WINNIPEG — IISD is pleased to announce that it has become the newest member of the Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP). The GKP is an evolving, informal partnership of public, private and not-for-profit organizations. Partner organizations are committed to sharing information, experiences and resources to promote broad access to, and effective use of, knowledge and information as tools for sustainable development. The GKP emerged from the co-operation of several dozen organizations in sponsoring the Global Knowledge 97 conference, "Knowledge for Development in the Information Age," in Toronto, Canada in June 1997.

The work of the Global Knowledge Partnership is rooted in the conviction that-

• access to and effective use of knowledge and information are increasingly important for sustainable economic and social development for individuals, communities and nations;
• the information revolution can be a positive force for empowering the world's poor; and
• effective action that includes the poorest individuals, communities and nations in the global information economy requires increased partnership and mutual learning among public, private and not-for-profit organizations.

IISD's has been involved with GKP since the GK '97 Conference when we played a critical role providing Webcasting services as well as end-of-the-day conference summaries and a concluding conference brief. IISD is a member of the Canadian Network on Global Knowledge (Canada @ GK)-a national sub-group of the GKP-and we are currently participating in important lead-up activities to the GKII Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in March 2000.

IISD is also contributing to GKII by gathering the voices of young people-by using creative ways to integrate young people into GKII by promoting and implementing information and communications technologies for development. Jointly with the three working groups (on access, empowerment and governance) and the Malaysian GKII Content Committee, IISD is organizing an international electronic conference, entitled "Youth: Building Knowledge Societies." We have invited eight young professionals and students from around the world to form the GKII Youth Advisory Council, which will run the six-week virtual conference (early January to end-February). Ideas and interventions from the virtual conference will inform the GKII Knowledge Forum and the GKP's Action Summit.

For further information, please e-mail IISD at [email protected].