Inter-Sessional Report

Summary of 2nd Inter-Sessional Video-Conference (11 MAY 2020)

In response to the current pandemic and the accompanying challenges to ICT across the UN system, in March the DTN Chairs (Mr. Patrick Carey, Acting Assistant Secretary-General, Office of Information and Communications Technology, UN Secretariat; & Ms. Ingrid Regien, CIO, UNESCO) decided to replace the planned DTN session for April with shorter and more regular virtual meetings on Teams. This decision reflected the immediate need for inter-agency knowledge sharing and collaboration on areas of common concern in order to support business continuity. The DTN held its second virtual meeting in response to the need to exchange ideas and information pertinent to the situation caused by COVID-19 on 30 April 2020. This MS Teams meeting was co-chaired by Mr. Carey and Ms. Regien and there were 55 participants. The agenda for this meeting built on topics of immediate interest to the DTN community, as evidenced by exchanges within the Teams space and included status updates from all Working Groups established in the meeting of 6 April. While the first meeting included items focused on scaling up to meet the need to securely manage virtual meetings, the second addressed digital signatures, the future of work and measures to consider as organizations return to what is now termed the new normal. Prior to the meeting, the UNISSIG had completed its task to provide guidance on the secure use of Zoom as a virtual meeting platform for UN system organizations. The two other working groups, looking to establish the federation of ICT resources and guidance for organizing virtual meetings respectively, both reported solid progress in the pursuit of their aims.