World Development Information Day, on October 24, enters its 51st year in 2024. The day was declared by the United Nations General Assembly in 1972 to ensure awareness of major development problems and the need to strengthen international cooperation towards resolving them. This observance falls on United Nations Day, where development finds a core place in the work of the UN.
Objectives
There are four key objectives of World Development Information Day:
- Development: World Development Information Day, refers to a comprehensive agenda aimed at changing the status quo, which involves economic growth, social transformation, and political change - collectively called development.
- Raise awareness: To showcase the complexities in the process of development that each country faces.
- Promotion of cooperation: International cooperation to find ways to surmount these problems
- Mobilize public opinion: Citizens and youths in particular, toward a better understanding of the development problem and its solutions.
The day hosts seminars, workshops, and educational programs on sustainable development goals, as well as the use of technology to tackle these issues.
Science, Technology, and the Digital Divide
Role of Science and Technology
Developing nations should invest in R&D to strengthen their technological capabilities. This will address local issues effectively and encourage economic development as these factors lay the groundwork for developing strong scientific research policies that are responsive to specific needs in each country, according to the UN.
Digital Divide Overcoming
The digital divide is still a very significant challenge to equitable development. New ICTs present communities with innovative solutions to long-standing problems; however, failing infrastructure, resources and education systems constitute certain disadvantages that most developing nations face when trying to exploit these technologies.
New Trends
In recent years, issues surrounding World Development Information Day have been specifically channelled on the different ways through which ICTs can be fronted as a means of finding resolutions to issues affecting trade and development, in particular because of globalization. Programs emphasize much about how all countries, particularly the least developed ones, can fit into the global economy through better technology access.
World Development Information Day reminds us of how imperative international cooperation needs to become more intense in pursuit of development. Science and technology can be harnessed toward sustainable goals that constitute development benefits for all society members while surmounting digital division. In this respect, it aims to inspire action through awareness-raising activities toward an increasingly equitable world through joint efforts.
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