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Key Takeaways
Crowds lined up outside ITU Headquarters today to kick off the first day of the WSIS Forum 2026. Attendees packed rooms throughout the day to address critical topics including youth, gender, action-line implementation,
and sustainability.
Youth High-Level Dialogue
An emphatic discussion around the role of youth, who called for genuine partnership and not just token seats at the table — rooted in the idea that youth put more trust in community than in government or industry
leaders. Speakers noted that roughly 90% of 2030 jobs will require digital skills, yet many young people lack access to those. Intergenerational labs, safe spaces to fail, AI literacy scaling alongside adoption, and real portfolios for digital natives all
serve the C1 aim of including all stakeholders in ICT-for-development.
Women and Girls
Beyond facilitating access, decision-making power through enforceable, safety-by-design regulation is increasingly essential to protecting women and girls, particularly with respect to AI. Women need to be in
the rooms setting AI and data standards. Concerns flagged included AI recruitment bias and automation risk to women’s jobs.
WSIS Action Lines Coordination
Turning the outcomes of WSIS+20 into concrete action, WSIS Action Lines Facilitators held a coordination meeting to advance the new mandates set out in the WSIS+20 Outcome Document (A/RES/80/173). Discussions
also moved forward the development of Action Line road maps and measurable indicators, with the outcomes of this work to be reported to the CSTD at its thirtieth session in 2027.
C7: Reaching the Unconnected
The C7 sessions centered on reaching the unconnected. On e-government, 2.2 billion people remain offline even as 98% of member states offer a digital service, making multi-channel delivery essential through post
offices, Huduma centers, and libraries. The e-waste session (ITU with Saudi Arabia’s CST), a three-year project across Paraguay, Rwanda, and Zambia, anchored the C7 e-environment strand, with only about 20% of e-waste recycled and Extended Producer Responsibility
as the core regulatory model.
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