KABUL - Afghanistan today kicked off its first ever social media summit – known as ‘Paiwand’ – in the capital, Kabul, with the aim of connecting the country’s social media community in person as well as exploring ways to grow its use.

According to its organizer, Impassion Afghanistan, a local digital media agency partnering with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the two-day summit has attracted more than 200 participants from around the country.

“This year’s theme is trying to get its audience to think not only about social media now but how it can help achieve the wider goals of development 15 years after 2015 Millennium Development Goals,” said the Director of Impassion Afghanistan, Eileen Guo, referring to the eight goals, agreed on by world leaders at a UN summit in 2000, which set specific targets on global issues such as poverty alleviation and education.

At the summit’s opening session, UNDP’s Senior Deputy Country Director for Afghanistan, Renaud Meyer, said that social media was a powerful tool to exchange views and debate within a society.

Referring to the recent revolutions in the Middle East and North Africa, he said “social media played a critical role in connecting people and exchanging information on the events that were happening in those countries.”

The official noted that UNDP was actively engaged in social media through Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google-Plus, and asked the audience to continue discussions with UNDP through these sites.

“We believe UNDP can bring you examples of development and good practices in the areas of governance, poverty reduction, rural development, environmental protection and many other areas so that Afghans can choose from them on how it is possible to improve the lives of people in Afghanistan,” said Mr. Meyer.

Highlighting that only 12 per cent of Afghans owned computers and that, according to government figures, only 3.5 per cent of the country’s population has access to internet, he said that people can benefit from the empowerment that social media brings – but only if they have access to internet and energy sources and are literate.

“The reality of Afghanistan is that a majority of its people are still illiterate. Only one out of four Afghans over the age of 15 knows how to read and write and when it comes to women, it is even lower,” said Mr. Meyer. “Only one out of eight women of this country knows how to read and write.”

He flagged that only 41 per cent of Afghan households have access to electricity, and that this figure falls to 29 per cent in rural areas where most Afghans live. He also called on audience members to be responsible in their use of social media.

Another speaker at the summit today, social media expert Javed Hamdard, said that the importance of social media was not in technology and access to the Internet but in the thinking and perceptions of social media users and in the information that they choose to share.

He noted that 1.71 billion people were social media users around the world, equivalent to 24 per cent of the world’s population. In relation to Internet use, he said that 2.3 billion people were users, and, in Asia, there were some 812 million users, with this latter figure growing by around eight million people annually.

In Afghanistan, Mr. Hamdard said, there were some 1.7 million people using social media platforms, primarily Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn and Google-Plus. He added that around 2.4 million Afghans have access to the Internet, while 19 million people use mobile phones for which five telecommunication companies provide services, and of these, three provide 3G services.

In his remarks, the Director General of Information and Communication Technology at Afghanistan’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), Aemal Marjan, said that 90 per cent of the country has telecommunications coverage, and 19 provinces have fiber-optic connections, with some large private companies and banks using digital systems for their services.

Mr. Marjan said that that the Afghan Government was working on a policy for the Information Technology (IT) industry and talks were underway with large international companies such as Microsoft, IBM and Dell for the establishment of operations to produce affordable telecommunication products locally.

“These companies have so far had very positive views regarding our IT industry policy and are waiting for the results of the upcoming presidential elections,” said Mr. Marjan, adding that MCIT has issued licenses for digital TV in Afghanistan.

“You might witness digital TV Setup boxes in coming six to seven months in the country,” he said.

Another speaker on the summit’s first day, the head of the Association of Mobile Money Operators of Afghanistan, Haroon Zarif, spoke about the possibility of mobile money transfers and branchless banking. He said that technological developments can have a positive impact on economic development and employment generation, in addition to social development benefits.

He told the Summit that delivery of salaries to government staff in some remote areas has already begun through mobile phones, noting that cash transfers and revenue collection through mobile technology could reduce opportunities for corruption.

On Monday, topics being discussed at the summit include redefining media in the digital age, empowerment for development, social media and the elections and creating a social media culture in Afghanistan.

According to its organizers, the Paiwand summit is the first part of a three-part project. The second part will be held at the provincial level through the provision of social media training, particularly for citizen journalists. The third part, to be implemented before the presidential elections slated for 5 April 2014, will encompass a virtual component. It will involve asking summit attendees and those who received the provincial training to become citizen journalists and report on developments from their locations through social media platforms.