B. SUBMISSION OF REQUESTS

1. How to submit a request

  a) Parallel events other than the exhibition

Any organization interested in organizing a parallel event must submit a request using the “ Tunis Summit Parallel Events Request Form ” (available from the site http://www.smsitunis2005.org ), attaching a detailed description of the proposed event, including its thematic focus and the planned speakers/presenters.

Requests for these activities should be sent to smsi-evenementsparalleles@mincom.tn or wsis-parallelevents@mincom.tn .

  b) Exhibition

All informations related to the participation at the exhibition (participation conditions, tarifs, dates, reservation forms, etc.) are available on the web site www.ict4all-tunis.org

2. Deadlines for submission of requests

- In order that the parallel event programme can be properly prepared, event organizers are requested to submit preliminary draft proposals (expression of interest) as early as possible.

- Final proposals must be submitted using the form from the host country's website, www.smsitunis2005.org . The Joint Committee should receive the complete request (including a detailed description of the proposed activity) by 30 April 2005 .

- The Joint Committee will make an announcement by the end of June 2005 about the parallel events that have been approved, notifying all those involved.

- Event organizers should contact the Tunis 2005 Organizing Committee by 31 July 2005 to finalize arrangements regarding the organization of their activities.