United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs

The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA), part of the UN Secretariat, works closely with governments and stakeholders to help countries around the world meet their economic, social and environmental goals. DESA’s work programme can be divided into three areas: norm-setting, analysis, and capacity-building. The Department is involved in policy-making bodies, facilitating major UN conferences, projecting trends in demography, publishing top quality economic analysis, or helping countries develop capacity. UN DESA is in particular involved in activities related to information and communications technologies (ICTs) for development, especially with regard to the development and promotion of e-government services and open government data, through its Division for Public Administration and Development Management (DPADM). UN DESA is one of the facilitators of the World Summit on the Information Society action lines, in the areas of: the role of public governance authorities and all stakeholders in the promotion of ICTs for development, capacity building, enabling environment, e-government and international and regional cooperation. It also hosts the Secretariat of the Internet Governance Forum.