The principal role of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Stocktaking exercise is to leverage the activities of stakeholders working on the implementation of WSIS outcomes and share knowledge and experience of projects by replicating successful models designed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. As a part of the WSIS Stocktaking ongoing efforts to promote the good use of ICTs in making social impact, and in order to provide useful, replicable and actionable information to all WSIS community and beyond, the platform is now available for collecting projects and activities on how ICTs are assisting stakeholders in their everyday life, work, and combating challenges caused by this extraordinary pandemic. The call for submissions was asking the stakeholders to describe how are they using ICTs to help communities respond to COVID-19, ensuring an impactful use of the WSIS Action Lines in advancing SDGs, and to list projects and activities introduced during COVID-19 to enable efficient continuation of efficient work while creating social impact. The WSIS Stocktaking process provides a register of activities – including projects, programs, training initiatives, conferences, websites, guidelines, toolkits, etc. – carried out by governments, international organizations, the private sector, civil society and other entities. To that end, in accordance with paragraph 120 of the Tunis Agenda for the Information Society adopted by WSIS, ITU has been maintaining the WSIS Stocktaking Database as a publicly accessible system providing information on information and communication technology (ICT)-related initiatives and projects with reference to the 11 WSIS Action Lines (Geneva Plan of Action) and 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

The aim of this repository is to help individuals and communities around the world to continue to partner, collaborate and implement in these exceptional pandemic circumstances through the use of information and communication technologies. The submitted projects are reviewed and featured on the WSIS Stocktaking Platform and promoted through various channels including the WSIS Flash newsletter, WSIS TalkX podcasts and social media channels. The expected impact is to witness the submitted good ICT practices being replicated elsewhere and thus join the collective effort in responding to COVID19 pandemic and advancing SDGs.15

www.wsis.org/stocktaking