OneWorld.net (U.S.)

March 28-30,2005, Kathmandu, Nepal About a 100 participants from Nepal's NGO sector, Government officials, and key researchers from the academia participated in an interaction programme on Information and Communication Technology (ICTs) for partnership building. The interaction was conceived by South Asia Partnership-International (SAP-I), SAP-Nepal and Bellanet Asia. The meeting focused on e-governance and was chaired by Dr. Rohit Kumar Nepali, Executive Director, SAP-I. Case studies and experiences were presented by the experts that generated more ideas and issues pertaining to development and implementation of e-governance programmes for Nepal. Lawrence Liang of Alternative Forum, Bangalore, India, Allen B Tula Dhar, Member - secretary, Nepali Language in IT and others deliberated on the opportunities of open society, civil society and government initiatives in Open Content and the legal issues governing the field of Open Content. During the interaction it was shared that for developing countries like Nepal, the Open Content mode forms a very attractive alternative to proprietary regimes of information which are completely monopolised by the rich countries. On the legal issue of Open Content Dr. Bharat B. Karki,Head, Central department of Law, Nepal Law Campus, presented Creative Commons Licenses as an alternative and emphasised that it can be an opportunity for Nepal to gain from development in ICT. Another interactive session with a separate group of small grassroots organisation was held on March 30, 2005 that primarily focused on online networking.