Cyber Peace Initiative
Virtue Foundation Collaborates with Egypt’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. The initiative aims to provide Egypt’s youth with training and opportunities for dialogue and partnerships with youth around the world, creating a platform for knowledge sharing, collaboration and experience exchange.
In the 21st Century, Globalization refers to an international integration that can be described as a process by which the people of the world are unified into a single society. Information and Communications Technology (ICT) has been recognized as a major driver of the Globalization process. By making information more accessible, usable, and widely available, ICT has reduced the traditional constraints of distance and culture in global economies. Children and young adults, in particular, are the primary beneficiaries of this tool, which offers them unlimited opportunities for creativity and innovation and the potential to dilute barriers between cultures and societies.
Economically, nations are focusing on building their information and communication infrastructure, policies and strategies and investing in human resources with the goal of combining both innovation and knowledge. Therefore, culturally and socially, ICT is changing the way people, especially young people, think, learn and act.
In November 2007 Virtue Foundation proudly participated in the Cyber Peace Initiative founded by Suzanne Mubarak, the first lady of Egypt. The initiative is part of the Women’s International Peace Movement, a non-profit, non-governmental international association established in 2003 by the first lady that focuses on the positive and holistic aspects of peace, helping to forge alternative communication networks, creating avenues for cooperative action and making silent voices heard. The Movement’s main objective is to enhance the conditions conducive to sustainable peace and human security.
One of the latest efforts in this international peace movement is the Cyber Peace Initiative, which specifically attempts to provide the youth with opportunities for creativity through knowledge, tools and access. Initially, this project will be implemented through schools across Egypt and later through platforms all over the world, weaving partnerships with similar networks internationally to reach hundreds of thousands of children and young adults.
The integrated Cyber Peace Initiative is a collective endeavor by the Suzanne Mubarak Women’s International Peace Movement, Egypt’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, the International Telecommunication Union, and the Global Alliance for ICT and Development, in collaboration with Microsoft and Cisco Systems. The Initiative’s continuity and success rests on the participation and cooperation of multi-stakeholder partners to achieve its objectives in different parts of the world.
The topics distributed by the Cyber Peace Initiative include training for basic computer fundamentals, applications, Internet tools, as well as personal and communication skills and leadership skills. Virtue Foundation, leveraging its own partners and resources, will provide content for the ethical module of this Peace Initiative, which seeks to raise awareness about the importance of ethics and morality in a globalized world and its positive effects.
The comprehension and application of universal principles of ethics and morality constitute an indispensable tool for life in the 21st century. The fundamental principles provided in this ethical module are independent of any particular ideology or value system, and are considered to be the starting point for any study of ethics and morality—the universal nature of the human condition and the inalienable rights with which every human being is endowed, regardless of his or her background, origin, or ethnicity. It is precisely the understanding and peaceful acquisition of these rights, as well as the observance of their corresponding obligations, that will allow us to realize our own potential while concurrently living a harmonious and productive life in today’s global village.
For more information, please visit: http://www.ict4peace.org/
