This is a report of the two-day meeting held on 21-22 October 2013 in Missenden Abbey, UK.

The main purpose of the mission was to attend the 2nd meeting of the Group on Capacity Building Initiatives (GCBI) which was held in Missenden Abbey on 21-22 October 2013, convened by Professor David Mellor in his capacity as Chairman of GCBI.

The first meeting of GCBI had been held in Geneva from 30 April to 1 May 2012. This second meeting was to review the work of the GCBI in preparation for TDAG meeting to be held in December 2013. It was also likely to be the last meeting before WTDC 2014.

The meeting was attended by the following GCBI members:

• Prof. David Mellor, United Kingdom, Chair of BCGI
• Mrs. Gladys Ogallo/Kenya, Vice Chair of BCGI
• Prof. Mher V. Markosyan/ Armenia
• Prof. Vladimir A. Dokuchaev, Russian Federation
• Mr. Santiago Reyes Borda ,Canada
• Mr. Erick Huerta, Mexico
• Mr. Joao Chaves, Portugal
• The ITU was represented by Cosmas Zavazava and Mike Nxele.

The following GCBI members were unable to attend the meeting for various reasons:

• Mr. Sami Trimech, Tunisia
• Mr. Abderrahman Rafi, Morocco
• Mr. Abdul Aziz Awang, Malaysia
• Mr. R.N. Jha, India
• Mr. El Hadji Sarr, Senegal

The meeting discussed its role in supporting the capacity building activities of the BDT as per their terms of reference as enshrined in Resolution 40 of WTDC-10. More specifically, as stated in the Chairman’s opening remarks, the group sought to look at the following:

• How to support the ITU Academy?
• How to improve content developed under the Academy?
• How to assure quality of content developed and training delivered?
• How to mobilize partners for capacity building?
• How to support the development of professional standards within the ICT sector

The meeting was briefed on the main human capacity building activities undertaken by the HCB Division. In partiicular, it was briefed on the work done on the ITU Academy. This involved the upgrading of the ITU Academy platform; development of standardised training materails, especially the extensive work undertaken in developing the Spectrum Management Training Programme (SMTP). They were also briefed on the deveopment of training materials on Quality of Services that has just commenced in collaboration with ITU-T. The group was also apprised of the development of the Centres of Excellence strategy implementation guidelines.

In its deliberations, the group made a commitment to assist BDT/HCB in its preparations for the Global Human Capacity Development Forum to be held in the Americas region towards the end

of 2014. It also undertook to help forge sustainable partnerships with academic institutions, particularly on work related to the ITU Academy. They emphasised the need for a mutually benecifial win-win relationship between the BDT and the Academia.. The meeting requested the BDT to develop a concept document outlining what the Academia stands to benefit by engaging in work related to the ITU academy.

It was concluded that the Chairman of GCBI would attend the TDAG meeting mid-December in Geneva and present the report of the GCBI.

The objectives of the mission were fully met. The meeting was successfully convened. Members of the GCBI who attended the meeting were engaged in the capacity building activities of the BDT and gave useful advice on the way forward. 

• Prepare Report for GCBI to TDAG. Responsability:  HCB. Timeline: By 30 October 2013.
• Develop a Document on the benefits to the Academia of participating in ITU Academy Capacity building activities. Responsability:  HCB. Timeline: By end of November 2013.