It requires years of perseverance, commitment, and passion, but if everyone works together, it will all be worth it.

If helping Afghanistan is on your to-do list this month, the first and most obvious thing you can do is write a check to charity. Since foreign aid has become welcome in this region, many organizations have formed, aimed at helping in both traditional and unique ways.

Help the Afghan Children, for example, is dedicated to making sure the children of this country understand and embrace their roles as the future leaders; and they do this through quality education and further academic development. JAHAN is a word that means world or universe, but as an acronym stands for Join And Help Afghanistan Now.

They are a 501(c)(3) non-profit, apolitical, humanitarian organization committed to improving the quality of life for women and children. ARYA has a similar objective, but their means for supplying aid is by donating 100 percent of their profits of the sale of semi-precious stone jewelry and embroidered shirts and bags.

The International Red Cross, United Way, and Partners in Health are all international charity organizations who can assist you in helping Afghanistan. Whether you are looking for something led solely by volunteers or managed by a more corporate-type entity, there are many different ways to give.

Excellencies,
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me first start by saying how happy I am to attend the launch of the Global e-Policy Network (ePol-Net), here in Geneva, after having been part of the launch of the African regional node that is based in ECA.

Canada and ECA have had a long standing partnership in the field of development information as well as in other fields. I am happy to see that 25 years later the two institutions are still working ever closer together in advancing Information Society goals.

For the African continent the advent of ePol-Net is timely. This is because many countries are in the process of formulating, and a few, are finalizing the implementation of their national e-strategies and plans. ECA alone, under the framework of the African Information Society Initiative (AISI) has assisted approximately 36 countries to date. Undoubtedly, these countries will require information on e-strategy expertise, guidance and advice through the services of ePol-Net.

We hope that there will be greater synergies and more partners coming to join the ePol-Net initiative for promoting ICT4 development activities in a more concerted way.

Earlier today I chaired a high level panel on regional strategies for promoting the Information Society with Ministers from Finland, Lebanon, Jamaica and Senegal. The issues raised from various regions of the world suggest that we all have similar challenges. I therefore urge ePol-Net to also think of addressing national e-strategies that support regional approaches to the Information Society. Such steps are becoming necessary as more countries begin to harmonize their policies in the sub-regions of Africa, for instance.

Finally,

ECA congratulates the Government of Canada and its partners:

The Governments of Ireland, Italy, France, Japan and the UK for this exemplary effort.

I thank-you.