Baltimore, Maryland – November 9, 2007 – The International Taskforce on Women & ICTs (ITF) will have a contributing presence at the 3rd Annual Global Knowledge Partnership event named Global Knowledge Conference (GK3) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. GK3 will bring together over 2,000 visionaries, international leaders, practitioners and policy-makers to engage on the theme of Emerging People, Emerging Markets, Emerging Technologies. This event provides the perfect venue for international leaders concerned with women's full participation and leadership in ICTs to meet and discuss these very issues and how we can expand our global strategy to ensure we develop the potential for every individual to participate in and benefit from the knowledge society in which we live and work.

The International Taskforce for Women and ICTs Annual Leadership meeting will be held on December 9th and 10th in Kuala Lumpur. It will bring together a small number of high level leaders to move forward on the outcomes of the Paris meeting hosted at UNESCO last November. This meeting, a two day event under the patronage of the Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP), takes place before the opening of the GK3 conference on December 11th - 13th. It is being organized by the ITF and the Center for Women & Information Technology (CWIT), and co-hosted by the UN Global Alliance for ICT for Development (UNGAID).

“The Taskforce was created to re-invigorate current efforts and support the initiation of new efforts that will recognize and remedy women’s severe under-representation in the development of ICTs from basic access through leadership,” states Claudia Morrell, ITF Chair. “The Global Knowledge Partnership Conference invited us to create innovative approaches to mainstream women in their conference, GK3, which is directly in line with our mission to promote and facilitate the increased participation of women in political, social, and economic arenas through and with ICTs.”

During the three day GK3 event, the ITF, in partnership with UNGAID, will host an Interactive Exhibit in the Market of Opportunities. This collaborative effort will provide a venue and voice for many global ICT initiatives and/or programs that promote girls and women to participate in the GK3 event in person or through their materials if unable to attend. Applications are available at www.mdwit.org/Taskforce/GK3/marketplace.html

The following organizations make up ITF Leadership:
◊ UNESCO Women, Science and Technology in Latin America, Argentina
◊ Education Development Center, USA
◊ European Women in Net (WINNET Europe), Sweden
◊ APEC Women’s e-Biz Center, Asian Pacific Women’s Information Network Center (APWINC), Korea
◊ European Association for Women in Science, Engineering & Technology (WiTEC), UK
◊ Texas Instruments, USA
◊ Association for Progressive Communications Women’s Networking Support Programme (APC WNSP), Philippines
◊ Hewlett-Packard Company, USA
◊ Women in Global Science and Technology, Canada
◊ The Center for Women and IT at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, USA

About International Taskforce on Women & ICT:
The International Taskforce on Women and ICTs (the Taskforce), established in 2006, created a Declaration of Agreement (www.umbc.edu/cwit/Declaration.html) with Guiding Principles that serve as the foundation for the organization. The Taskforce promotes communication and information exchange; the increased sharing of research, knowledge, and resources; the development of collaborative activities; and the promotion of policies and programming that support women’s participation and leadership in all areas of ICT for development. The goal is to ensure that the participation of women in engineering, education, and employment in ICT globally is measurably and significantly increased within five years.

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Source URL: http://www.mdwit.org/Taskforce/GK3/TaskforceDocs.html

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