Commissioner Lallana to Lead UNDPs Project to Promote Policies for Open Computing Standards in Asia-Pacific Countries

The GIFs Project is a joint initiative of UNDP-APDIP, IBM, Oracle and the International Open Source Network. It aims to help Asia-Pacific countries share and create strategies, blueprints and policies for adopting the right blend of open standards and technology services. The goal will be for more countries to develop universally compatible applications and networks to make internal and external government services and transactions more automatic, affordable, efficient and service-oriented.

According to Dr. Lallana; "The GIF Project meets a growing global interest in interoperability using open standards, recently demonstrated by the submission by 20 government's National Bodies to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) expressing concerns on a standard". As Project Adviser, Dr. Lallana, in coordination with UNDP-APDIPs Programme Coordinator, will manage the overall research work and ensure the timely implementation of the project's activities. Specifically, he will be responsible for leading the review of existing GIFs, the convening of a study group on GIFs, and the writing and publication of a step-by-step guide on GIF formulation and policy recommendations for countries interested in developing their own GIFs.

Dr. Lallana has extensive government and research experience. At the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) – the apex ICT body of the Philippines government, he led the Human Capital Development Group and served as the Chairman of the CICT Working Group on International Affairs from September 2004 to June 2006. Dr. Lallana is also widely published. He wrote the chapter on the "Philippines" and co-wrote the chapter "Social, Political and Cultural Aspects of ICT" in the Digital Review of the Asia Pacific 2005/2006 (in http://www.digital-review.org). Other recent publications include: An Overview of ICT Policies and e-Strategies of Select Asian Economies (UNDP-APDIP and Elsevier, 2004); SMS in Business and Government (DOST/ICT4D.ph, 2004); State of e-Government in the Philippines 2003-2004 (Congressional Oversight Committee on eCommerce, 2004); and m-Government: Mobile/Wireless Applications in Government (in http://www.egov4dev.org.topic4.htm). He was the Series Editor of e-Primers for the Information Economy, Society and Polity, vols. 1-7 (online versions at: http://www.apdip.net/elibrary#iesp), which was jointly published by UNDP-APDIP and the e-ASEAN Task Force.

For more information on the GIFs Project, please visit http://www.apdip.net/projects/gif