Cross-cutting Issues

There are a number of cross-cutting issues that GeSCI will pay particular attention to in all of its programmes. These include issues of Gender, Environment and E-waste.

Gender

Technology is shaped by the values, assumptions, goals and prejudices of those involved in its design, engineering and financing. Technologies introduced into environments characterised by inequity tend to reinforce those environments. Studies confirm that without direct intervention, mainstreaming of gender equality concerns will not occur. For GeSCI’s role as strategic advisor to MoEs on the effective use of ICT in education, a focus on gender mainstreaming to promote strategies that make the differential concerns of girls and boys, women and men an integral part of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of ICT policies and programmes, will be a key priority.

E-Waste

There is international growing concern about the environmental and health problems associated with waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE). GeSCI is committed to advising governments on environmental issues and to exercising good practice, to the best of its ability, in the area of environmental sustainability and more specifically e-waste.

In 2004, quoting OECD figures, Solving the E-waste Problem (StEP) noted that the global ICT trade represented 7.7 % of gross world product. As a by-product of this trade, e-waste is the fastest growing source of municipal waste on earth (50 million tons of electronic waste each year). If not disposed of properly, e-waste can result in toxic substances seeping into soil and groundwater, harming the local environment and people's health. In the developing world e-waste levels are expected to triple in the next five years as electronic goods become more affordable and desirable. There are a number of guidelines available to MoEs concerning the conscientious purchase, use and disposal of ICT, which draw on current good and emerging practices in government agencies and businesses. Although these guidelines and conventions have been structured to provide specific advice and regulations concerning the management of e-waste, GeSCI recognises that MoEs in the developing world need to balance environmental considerations with other factors, such as functionality, the availability of recycling and re-use facilities and costs. GeSCI will keep its partners informed of good and emerging waste minimisation and management practices at the procurement stage of every programme, and every stage thereafter.

Energy

A determined effort is required, on the part of all sectors of society, including the ICT sector, to mitigate the threat of Climate Change. Since the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol, in December 1997, the number of ICT users has tripled worldwide. Although this rapid proliferation in the use of ICT still only represents an estimated 2.5 % of total greenhouse gases, this share is set to grow as usage of ICT continues to expand - growing at a faster rate than the general economy. As such, ICT is considered to be both a contributor to global warming and a part of the solution. A new report by the Global e-Sustainability Initiative, supported by UNEP, and The Climate Group, estimates that ICT could cut greenhouse gas emissions by 15 % globally by 2020.

GeSCI will keep its partners informed of the energy efficiency of various technology options at the procurement stage of every programme. In short GeSCI will strive to keep its partners informed of good and emerging practices as they relate to the impact of ICT on climate change.