CONTENTS

2PREFACE

Professor Dianne Davis,Founding President of the InternationalCouncil for Caring Communities (ICCC).

4FOREWORD

Mr.Sarbuland Khan,Director of the Division for Economicand Social Council Support and Coordination,Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA),United Nations.

8OPENING

H.E.Mr.Gert Rosenthal,President of the Economic and SocialCouncil,United Nations,2003,Permanent Representativeof Guatemala to the United Nations.

9 INSIGHTS ON ENHANCING GENERATIONAL UNDERSTANDINGICT AS AN AGENT OF CHANGE

These insights were gathered from the conference of "CaringCommunities for the 21st Century:Imagining the Possible ‘Age of Connectivity’" which was held at the United NationsHeadquarters on February 12,2003.

Chair of the Conference,Dean Urs P.Gauchat,New Jersey Schoolof Architecture,New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Ms.Anna Tibaijuka,Executive Director,United Nations HumanSettlements Programme (UN-Habitat).

Ms.Narelle Townsend,Chair,NGO Committee on HumanSettlements (UN-Habitat).

Mr.Gary Fowlie,Chief,Media Relations and Public Information,International Telecommunication Union (ITU).

Ms.Helen Hamlin,Chair,NGO Committee on Ageing,United Nations.

16Keynote Address:

Mr.Danilo Piaggesi,Chief,Informationand Communication Technology for Development Division of theSustainable Development Department (SDS/ICT) Inter-AmericanDevelopment Bank (IDB).

Mr.William P.Underwood,Executive Director,Business Council forthe United Nations.

Ms.Kristin Hughes,Manager,International Public Policy,Hewlett Packard.

Mr.Alexandre Sidorenko,United Nations Focal Point on Ageing.

Ms.Stella Hughes,Chief,Media and Society Section,Communication and Information Sector,United NationsEducational,Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

H.E.Mr.Bob F.Jalang’o,Permanent Representative of Kenyato the United Nations,and Chairman of the Economic and SocialCouncil Working Group on Informatics,United Nations.

27PANEL I - OPPORTUNITIES FOR ICT AS A SOCIALAND ECONOMIC CATALYST

Moderator:H.E.Mr.Manuel Felix,Alternate PermanentRepresentative of the Dominican Republic to the United Nations.

Mr.Zhang Zhixin,Vice President of China National Committeeon Ageing (CNCA).

Ms.Radhika Lal,Policy Advisor on ICT for Development,Bureau for Development Policy,United Nations DevelopmentProgramme (UNDP).

31PANEL II – SPECIAL OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGESFOR OLDER PERSONS IN THE DIGITAL ERA

Moderator:Mr.Sergei Kambalov,Deputy Executive CoordinatorUnited Nations Information and Communication Technologies(ICT) Task Force.

H.E.Ms.June Clarke,Permanent Representative of Barbados to theUnited Nations.

Ms.Ester Proveller,Secretaria de Estado de Crianca e Assuntos DaFamilia,Paraná,Brazil.

Mr.Yefim Malitikov,Chair,Commonwealth of Independent State(CIS) Interstate Committee on Knowledge Dissemination andAdult Education.

37PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS38

Mr.Amir A.Dossal,Executive Director of the United Nations Fundfor International Partnerships (UNFIP).

Partnerships from the Conference

41GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES AND TRENDS42

Dr.Gary Andrews,Academic Director,Australian Centre forCommunity Ageing (ACCA).

Professor Susan Raymond,Founding President of the InternationalCouncil for Caring Communities (ICCC).

A Contribution from the United Nations Programme on Ageing,Division for Social Policy and Development (DSPD),Departmentof Economic and Social Affairs (DESA),United Nations.

47CONFERENCE DETAILS48

Conference Recommendations

Conference Program

Profiles

Selected Available Websites and Links

57FINAL REMARKS60MARCH TO TUNISIA

Mr.Nitin Desai,Special Adviser for the World Summit on theInformation Society (WSIS).

“Longevity is a success:it is something human beings havewanted from the year dot.The fact that we are attaining it shouldnot be seen as a problem;it should be seen as an achievement!”

Mr.Nitin Desai,Special Adviser for the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)

[1] Statement by Mr.Nitin Desai,at the launch of the Year,on 1 October 1998,International Year of Older Persons 1999,http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/ageing/agb98236.htm

PROFESSOR DIANNE DAVIS

Founding President of theInternational Council for CaringCommunities (ICCC).

MR.SARBULAND KHAN

Director of the Division forEconomic and Social Council Supportand Coordination,Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA),United Nations.

H.E.MR.GERT ROSENTHAL

President of the Economicand Social Council,United Nations,2003,Permanent Representativeof Guatemala to the United Nations.

MS.ANNA TIBAIJUKA

Executive Director,United NationsHuman Settlements Programme(UN-Habitat).

MR.ALEXANDRE SIDORENKO

United Nations Focal Pointon Ageing.

MR.DANILO PIAGGESI

Chief,Information and Communication Technology for Development Divisionof the Sustainable DevelopmentDepartment (SDS/ICT) Inter-AmericanDevelopment Bank (IDB).