Launch of the Summits Virtual Community (SVC): Your Voice, Our Future!
- OAS General Assembly -
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As part of the further development of mechanisms that foster participation by different stakeholders in the Summits of the Americas process, the Organization of American States (OAS), through the Summits of the Americas Secretariat (SAS), is pleased to announce the upcoming launch of the Summits Virtual Community (SVC). The launch will be made official at the Meeting at the Ministerial Level of the Summit Implementation Review Group (SIRG) on June 8th, 2010, in the framework of the Fortieth OAS General Assembly to be held in Lima, Peru.
The Virtual Community builds on the experience of an earlier initiative, the Summits Virtual Platform (SVP), launched in 2008 in preparation for the Fifth Summit of the Americas. For this new phase, the Secretariat paid close attention to the feedback, recommendations and suggestions provided through a series of online surveys, phone interviews and face to face consultations with different users. Now, after months of designing, programming and tweaking, the new and much more interactive version of the platform is ready to be launched.
To mark its evolution to a more dynamic, interactive and user-driven initiative, the word Platform in the name has been replaced with Community. Without a doubt, the increased interactivity and new functionalities of the platform will facilitate information sharing and strengthen networks among interested actors in the Summits of the Americas process, thus contributing to building a stronger Summits Community.
To illustrate this point, it is worth highlighting some of the activities that community members may do upon registration:
- Join discussions in forums (time-bound) and groups (ongoing) to post comments
- Read what others have to say on different topics of interest
- Share documents, photos and videos
- Network with peers and other professionals through personal and organization profiles
- Stay informed on what is going on in the Summits Community
In addition, the Summits of the Americas Secretariat is working closely with other OAS areas, with the government of Colombia as host of the Sixth Summit and with institutional partners of the Joint Summit Working Group (JSWG) to foster participation and engagement of different stakeholders in the many hemispheric political processes that constitute an integral part of the Summits process. Through this community, the organization seeks to provide an open space for ongoing dialogue and cooperation throughout the Americas.
Participation is free and open to the general public, including representatives of civil society organizations (CSO), international organizations, workers and union representatives, indigenous peoples, afro descendants, and members of the public, private and academic sectors. However, it should be noted that the SVC is a restricted virtual space and registration is required to participate as a community member.
The Summits Virtual Community is supported by generous contributions from the Institute for Connectivity in the Americas (ICA) / International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECID), through its project Promotion of the Participation and the Human Rights of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas.
For additional information and to register, please visit:
http://www.summit-americas.org/svc
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