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The history of the Partnership for Information Society Development
(PRIOR) began on 5 June 2000, when the Russian participants of a
conference held together with the award ceremony for the winners and
finalists of the international contest for the first time heard about an initiative to create an international portal. It was mentioned in the presentation made by Carlos Braga, Director of the Information for Development () Program of the World Bank.
This initiative, which intended to establish partnerships for global
Information Society development, originated in 1999 at the World Bank
and was later established as an independent organization .
In September 2000, the infoDev announced a competition for
the creation of country development gateways which would become
independent partners of the global Development Gateway. Over 70
countries have taken part in this tender to date. Of those, 44 received
grants for planning development activity, which corresponds to the
goals of the Development Gateway: using knowledge and modern
information and communication technologies (ICTs) for sustainable
development and the reduction of poverty, including informational
poverty (also known as information gap, digital divide, etc.).
Russia received such a grant in February 2001 for the implementation of the joint project by the and the company which formed a consortium of partner organizations representing public, private, and nonprofit sectors.
Extensive work to popularize the ideas of Russia Development Gateway
(RuDG) and to engage new forces interested in Russia 's e-Development
and its implementation was conducted before the opening of the project,
which took place on March 1, 2001 . RuDG has been presented at 13 major
stakeholder workshops and round tables held in Moscow and Moscow
region, Saint Petersburg, Krasnodar, Novgorod, Chelyabinsk, Yaroslavl
and Kazan, at two press conferences, at 10 large and medium-size
conferences and round table discussions in six cities of Russia and at
Rutgers University in the US. The entire audience has exceeded 4,000
people. The negotiations were held with over 40 organizations,
representing the government, businesses, sponsors and investors. As a
result, 38 organizations became official partners of RuDG already at
the preliminary stage.
The main results of the planning stage (March-September 2001) were as follows:
- Russia e-Readiness and e-Needs assessment was conducted and an
was prepared (MS Word archived document, 509 Kb). The report utilizes
the methodology of the Center for International Development of the
Harvard University and presents the situation in Russia with the use of
the following five main categories of indicators (which are further
divided into 19 groups of more specific indicators): informational
infrastructure and network access, education with the use of ICTs, the
"networked" community, the networked economy, policy on ICTs. Such an
analysis was conducted in Russia for the first time. It is based on
indicators as of the end of 2000.
- The RuDG partnership consortium had been extended to 50
organizations from five regions of Russia ( Moscow , Republic of
Tatarstan , St. Petersburg , Chelyabinsk Region, and Yaroslavl Region)
as well as the UK and Finland .
- Collegiate governing bodies of the project were formed: the
Supervisory Board and the Consultative Committee. At their first joint
meeting in Moscow on June 4, 2001 , they approved the idea of founding
the Russian e-Development Partnership (PRIOR) on the basis of the RuDG
partnership consortium.
- A working prototype of
was created in Russian and in English and officially presented at the
news conference in the Central House of Journalists in Moscow on July
30, 2001 (on the same day that the global Development Gateway was
launched).
- A strategy and a business plan for sustainable development of PRIOR were prepared.
- A on the RuDG Planning Phase was submitted to the Development Gateway.
The birthday of PRIOR is November 30, 2001, when authorized
representatives of 50 organizations, including 45 organizations from 11
regions of Russia (Volgograd Region, Kemerovo Region, Moscow, Perm
Region, Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Republic of Tatarstan, Republic of
Udmurtia, St. Petersburg, Stavropol Region, Chelyabinsk Region, and
Yaroslavl Region), one organization from the USA, two organizations
from Finland and two international IT companies, signed the Memorandum on PRIOR Creation at the Organizational Conference.
The following documents were approved at the Organizational Conference:
A new round of competition of the info Dev program was held
in October 2002. Its aim was to support the process of implementing
projects prepared at the previous stage. The Russian application,
submitted on behalf of the RuDG partnership consortium, was approved
during the first round of the competition. The stage of project
implementation ended on February 28, 2004 .
The main interim results of this stage are as follows:
The creation of PRIOR and its substantial quantitative growth:
hundreds of organizations from many regions of Russia , as well as from
Finland , the USA and Ukraine (see PRIOR statistics) joined PRIOR.
- The formation of independent regional branches of PRIOR: in the Stavropol Region, in the North-West of Russia (including a separate branch in the Kaliningrad Region), in the Tula Region, in South Ural (including a separate branch in the city of Magnitogorsk), in the Republic of Tatarstan, and in the Perm Region, and in Khanty-Mansi autonomous region (Yugra).
- Involvement of government agencies in PRIOR's projects and engaging
of official representatives of federal, regional and municipal
authorities in the Partnership's managerial bodies: the Supervisory Board and the Coordinating Board.
- A clear definition of the mission, goals and objectives, the target audience, and a unique feature of RDG (See the RuDG Editorial Policy); the creation of an updated version of the Gateway Portal and regular content development for it.
- Positioning of the work on creation of development portals as
program events of the Federal Program "eRussia 2002-2010" and the City
Program "e-Moscow."
- Engaging PRIOR's representatives in the task force organized to
prepare the concept of the National Strategy "Russia in the Information
Age," (Resolution No. 35 of November 18, 2002 by the Minister of RF for
Communications and Informatization).
- Establishment of the
as an organization committed to the provision of support for projects
and initiatives aimed at the development of an Information Society in
Russia.
- Formation of an initial portfolio of PRIOR projects and starting the work on providing financing for them.
- Publication and distribution of the PRIOR / RuDG e-Newsletter in Russian and in English
and a printed version in Russian with exclusive discourses from Russian
and foreign experts on the problems of the Information Society.
- Preparing and publication of the Russia e-Readiness reports.
In March 2004 the new round of the competition was held, which was
oriented towards completing the second stage of the project
implementation regarding the creation of the national gateway portals
and building partnerships. The competition was organized by the
Development Gateway Foundation. The Russian application prepared by the
RDF was among the 22 international applications supported by the DGF.
The grant of $100,000 will be used by the Foundation for the purposes
of reinforcing the effectiveness of the existing network of the portals
in Russia and its further expansion.
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