ARTICLE - CRED - DEVELOPMENT - TECHNOLOGIES

3RD CRED FORUM ON THE THEME OF DEVELOPMENT AND NEW TECHNOLOGIES
(Haiti Libre) -

The Centre of Reflection, Education and Debate (CRED) held its third departmental forum of the Southeast last Saturday, February 25 at the Eco Hotel of Orangers, around the theme "New Technologies: Development Tools, at the service of the integration of young people." Around 80 young people from several different organizations of the various communes of the Southeast participated in this forum.

In his presentation, the journalist Godson Pierre, the main speaker of the forum outlined some principles related to New Information and communications technology (ICT), and Sustainable Development "To be sustainable, the development must take into account the principle of integration. A global and sectoral approach, which must consider simultaneously the various dimensions of its impact, both economically, socially and environmentally;" also highlighting other principles, such as proximity, solidarity and responsibility. "In Haiti, the situation is clear, factories only produce plastics, and increase their economic income. They do not care about the effects and secondary impacts on the environment," declared the reporter who asserted that "development is not possible, if everyone does not assume their responsibilities."

Speaking of ICT, Peter Godson, said he was aware of the importance and benefits of ICT in the context of global development. More than 2 billion people today use the internet, according to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). In 2000, only 500 million people had access to a phone and 250 million to internet. 10 years later, nearly 5 billion people have used a phone. These figures clearly show the evolution of a globalized world with new technologies, said the journalist who pointed out that in Haiti, from the year 2004, the number of Internet users was 80,000 while in 2011 this number was about 1 million, or 10% of the population.

Dieudonne Jean Laurent, President of CRED, at the end of this forum, told local press that this series of forums, was held within the framework of a process of dialogue between young people across the country, to develop with the various youth organizations, a synergy to influence the authorities to take steps to strengthen our institutions in society. Number one of CRED calls for stability in the country, and intends to pursue the goal of his institution. He estimates that Haiti needs devoted youth, mature and integrated, capable of influencing the country's leaders to act in the interests of the Nation.

After the forum in the South-East department, the North, including the city of Cap Haitien, will be the next beneficiary department.

Nikenson Saint-Jean, vice President of CRED, has given a formal guarantee to the participants that at the end of these forums, a document will be developed with the demands of the youth and will be presented to the government at all levels. The results of this work will be a plea to require managers of the country, to assume their responsibilities vis-à-vis the population, especially to young people, who constitute the majority.

The project coordinator has announced the organization of a national forum in Port-au-Prince, on March 24. CRED has the technical support of the human rights organization, and Democracy, in the organization of its forums.