FMA rolls out research on seven ICT policy papers

By Al Alegre and Nina Somera MANILA, Philippines,

APC’s Manila-based member Foundation for Media Alternatives (FMA) has initiated a research project aimed at producing seven policy papers. They seek to contribute to policy development in some of the most important areas within the Philippines’ information and communication technology (ICT) arena.


The “Policy, Praxis and Public Interest: Engendering Strategic InfoComms Policy Research in the Philippines” aims to contribute civil society perspectives on seven policy areas seen to be crucial to a civil society agenda in ICT and communication rights.


Policy Areas


The research project will produce policy papers in seven areas in ICT and internet governance:


1)“Internet governance: Country Code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs) and reforming the .PH administration” (ongoing)


2)“Free/Open Source Software (FOSS) in Education: Evolving a Policy Framework and Action Plan for the Philippines” (ongoing)


3)“WSIS@PH : An Assessment of Philippine Participation in the World Summit on the Information Society”. (ongoing)


4)“Locating the ‘Digital Divide’ in the Philippines: Quantitave and Qualitative Indicators for Policy Intervention” (ongoing)


5)“Mainstreaming Gender Issues in Philippine ICT Policy: A Roadmap” (ongoing)


6)“The Question of Agency/Institution in InfoComms Policy Development: from NITC to ITECC to CICT” (proposed)


7) Revisiting the ICT Strategic Plan: Civil Society Perspectives on the Philippine Roadmap (proposed)


Multi-stakeholder approach


Research teams have been formed for five of the above areas, and the project adopted a multi-stakeholder approach, from defining the research agenda to the validation of the research outputs.


A series of round-table discussions are currently being planned in order to convene key actors in each policy area for this will enable a balanced definition of the research agenda and strategy. Research developments are discussed on dedicated mailing lists set up for stakeholders from each policy area/issue. The initial draft papers will eventually be subjected to a validation workshop with multisectoral ‘readers’. The validation workshop will also enable public fora which can furtherto discuss the research results.


This collaborative and multistakeholder process will allow a civil society constituency around each issue to evolve and mature, which will then be crucial in advocacy and future monitoring of policy implementation.


Research papers will be published online under a Creative Commons license. The FMA is partnering directly on this project with the Philippine Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) in the optic of mainstreaming its recommendations with actual national policymakers. The CICT has endorsed the research project and participates actively in many of its activities.


“Policy, Praxis and the Public Interest” is supported by a research grant from the Pan-Asia Networking Programme. The Pan-Asia research grants programme is supported by the Asia Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC), the Asia Pacific Networking Information Centre (APNIC), the Asia Pacific Development Information Programme of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP-APDIP) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC).

Author: —- (Al Alegre and Nina Somera)
Contact: info fma.ph
Source: FMA
Date: 04/26/2006
Location: MANILA, Philippines
Category: Members


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