January 24th 1995 Terry Waite, patron of the One World Broadcasting Trust, launched OneWorld Online. It aims to be a fast, cheap and easy way for people who are interested in development issues - like global justice, aid, trade, sustainability or peace - to share their ideas and information with each other via the Internet. It's more than one isolated Internet site created by a single organisation. OneWorld Online sets out to be a dynamic meeting place which links major development NGOs (from ACTIONAID to the Worldwide Fund for Nature), together with television and radio broadcasters, in a constant exchange of information and ideas.
From today if you have access to the World Wide Web pages of the Internet you can find OneWorld Online by using the url:
or you can find us from the top page of the BBC Networking Club (on www.bbcnc.org.uk).
More than 25 million people are now estimated to be on the Internet - and the number is growing at an explosive rate. That's a huge potential audience, rapidly sharing information and ideas with each other 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, across the world. The One World Broadcasting Trust has always stood where broadcasting expertise intersects with the ideals of the one world community, and now sees the Internet as an exciting new vehicle for extending the development debate worldwide.
Virtually all of the UK's major development NGOs are partners in the new initiative. Oxfam, for example, is sending out press releases and first-hand reports from global hotspots - but short-term, emergency news is only a small part of what's available. OneWorld Online will have expert overviews summarising the best current thinking on key global issues like aid, the refugee crisis, or food policy, and background papers from research groups like the Overseas Development Institute and EarthAction. There are full-colour pictures, cartoons and maps, and later this year, there will also be audio and video clips from award-winning radio and television programmes.
The partnership with the BBC is central, as the OneWorld Online belongs to its Networking Club, and is working in alliance with the One World Group of Broadcasters. The Overseas Development Administration is a major supporter - and the list is growing every week.
NOTE TO EDITORS:
The One World Broadcasting Trust was established as an independent charity in March 1987. Its aim is to promote greater understanding between people of the developed world and the developing world through broadcasting and related educational activities.