Jac Stienen, Managing Director of IICD, retires

Jac Stienen has been in charge of general management at the International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) since 2000, only a few years after the institute was first established in 1996. During his time in office, IICD grew from 15 tot 33 staff members, set up programmes in nine different countries, and brought the highly successful Global Teenager Project to 35 countries all over the world. Today, IICD is one of the key players in the field of ICT for development and is widely recognised in the public, private and non-profit sector for its valuable contribution to sustainable development and achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Stienen was the third consecutive Managing Director when he took up the position in 2000. Although he was quite new to the development sector, having recently retired from Philips Telecommunications and Lucent Technologies, he had a keen grasp of information and communication technology (ICT) and telecommunications in the private sector. At that time, ICT as a tool for development was still relatively unknown, not only among the majority of organisations involved in development aid, but also among policymakers. At the same time, the ICT business was booming and during the early years IICD was presented with plenty of opportunities to facilitate ICT for development activities in various developing countries. Stienen's main priority during this period was to consolidate the organisation and mainstream its activities. It was during his term of office that IICD developed its current methodology toward programmes in nine different countries in Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa. The programmes are based on local demands from multiple stakeholders in a specific sector – education, health, agricultural livelihoods and governance – and offer support in the form of seed funds, capacity development activities, advice with policymaking processes, and setting up national knowledge sharing platforms on the use of ICT. His second priority was to present IICD to its stakeholders as a trustworthy partner and to convince potential funding partners of the impact of IICD's work.

To honour Jac Stienen and in recognition of the major contribution he has made to IICD, a symposium called ‘ICT4D: fleeting trend or absolute necessity?' will be held on 11 March 2008 in The Hague for all those associated with IICD. More information about this symposium will follow shortly on the IICD website.

On 1 January 2008, Jac Stienen will be succeeded by Ms Caroline Figuères. Ms Figuères graduated from the French Engineering Colleges in water and environment in 1985 and has been living in the Netherlands since 1989. She is currently working at the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education in Delft. In her present position she has gained a lot of experience in development work, particularly in Africa. The next issue of Logon4D will feature an interview with Ms Figuères.