György Rózsa: Information: from claims to needs (Joint edition published by the Library of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the Kultura Hungarian Foreign Trading Company. Budapest, 1988)
III. „The elephant’s head” and integrated information infrastructure for developing countries
161 IV. An attempt to integrate U.N. information systems into a real network It appears from the previous chapter that the present status of information within the United Nations is like producing goods (information services) of high quality materials which are provided plentifully by the existing and proposed information systems or programmes, but they are not well-proportioned to the needs of development. Steps to change the present situation and the leading role of the United Nations in this process The first step to change the above-mentioned situation is the unambiguous consideration of the transfer of information as a problem of development policy rather than that of administrative co-ordination. Secondly, the consideration of information policy as an integral part of science and technology policy. Thirdly, as a consequence of the above two considerations, to be developed as an integrated policy and management of information transfer for the whole United Nations system. Following from the former and as the fourth step, it is necessary to transform the existing quasi-network, whose members are alive but not the network itself, into a real and efficient complex of systems for the transfer of information. As the fifth step, decision-making, financing by UNDP, as well as the supervision of management and reporting has to be changed to form an integrated and interconnected process. From the institutional point of view, all the existing bodies may be considered for such a change, along with their experiences, positive or negative. For the time being, UNISIST has proved to be the most successful programme of co-ordination. It forms an "umbrella" for and a "bridge" between the United Nations and various other international organizations and national information activities. But UNISIST is essentially a normative programme rather than an over-all United Nations information policy. It may be an important tool or programme of such a policy, but cannot replace it. UNESCO itself as a specialized agency for education, science and culture has accumulated highly important experiences in the field of information, but from the viewpoint of information transfer, the really efficient partners seem to be the over-all - and not the sectoral - decision-making bodies of the member States like ministries for development, planning offices, and similar bodies whose partners are the United Nations, the Economic and Social Council, and the United Nations specialized bodies for development. The IOB is more a technical co-ordination body, but much in the same way as the UNISIST it can play a supporting role in an integrated United Nations information policy. As has been discussed, the United Nations has to play the leading role in the policy and management of information transfer, integrating it with its development policy,
