Information and communication technologies for development
Information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) refers to the application of information and communication technologies (ICT) toward social, economic, and political development, with a particular emphasis on helping poor and marginalized people and communities. It aims to help in international development by bridging the digital divide and providing equitable access to technologies. ICT4D is grounded in the notions of "development", "growth", "progress" and "globalization" and is often interpreted as the use of technology to deliver a greater good. Another similar term used in the literature is "digital development". ICT4D draws on theories and frameworks from many disciplines, including sociology, economics, development studies, library, information science, and communication studies.
- 1 History
- 2 Theoretical background
- 3 ICT access and use
- 4 Applications
- 5 Organizations
- 5.1 Lessons learned
- 5.2 Sustainability and Scalability
- 5.3 Sustainable Development Goals
- 5.3.1 Goal Number 1: No Poverty
- 5.3.2 Goal Number 2: Zero Hunger
- 5.3.3 Goal Number 3: Good Health & Well-being
- 5.3.4 Goal Number 4: Quality Education
- 5.3.5 Goal Number 5: Gender Equality
- 5.3.6 Goal Number 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
- 5.3.7 Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
- 5.3.8 Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
- 5.3.9 Goal Number 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
- 5.3.10 Goal Number 10: Reduced Inequalities
- 5.3.11 Goal Number 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
- 5.3.12 Goal Number 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
- 5.3.13 Goal Number 13: Climate Action
- 5.3.14 Goal Number 14: Life Below Water
- 5.3.15 Goal Number 15: Life on Land
- 5.3.16 Goal Number 16: Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions
- 5.3.17 Goal Number 17: Partnerships for the Goals
- 5.3.18 Challenges
- 6 Inclusive innovation
- 7 Impact assessment
- 8 Mainstreaming and sidestreaming
- 9 Vision of a compelling narrative
- 10 Criticisms and challenges
- 10.1 Myths of ICT4D
- 10.2 The 9 myths of ICT in education
- 10.3 Neoliberalization of education
- 10.4 Three key challenges
- 10.5 Post-2015 gaps – new development-oriented priorities
- 10.6 Other issues
- 10.7 Rebound environmental effects
- 10.8 The Dark Side of ICT4D
- 11 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) + 10 Challenges
- 12 WSIS + 10 Beyond 2015 Priorities
- 13 Country and region case studies
- 13.1 Philippines
- 13.2 Africa
- 13.3 Cambodia
- 13.4 Lao PDR
- 13.5 Thailand
- 13.6 Malaysia
- 13.7 Bangladesh
- 13.8 China
- 13.9 Indonesia
- 14 International programs, agencies, and strategies
- 15 Future
- 16 See also
- 17 Sources
- 18 References
- 19 Further reading
- 20 External links
ICT4D grew out of the attempts to use emerging computing technologies to improve conditions in the developing countries. According to a paper by Crysta Highfield, ([https://mdp.berkeley.edu/social-media-and-development/ 1]) “as internet connectivity spreads, and cell phone usage spreads even further, there are millions of new potential content creators gaining access to social media each year.”
It formalized through a series of reports, conferences, and funding initiatives that acted as key policy-making avenues: the 1998 World Development Report from the World Bank, highlighting the role of knowledge and ICTs in development; a report from the G8 Digital Opportunities Task Force, concluding that ICTs play a key role in modern human development, the World Summits on the Information Society held in Geneva in 2003 and Tunis in 2005.
At least three phases can be identified in ICT4D evolution:
- ICT4D 0.0: mid-1950s to late-1990s. The focus of this earliest phase was on the use of IT (not ICT) in government and private sector organizations in developing countries. One of the earliest computers used in a developing country was a HEC machine installed in 1956 to undertake numerical calculations in the Indian Institute of Statistics in Kolkata.
- ICT4D 1.0: late-1990s to late-2000s. The advent of the Millennium Development Goals combined with the rise and spread of the Internet in industrialized countries led to a rapid increase in investments in ICT infrastructure and projects in developing countries. The most typical application was the telecentre, used to bring information on development issues such as health, education, and agricultural extension, into poor communities. Later, telecentres were also used to deliver government services.
- ICT4D 2.0: late-2000s onwards. There is no clear boundary between phases 1.0 and 2.0. The focus in phase 2.0 increasingly shifts toward technologies in use, such as the mobile phone and SMS technologies. There is less concern with e-readiness and more interest in the impact of ICTs on development. Additionally, there is more focus on the poor as producers and innovators with ICTs (as opposed to being consumers of ICT-based information). ICT4D 2.0 is about reframing the poor. Where ICT4D 1.0 marginalized them, allowing a supply-driven focus, ICT4D 2.0 centralizes them, creating a demand-driven focus. Where ICT4D 1.0 – fortified by the "bottom of the pyramid" concept – characterized them largely as passive consumers, ICT4D 2.0 sees the poor as active producers and active innovators.
The table below summarizes the ICT4D evolution:
|Issue // Phase||ICT4D 0.0||ICT4D 1.0||ICT4D 2.0|
|Iconic technology||PC database||Telecentre||Mobile phone, convergence|
|Key application||Data processing||Content (and iteration)||Services and production|
|The poor||Who?||Consumers||Innovators and producers|
|Key goal||Organizational efficiency||MDGs||Growth and development|
|Key issue||Technology's potential||Readiness and availability||Uptake and impact|
|Key actor||Government||Donors and NGOs||All sectors|
|Attitude||Ignore → Isolate||Idolise → Integrate||Integrate → Innovate|
|Innovation model||Northern||Pro-poor → Para-poor||Para-poor → Per-poor|
|Dominant discipline||Information Systems||Informatics/Development Studies||Tribrid of CS, IS, and DS|
|Development paradigm||Modernisation||Human development||Development 2.0|
Proponents of ICT4D proposed four arguments focused on: first, ICT’s role to national and global advancements; second, information and communication technology as an integral part of economic development; third, it can and it should influence to end exploitive regimes and dismantle asymmetrical structures; lastly, it is argued that communication through new media are extensions of mankind. They are believed to provide the infrastructure for an evolving world brain. (Flor, A.G., 2009)
As information and communication technologies evolve, so does ICT4D: more recently it has been suggested that big data can be used as an important ICT tool for development and that it represents a natural evolution of the ICT4D paradigm.
According to Carlota Perez: "this quantum jump in productivity can be seen as a technological revolution, which is made possible by the appearance in the general cost structure of a particular input that we could call the 'key factor', fulfilling the following conditions: (1) clearly perceived low-and descending-relative cost; (2) unlimited supply for all practical purposes; (3) potential all-pervasiveness; (4) a capacity to reduce the costs of capital, labour and products as well as to change them qualitatively". Information and Communication Technology is expected to fulfill these requirements and bring socio-economic and political transformation which result in a modern and developed society. This type of society is often referred to as the post-industrial society, the fifth Kondratiev, Information society, digital age and network society.
The major goal of ICT for Development is to utilize the benefits of technology for social transformation for good. Previously when such social transformations took place (e.g. industrial revolution), the result was derived from a combined effect of a powerful technology and effective policy and strategy. In the case of ICT4D, this three-dimensional interplay has been depicted as a cube. In line with the Schumpeterian school of thought, the first enabling factor for the associated socio-economic transformations is the existence of technological infrastructure: hardware infrastructure and generic software services. Additionally, capacity and knowledge are the human requirements to make use of these technologies. These foundations (horizontal green dimension in Figure) are the basis for the digitization of information flows and communication mechanisms in different sectors of society. When part of the information flows and communication processes in these sectors are carried out in e-lectronic networks, the prefix "e-" is often added to the sector's name, resulting in e-government, e-business and e-commerce, e-health, and e-learning, etc. (vertical blue dimension in Figure). This process of transformation represent the basic requirements and building blocks, but they are not sufficient for development. The mere existence of technology is not enough to achieve positive outcomes (no technological determinism). ICT4D strategies and policies focus on accelerating development works, minimizing drawbacks and removing bottlenecks with the use of technology to meet goals. Generally, interventions are of two kinds: Positive Assessment (e.g. incentives, projects, financing etc.) that make existing opportunities more prominent and Negative Assessment (e.g. regulation and legislation, etc.) that controls and suppress negative developments(diagonal yellow-red dimension in Figure).
ICT access and use
ICT development includes many types of infrastructure and services, ranging from telecommunications, such as voice, data, and media services, to specific applications, such as banking, education, or health, to the implementation of electronic government (e-government). Each of these types has its own trends that vary across countries and regions.
One of the most positive trends has been observed in voice communications. Thus, the proportion of mobile phone subscriptions in developing countries increased from about 30 percent of the world total in 2000 to more than 50 percent in 2004 and to almost 70 percent in 2007. In India, the total number of mobile phone subscriptions reached 851.70 million in June 2011, among which 289.57 million came from rural areas, with a higher percentage of increase than that in urban areas. Only about 35 percent of the population in developing countries has access to the Internet (versus about 80 percent in advanced economies).
Access to ICTs in the developing world has been framed through the concepts of digital divide and use / non-use. Market liberalization and competition as well as various regulatory and technical solutions are believed to be useful in closing the digital divide and ensuring the universal access to ICTs. The general perception is that people who have access to ICT will benefit from it, and those who don't would not. Benefits include boundless information sharing, connectivity, participation in the global economy. The use of mobile phones as part of ICT4D initiatives shows some positive effects in improving access to information and services. For example, the arrival of mobiles brought reduction in the variability of price and the amount of waste in the fishing system along the Kerala coast, India. A study in Kenya identified innovation in mobile technologies for development, in particular the success of M-PESA mobile banking through the partnerships between private and public sectors. Another analysis of mobile phone use in developing countries shows that the use of mobile phones improves access to information, helps to address market inefficiencies, and can be used in disaster relief.
In contrast, studies from rural regions in Ethiopia, India, and Indonesia suggest that farmers use mobile phones to connect to those who are already in their social network, which limits the usability of mobile phones for wider information sharing and change in practices.
Furthermore, it has been suggested that those who don't have access to technology run the risk of being marginalized and bypassed.
The users and non-users of ICTs can be categorized into Non-Users, Indirect Users, Shared Users, and Owner-Use.
- Non-Users: individuals with no access to either ICTs or ICT-based information and services. Such individuals may still benefit from ICT4D via the spillover effect - situations when other users of ICT increase benefit for the whole community, including the non-users.
- Indirect Users: individuals who do not have hands-on access themselves, but can gain access to digital information and services via direct users.
- Shared Users: individuals who do not own the technology, but who can directly use ICTs owned by someone else (e.g., by friend, workplace, ICT business, community, etc.).
- Owner-Users: individuals who own and use the technology.
One of the goals of ICT4D is to employ robust low-cost technologies that can be available for poor and low income communities around the world.
Short- and long-term negative effects of ICTs also need to be studied.
Examples of specific technologies used in developing countries include:
- Microlending and microfinance apps and organizations, such as Zidisha, Kiva Microfunds, Milaap.
- Information sharing, such as Esoko.
- Scientific Animations Without Borders is a program based at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign, focused on ICT4D.[clarification needed]
ICTD hit for six
- Understand Local Needs
- Use Appropriate Technology
- Create Business Models
- Measure Social Impact
- Engage with private sector
- Innovate Constantly
Agriculture is considered to be the most vital sector for ICT intervention. It is considered as the primary economic sector. It produces the most basic of human needs - food, clothing, shelter.
Farmers in the developing countries use ICTs to access price information from national and international markets as well as connect to policy makers and other farmers. There are also smartphone apps that can show the user information about the status of their crops and irrigation system remotely. In livestock farming, cattle-breeding now includes scientific crossbreeding techniques that produce cattle with greatly improved fertility. Having a local radio/TV show will be a great help in informing the community on updates from the agricultural sector. ICTs can also be used for training purposes.
For an experimental assessment of the role of mobile phones for farmers' access to agricultural information from extension agents and from other farmers see a recent article.
ICT4D initiatives in agriculture can be generally classified into direct interventions, when farmers are connected to information and opportunities that can directly improve their income or well-being, and indirect interventions – supportive, long-term programs that can improve established agricultural services over time through capacity building, research, and training.
ICT4D not only strengthens agricultural production but also helps in market development. Thus it supports creating future opportunities for agricultural sector and the development of rural livelihoods.
A document released by the World Bank's eTransform Africa project presents a summary of ICT application in agriculture in the African continent. The report includes a roadmap on ICT's application in farming, a list of African eAgriculture accomplishments called the Africa Scan, and agricultural case studies performed in countries such as Namibia and Egypt, which focuses on livestock production and irrigation efficiency, respectively.
The Open Agriculture (OpenAG) project by MIT is an ICT-enabled project with an Agriculture development focus. In this project, users have a controlled environment agriculture device where "every time users grow and harvest, they will contribute to a library of Climate Recipes that can be borrowed and scaled so that users around the world can gain access to the best and freshest foods".
Rice is the main food of half of the population. In the Philippines, the FutureRice program by the Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) is close to completing its vision of Philippine farms of the future as of 2015. The goal is to have farms that are automated, connected to apps for the people to save on water, harness green energy, and make use of natural fertilizers and pesticides. The demo farms aim to prepare farmers for two probable future scenarios: natural farming for a world where fuel has become expensive and scarce due to high demand, and high-tech, mechanized farming to make Philippine rice competitive in the world market.
With farming equipment, farmers can significantly save time, money, and labor. For instance, a mechanical rice transplanter – a machine used to transfer rice seedlings onto a rice paddy – can finish one hectare in one hour compared to an entire day with 8 to 10 laborers without a transplanter. Organic, farm-sourced waste like carabao poop and rice straw are turned into fertilizer through the action of microbacteria and earthworms. It is a process called vermicompost.
Today, there are apps customized to the needs of farmers. Rice Crop Manager, a web and mobile-based app developed by the International Rice Research Institute together with PhilRice, presents farmers with a set of questions about their farm. Once all the questions are answered, the app will generate recommendations on how the farmer can improve his yield (e.g. the app will tell him when, how much, and how often to apply fertilizer). Rice Crop Manager can be viewed and downloaded from Google Play as "RCM PH".
"Rice Doctor Tagalog" is a Filipino version of the mobile application. It aims to aid in the identification and management of the rice crop issues here in the country. Leading authorities from International Rice Research Institute, Philippine Rice Research Institute, the Indonesian Research Institute for Rice, and the Lucid team at the University of Queensland in Australia developed the application. IRRI said that workers, farmers, researchers, and students using Rice Doctor can identify more than 80 pests, diseases and other disorders affecting rice with text and images. Experts from PhilRice and students taking up development communication from the University of the Philippines aided in the reviewing, editing and finalizing of the Filipino translation of the summary of the signs, symptoms and management options. IRRI stated that this recent meeting at in Laguna was the next step of the Filipino translation held by the project, Improving Technology Promotion and Delivery through Capability Enhancement of Next-Gen Rice Extension Professionals and Other Intermediaries, under the Food Staples Sufficiency Program. Last year, the first part of the workshop was primarily for the terms and translation of the diagnostic questions. IRRI claims that the Filipino translated Rice Doctor is the stepping stone for the translation and localization of a diagnostic tool for the country-specific crop problems. Currently, these are also being done in other countries such as Bangladesh and India.
Climate change and environment
The use of ICT in weather forecasting is broad. Weather forecasting offices use mass media to inform the public on weather updates. After tropical storm Ondoy in the Philippines, the Filipino people are more curious and aware about the weather hazards. Meteorological offices are also using advanced tools to monitor the weather and the weather systems that may affect a certain area.
Monitoring devices include:
- Weather satellites
- Weather radars
- Automatic weather stations
- Wind profilers
- Other synoptic data or weather instruments, including Earth Simulator which is used to model climate and weather conditions.
In Africa, flood is one of the major concerns of farmers. The International Water Management Institute launched the mobile services for flood management, specifically in East Sudan. These mobile services are considered as a next-generation ICT for weather and water information. The tool converts complex satellite sensor information to simple text messages which are sent to farmers informing them about the optimum use of flood water for crop production. The text messages would also warn the farmers about the flood events which would help them prepare their fields and advise on how to mitigate flood damage in estimating the risk of future flood events.
Climate change is a global phenomenon affecting the lives of mankind. In times of calamities, information and communication technology is needed for disaster management. Various organisations, government agencies and small and large-scale research projects have been exploring the use of ICT for relief operations, providing early warnings and monitoring extreme weather events. A review of new ICTs and climate change in developing countries highlighted that ICT can be used for (1) Monitoring: observing, detecting and predicting, and informing science and decision making; (2) Disaster management: supporting emergency response through communications and information sharing, and providing early warning systems; and (3) Adaptation: supporting environmental, health and resource management activities, up-scaling technologies and building resilience. In the Philippines, institutions like the National Disaster and Risk Reduction and Management Council help the public in monitoring the weather and advisory for any possible risks due to hazardous weather. NetHope is another global organization which contributes disaster management and awareness through information technology. According to ICTandclimatechange.com ICT companies can be victims, villains or heroes of climate change.
In 2014 when Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines, the CDAC network utilized different technologies to coordinate and communicate efforts between the affected communities and the different network's volunteer organizations. CDAC saw the value of communication in responding to the disaster. They emphasized getting accurate and timely information as being crucial to saving lives. One of the organizations and tools that they tapped was the Digital Humanitarian Network. The Digital Humanitarian Network is a group of organizations with various tools that contribute to crisis mapping. These tools were used to manage information that are received about the disaster. The tools they use allow them to monitor media—including social media, create live crisis maps, analyze the data they have, etc.
In 2015, the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) launched a website called Be Prepared Metro Manila. The website collates information regarding earthquake preparedness. This was created in response to a predicted earthquake, expected to hit Metro Manila with a 7.2 intensity and it contains different info-graphics containing precautionary measures that can be used to monitor and prepare for earthquakes. Be Prepared Metro Manila explains how to respond in the event of an earthquake, illustrates the valley fault system, lists down details of emergency contacts, and opens a sign-up process for people interested to be volunteers. In addition to the campaign launched by the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA), the Department of Science and Technology (DOST) has also utilized ICT through the use of both web application and mobile application for the DOST – Project Noah. According to DOST, NOAH's mission is to undertake disaster science research and development, advance the use of cutting edge technologies, and recommend innovative information services in government's disaster prevention and mitigation efforts. Through the use of science and technology and in partnership with the academe and other stakeholders, the DOST through Project NOAH is taking a multi-disciplinary approach in developing systems, tools, and other technologies that could be operationalized by government to help prevent and mitigate disasters. Project NOAH can be accessed here
Geographic information systems (GIS) are also used in several ICT4D applications, such as the Open Risk Data Initiative (OpenRDI)[permanent dead link]. OpenRDI aims to minimize the effect of disaster in developing countries by encouraging them to open their disaster risk data. GIS technologies such as satellite imagery, thematic maps, and geospatial data play a big part in disaster risk management. One example is the HaitiData, where maps of Haiti containing layers of geospatial data (earthquake intensity, flooding likelihood, landslide and tsunami hazards, overall damage, etc.) are made available which can then be used by decision makers and policy makers for rehabilitation and reconstruction of the country. The areas which are receiving priority attention include natural resources information assessment, monitoring and management, water shed development, environmental planning, urban services and land use planning.
Government, non-government and other organizations are encouraged to use ICT as a tool for protecting environment and developing sustainable systems that save natural resources, to implement green computing and to establish surveillance systems to forecast and monitor natural and man-made disasters.
According to a research by OECD, ICTs can be tools for dealing with environmental issues as follows:
- Environment surveillance: Terrestrial (earth, land, soil, water), ocean, climate and atmospheric surveillance, data collection, storage and record technologies, remote sensing, telemetric systems, geographic information systems (GIS) etc.
- Environment analysis: Different computational and processing tools are required to analyze the data collected from environment. Some of these tools are land, soil, water and atmospheric quality assessment tools, Tool for analyzing atmospheric conditions like GHG emissions and pollutants etc.
- Environment planning: Environment planning and policy formulation require analyzed data, information and decision support systems.
- Environment management and protection: Information and communication technologies for management and protection of environment include resource and energy conservation and management systems, GHG emission management and reduction systems and controls, pollution control and management systems etc. ICT can reduce its own environmental impacts by increasing system efficiency which ultimately reduce the overall negative impact on environment.
- Impact and mitigating effects of ICT utilization: ICT use can mitigate the environmental impacts directly by increasing process efficiency and as a result of dematerialization, and indirectly by virtue of the secondary and tertiary effects resulting from ICT use on human activities, which in turn reduce the impact of humans on the environment.
- Environmental capacity building: ICT is used as a media to increase public awareness, development of environment professionals, and integrating environmental issues into formal education.
Examples: The Tropical Ecology Assessment and Monitoring Network, Atlas of Our Changing Environment, Climate Change in Our World,
- Integrated ecosystem monitoring, sensing and modelling.
The use of ICTs in the educational system that would not be able to solve the current problems in the educational system, but rather provide alternative solutions to the obstacles encountered in the conventional educational system. ICTs would be able to provide education and knowledge in a wider reach, even with a limited amount of resources, unlike conventional systems of education.
ICT has been employed in many education projects and research over the world. The Hole in the Wall (also known as minimally invasive education) is one of the projects which focuses on the development of computer literacy and the improvement of learning. Other projects included the utilization of mobile phone technology to improve educational outcomes.
In the Philippines, there are key notes that have been forwarded to expand the definition of ICT4E from an exclusive high-end technology to include low-end technology; that is, both digital and analog. As a leading mobile technology user, the Philippines can take advantage of this for student learning. One project that serves as an example is Project Mind, a collaboration of the Molave Development Foundation, Health Sciences University of Mongolia, ESP Foundation, and the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU) which focuses on the viability of Short Message System (SMS) for distance learning. Pedagogy, Teacher Training, and Personnel Management are some of the subgroups of ICT4E. UPOU is one of the best examples of education transformation that empowers the potential of ICT in the Philippines' education system. By maximizing the use of technology to create a wide range of learning, UPOU promotes lifelong learning in a more convenient way.
Furthermore, ICTs allow learning to become student-centered rather than teacher-dominated, such as in the case of distance-learning programs. It has multiple impacts on student achievements and motivations, including but not limited to: confidence in computer usage, increased autonomy when learning, improved development in language and communication skills. However, it is not without its flaws – ICTs can easily become the focus of a program, in which the technology is given and provided before much thought is given to the application of it.
As education is a key factor of socio-economic development, the education system of developing countries must be aligned with modern technology. ICT can improve the quality of education and bring better outcomes by making information easily accessible to students, helping to gain knowledge and skill easily and making trainings more available for teachers.
Many current initiatives to improve global, regional and national literacy rates use ICT, particularly mobile phones and SMS. For example, in India a project titled "Mobile Learning Games for English as Second Language Literacy" (2004-2012) aimed to enhance the literacy sub-skills of boys and girls in low-income rural areas (and in urban slums) via mobile game-based learning of English in non-formal, formal and informal education contexts.
A project in Niger titled "Alphabetisation de Base par Cellulaire (ABC)" (2009-2011) was based on the observation that ‘illiterate traders in Niger were teaching themselves how to read and write in order to be able to benefit from the lower prices that sending SMS offered compared with calling. If mobile phones could encourage illiterate traders to become partially literate, how useful would it be to incorporate mobile phones in adult literacy classes?’ In consequence, this project provided mobile phones and instruction to adults (including participants from producers’ associations) on how to use mobiles in literacy programmes (including ‘functional literacy topics’).
In Senegal, "The Jokko Initiative" (2009-2010) provided participants the opportunity to practice basic literacy skills via SMS messaging during an ongoing non-formal literacy component offered as part of an overall Community Empowerment Program (CEP). Participants also made use of digital and visual literacy skills linking mobile phone menu features with visual symbols and signs related to mango picking–a common community livelihood practice. The mobile phone literacy component was created as a response to an identified drop in participants’ attendance and motivation during the third phase of the CEP, and the low retention of literacy skills among participants.
In Somali, the "Dab IYO DAHAB Initiative" (2008-2011) used mobile phone technology to ‘build basic money management skills (financial skills) among youth and women so that they could make informed decisions about their personal, households and/or small businesses’ and was used ‘as a tool to empower Somali youth, particularly young Somali women, and more generally, to enhance existing grassroots education, financial literacy, and poverty-reduction initiatives’. The overall Somali community empowerment programme has been documented as boosting job training and placement for 8,000 young people (women and men). Tests before and after showed statistically significant improvement in skills, with the youth livelihoods programme being linked to job placements.
ICTs can be a supportive tool to develop and serve with reliable, timely, high-quality and affordable health care and health information systems and to provide health education, training and improve health research.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 15% of the world's total population have disabilities. This is approximately 600 million people wherein three out of every four are living in developing countries, half are of working age, half are women and the highest incidence and prevalence of disabilities occurs in poor areas. With ICT, lives of people with disabilities can be improved, allowing them to have a better interaction in society by widening their scope of activities.
Goals of ICT and disability work
- Give disabled people a powerful tool in their battle to gain employment
- Increase disabled people's skills, confidence, and self-esteem
- Integrate disabled people socially and economically into their communities;
- Reduce physical or functional barriers and enlarge scope of activities available to disabled persons
- Develop a web content that can be accessed by persons with disabilities especially the visually impaired and hearing impaired
At the international level, there are numerous guiding documents impacting on the education of people with disabilities such as Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), moving to the Convention against Discrimination in Education (1960), the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989), the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions (2005). The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) includes policies about accessibility, non-discrimination, equal opportunity, full and effective participation and other issues. The key statement within the CRPD (2006) relevant for ICT and people with disabilities is within Article 9:
- "To enable persons with disabilities to live independently and participate fully in all aspects of life, States Parties shall take appropriate measures to ensure to persons with disabilities access, on equal basis with others, to the physical environment, to transportation, to information and communications, including information and communications technologies and systems, and other facilities and services open or provided to the public, both in urban and rural areas. (p. 9)"
Another international policy that has indirect implications for the use of ICT by people with disabilities are the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Although these do not specifically mention the right to access ICT for people with disabilities, two key elements within the MDGs are to reduce the number of people in poverty and to reach out to the marginalised groups without access to ICT.
E-government and civic engagement
New forms of technology, such as social media platforms, provide spaces where individuals can participate in expressions of civic engagement. Researchers are now realizing that activity such as Twitter use "...that could easily be dismissed as leisure or mundane should be considered under a broader conceptualization of development research."
Social Networking Sites (SNS) are indispensable for it provides a venue for civic engagement for its users to call attention to issues that needs action because of the nature of social media platforms as an effective tool in disseminating information to all its users. Social media can also be used as a support venue for solving problems and also a means for reporting criminal activity or calamity issues that affects the well being of communities. Social media is also used for inciting volunteerism by letting others know of situations in places that requires civic intervention and organize activities to make it happen.
Civic engagement plays a large part in e-government, particularly in the area of Transparency and Accountability. ICTs are used to promote openness in the government as well as a platform for citizens to report on anomalous government activities for the purpose of reducing corruption and in promoting efficiency.
Even before the advent or popularity of social media platforms, internet forums were already present. Here, people could share their concerns about pertinent topics to seek solutions.
In third-world countries like the Philippines, the text brigade is an easy method for informing and gathering people for whatever purpose. It usually starts with an individual sending an SMS to his/her direct contacts about a civic engagement. Then he/she requests the recipients to send the same message to their own contacts as well until the number of people involved gets bigger and bigger.
The e-government action plan includes applications and services for ensuring transparency, improving efficiency, strengthening citizen relations, making need-based initiatives, allocating public resources efficiently and enhancing international cooperation.
Writing about ICTs for government use in 1954, W. Howard Gammon can be credited as writing the first e-government research paper. Though not mentioning the word "e-government", his article "The Automatic Handling of Office Paper Work" tackled tactics regarding government processes and information systems or electronic machinery.
In the Philippines, the administration now uses social media to converse more with its citizens for it makes people feel more in touch with the highest official in the land. However, according to Mary Grace P. Mirandilla-Santos, it has been suggested from research in the Philippines, that an average citizen does not actively seek information about politics and government, even during an election campaign. Another innovation is a standard suite of city indicators that enable mayors and citizens to monitor the performance of their city with others, a valuable tool in obtaining consistent & comparable city-level data.
- Tourism: Tourism is the sector that has possibility of being benefited from ICT. Roger Harris is the first person to show the possible benefits the field can get utilizing ICT. His work location was a remote place in Malaysia and he showed how a small tourism operation can be run there using internet. ICT can be an important medium for developing tourism market and improving local livelihoods.
Tourism industry takes advantage of the beneficial use of information and communication technology to cater their market through e-commerce. A journal entitled, "E-Tourism: The role of ICT in tourism industry", enumerated several ways how e-commerce is expected to benefit economic development in tourism industry. These are:
- Through allowing local business access to global markets.
- By providing new opportunities to export a wider range of goods and services.
- By improving the internal efficiency within the firms.
- Reducing Gender Gap: According to the ITU, which is the United Nations specialized agency for information and communication technologies, one of their Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) is focused on gender equality. In 2013, Broadband Commission Working Group on Broadband and Gender released their global report which contained their estimation that there are currently 200 million fewer women online compared to men. The ITU claims that ICT will play an important role in delivering both gender equality to narrow the growing gender gap. Based on their studies, evidence on the benefits that women can gain through ICT, especially with being empowered with information are increasing. "Access to ICTs can enable women to gain a stronger voice in their communities, their government and at the global level." "There is a growing body of evidence on the benefits of ICTs for women's empowerment, through increasing their access to health, nutrition, education and other human development opportunities, such as political participation." ICT can also provide women new opportunities that involve sustainable livelihood (including ICT-based jobs) and economic empowerment once they get to fully utilize what ICT has to offer. One of ITU's projects that is related to this goal is the Women's Digital Literacy Campaign. ITU partnered up with non-government organization Telecentre.org Foundation for the campaign. They have trained over one million unskilled women to use computers and ICT applications to open more opportunities in education and employment. In the hopes that newly developed skills and knowledge related to ICT will improve their livelihoods. According to ITU's case study... "The Campaign has demonstrated the power of digital literacy training to open the door to other essential skills needed to operate in a broadband environment, including financial literacy skills, as well as ICT-enabled career training. Such training enables women to set up online businesses, or to use broadband services, such as social networking sites, to enhance their ongoing livelihood and economic activity."
The ITU commitment to close the digital gender gap is installed in the 2030 Agenda, the Addis Ababa Action plan 2015: develop gender-responsive strategies and policies, ensure access and mitigate online threats, build content and services that meet women's needs, promote women in the technology sector in decision-making positions, and establish multi-stakeholder partnerships.
- Indigenous populations: According to UNESCO, indigenous people have low computer ownership, low computer literacy, low connectivity to the Internet and low access to other digital technologies such as cameras, film-making equipment, editing equipment, etc.. Exacerbating factors are the remoteness of many indigenous communities – often located in regions where connectivity is difficult – and poor levels of literacy, particularly in English, the main computer language. There is a lack of trained Indigenous ICT technicians to provide maintenance locally. The goals of the UNESCO ICT4D Project for the Indigenous People are to preserve and manage cultural resources, to enable recovery of their cultural self-worth and dignity, and to train stakeholders to acquire greater mastery of ICT.
- Social Media: Social networking sites receive lots of attention in the Philippines, having over 30 million Filipino users on Facebook alone. Sites like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram see use in more than just socializing as the users tend to use the sites as a place of political discussion, protests, and several other social movements. The usage of social media tools to communicate with people across the world dominates the old school coffee table talk. Businessmen tend to opt for a brief Skype conference to investors abroad than to set personal meetings to save time and money. Social media is becoming part of the daily lives of so many people around the world that it allows businesses to reach people they haven't been able to reach before. Businesses need to make their own presence felt in social media. Otherwise, they might lose out on opportunities that competitors could capitalize on. In addition to the traditional methods of campaign, political figures make different social networking sites a part of their electoral campaigns to voice out their platforms. The local government agencies and officials releases announcements, statements and bulletins via their verified social media accounts. Local transportation and transit agencies relay information mainly through Twitter about traffic accidents, road closings and emergencies such as floods or typhoons.
- Persons with Disability (PWD): There are plenty of barriers to accessing electronic and information and communication technologies, and one of them is the disability of the person. Over a billion all over the world are hindered to access ICT because of their disability. Persons with Disability (PWDs) will be at a huge disadvantage without the access to the said technology in a world that is the age of information.
Mr. Opeolu Akinola, the President of Nigerian Association of the Blind, says "Accessibility is ensuring that all the people in the society can access available resources irrespective of disability, which means that persons with disability can participate and have the same choice as non-disabled community members.
ICT is a great aid in improving the lives of PWDs by enlarging the opportunities that will be available for them particularly in terms of social, cultural, political and economic integration in certain communities. The UNESCO advocates the concept of knowledge societies which includes the promotion of the rights and needs of PWDs and enrich them with the effective use of ICTs which are accessible, adaptive and affordable by raising global awareness on disability rights, developing innovative ICT solutions, building inclusive or assistive technologies for accessibility, designing proper frameworks and tools, and to contribute to the implementation of UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
ICT improves the status of education in the world and it is now the most convenient tool for the said field. Assistive technologies (AT) open the students with sensory impairments such as visual, hearing, physical, cognitive impairments, and speech-language and learning impairments to the opportunity to participate and enjoy the educational process with special techniques, treatment and equipment. In addition, it helps the PWDs to further have employment opportunities. ICT and AT gives a hope for PWDs to a barrier-free information society by bridging the disability divide. An information society where everyone can access, utilize, create and share information and knowledge that will aid the people to achieve their full potential and will aid the society to progress.
The expansion of ICT can have direct negative outcomes. Expenditure on ICT has been known to cause intra-household conflict, foster male dominance over resources and divert household resources away from food and other essentials. Human right concerns such as child labor have also been raised over the use of conflict materials in the production of ICT devices.
In many impoverished regions of the world, legislative and political measures are required to facilitate or enable application of ICTs, especially with respect to monopolistic communications structures and censorship laws.
The literacy issue is one of the key factors why projects fail in rural areas; as education in literacy sets the foundation for digital and information literacy, proper education and training are needed to make the user at least understand how to manipulate the applications to get the information they need. Constant follow-up with the community is needed to monitor if the project has been successfully implemented and is being used meaningfully.
In the case of India, technological advancement has been more of leapfrogging in nature: the affordability of mobile phones allowed more people to acquire mobile phones before learning to use personal computers and desktops. This unfamiliarity with computers could be seen as problematic as it creates digital divide if technological devices provided are computers; a disconnect between computing technology and people causes difficulty for some of the ICT4D project initiatives to take effect. For instance, in rural parts of India, the Ministry of Education rejected OLPC initiative due to lack of facilities and trained professionals for computer teaching and maintenance. While closing the gap of digital divide through training teachers so that technology may be used for teaching process is challenging, there is yet another problem of failing to recognize technology as a tool for learning process. Studying how learners and/or students interact with technology is vital for developing and designing technologies for them.
Projects in marginalised rural areas face the most significant hurdles – but since people in marginalised rural areas are at the very bottom of the pyramid, development efforts should make the most difference in this sector. ICTs have the potential to multiply development effects and are thus also meaningful in the rural arena.
However, introducing ICTs in these areas is also most costly, as the following barriers exist:
- Lack of infrastructure: no electrical power, no running water, bad roads, etc.
- Lack of health services: diseases like HIV, TB, malaria are more common.
- Lack of employment: there are practically no jobs in marginalised rural areas.
- Hunger: hungry users have problems concentrating.
- Illiteracy: Text user interfaces do not work very well, innovative Human Computer Interfaces (see Human Computer Interaction) are required.
- Lack of means to maintain the project: some projects may be left to deteriorate in time because maintenance is sporadic and if a component breaks it is costly to obtain skilled people and parts to make a repair.
- Lack of means to maintain the project due to short-terms grants
- Lack of support from the local government
- Social contexts: the potential users living in rural marginalised areas often cannot easily see the point of ICTs because of social context and also because of the impediments of hunger, disease and illiteracy.
- Possibility of encouraging brain-drain.
- Corruption is one of the factors that hampers the implementation of ICT projects in rural areas.
- Training and seminars must be conducted according to a suitable time for farmers, to make sure that their daily routine is not affected.
- Many applications are not user friendly.
- Projects are sometimes not being needs-driven and not relevant to local context.
Another significant problem can be the selection of software installed on technology – instructors trained in one set of software (for example Ubuntu) can be expected to have difficulty in navigating computers donated with different software (for example Windows XP).
A pressing problem is also the misuse of electronic waste in dangerous ways. Burning technology to obtain the metals inside will release toxic fumes into the air. Plastics, chips and circuit boards are destroyed to gather their raw and sellable materials. These practices cost the health of communities, affecting the respiratory and immune system. Presence of harmful chemicals are stuck on soils like lead, mercury and cadmium. Sadly electronic wastes are profound in developing countries where they are dumped due to large recycling costs. Developing countries are forced to labor on these waste to get money. (Certification of recyclers to e-stewards or R2 Solutions standards is intended to preclude environmental pollution.)
Finally, while the training, support, hardware and software may all be donated, it is rare for another vital component of technology, Internet access, to be made available at a discounted rate. "In about half the countries in Africa, one year of [dial-up] Internet supply will cost more than the average annual income."
These negative impacts are observable but the platforms to identify, measure, analyze, and address them are insufficient. This is exacerbated by the idea that ICT only provides benefits to society. As new ICT practices are introduced, new challenges tag after them. However, conceiving policies to minimize the negative impacts requires time and resources. Conceptualization of effective and definite measures to counter these negative impacts is in the development stage as part of future priorities.
Crucial in making any ICT4D effort successful is effective partnership between four key stakeholders:
- Public sector (governments from developed nations, developing nations, international bodies and local governments)
- Private sector (companies belonging to members of the target audience, multinational organizations wishing to expand their markets to the 4 billion people under US$2/day, pro-poor or social companies)
- Informal sector (NGOs, advocacy groups, think tanks)
- Representation from the target audience
InfoDev has published six lessons from an analysis of 17 of their pilot programmes (see below). These lessons are backed by a variety of examples as well as a list of recommendations:
- Lesson 1: Involve target groups in project design and monitoring.
- Lesson 2: When choosing the technology for a poverty intervention project, pay particular attention to infrastructure requirements, local availability, training requirements, and technical challenges. Simpler technology often produces better results.
- Lesson 3: Existing technologies – particularly the telephone, radio, and television—can often convey information less expensively, in local languages, and to larger numbers of people than can newer technologies. In some cases, the former can enhance the capacity of the latter.
- Lesson 4: ICT projects that reach out to rural areas might contribute more to the MDGs than projects based in urban areas.
- Lesson 5: Financial sustainability is a challenge for ICT-for-development initiatives.
- Lesson 6: Projects that focus on ICT training should include a job placement component.
Sustainability and Scalability
Currently, the main two perspectives coming out of this sector are to emphasize the need for external aid to build infrastructure so that projects can reach viability, and the need to develop and build on local talent.
Establishing a clear and effective initial design serves as a foundation of any development projects. Starting on existing community assets and knowledge promotes collaboration and cooperation among participants resulting to collective decision-making. Thus, involvement of potential participants in the design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation is valuable. Adding a substantial effect on a project's long-term sustainability is the implementation. The success of project implementation is reflected in a comprehensive evaluation of the expected net benefits. The interdependence between these project components based on a holistic consideration of livelihood systems, needs and opportunities, provides significant contribution to the overall impact of the project on the community.
A growing perspective in the field is also the need to build projects that are sustainable and scalable, rather than focusing on those which must be propped up by huge amounts of external funding and cannot survive for long without it. Sustaining the project's scalability is a huge challenge of ICT for development; how the target user will continue using the platform. ICT4D is not a one-shot implementation but rather it is a complex process to be undertaken continuously, and the progress of each project evolves around the local education for, and adaptability of, the technology
Also, a number of developing countries have proven their skills in IT (information technology). Using these skills to build on ICT4D projects will tap local potential and a key indigenous partner in the growth of this sector will be gained. The balance of trade for these nations due to imports in both hardware and software might be an additional consideration.
Different countries have variety on these strengths some are better in hardware production, both high end and low end. There are some who are good in production of programs and other content. ICT is a US$3 trillion industry (2010) and is growing every year. Communication, media and IT present opportunities for further growth and expansion.
Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, the UN Development Program and the UN Development group postulated a set of 17 goals whose ultimate goal is to transform the world into a better one with emphasis to developing countries. Some of the goals included are aims to end extreme hunger, poverty and gender inequality. While none of the Sustainable Development Goals are specifically meant for Information and Communication Technologies, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development believes that it can help at some extent in achieving the SDGs adding that "The spread of information and communication technology and global interconnectedness has great potential to accelerate human progress, to bridge the digital divide and to develop knowledge societies". The International Telecommunication Union also shares this sentiment and considers that the ICTs can "fast forward progress on the SDGs" which would fundamentally improve the lives of the people.
Goal Number 1: No Poverty
Currently, there are over two billion people in the world who don't have a bank account. Digital financial services through ICT helps these people engage with digital economy. It has been proven that access to financial services empowers people to get out of poverty.
Information services can also provide accurate and timely financial information to the people which promulgates their rights to economic resources and market perceptions which would ultimately benefit all those who are concerned.
Goal Number 2: Zero Hunger
It is evident that the skyrocketing number of the world's population signals the need for new methods in order to improve crop yields. Through ICT, farmers can gain access to information systems that provide content such as weather forecasts, trading information and training courses that are tailored to their needs.
Goal Number 3: Good Health & Well-being
ICTs have the potential to bring the medical personnel and their patients closer wherever they may be. Patients can remotely contact healthy care services for help. Health care workers can run tests that would otherwise be impossible without the help of ICTs such as conducting remote diagnostic check-up of their patients and prescribing treatment solutions.
Analyzing all of these data in a large scale would help in analyzing trends, create forecasts about disease outbreaks, improving traditional and ICT-based health services and more.
Goal Number 4: Quality Education
Education is where a citizen is prepared. E-learning systems serve as a leeway in educating learners through ICT. With these technologies, it can contribute a worldwide spread of access and quality in education for all, as well as excellent delivery. Teachers have pointed out that with the implementation of ICT in their school, it has helped enhance the students' attention and perception skills. Around the globe, there are programs that are self-paced, available competitive college courses from known universities with certification, online competitions and labs which in turn act as tools for livelihood opportunities. There are also smart systems that analyze the learning pattern of the student which it uses in constructing individual learning plans as maximized pedagogy. In Europe, it has been said the use of ICT is one of the big fundamental factors in improving quality education. The implementation of the use of ICT in education is highly encouraged by the European Commission in their E-Learning Action Plan wherein one of their goals are, "to improve the quality of learning by facilitating access to resources and services as well as remote exchange and collaboration".
Goal Number 5: Gender Equality
Access to ICT helps women in understanding the importance of their productive and reproductive roles in the society at the local community, government and global level. Women can be empowered as economic, social and political actors by providing new space and opportunity where they can contribute to the community. These opportunities can be in form of advocacy, ICT-based entrepreneurship or other community development activities through ICT.
Goal Number 6: Clean Water and Sanitation
Contaminated water and inadequate sanitation accounts to more than 800,000 deaths annually. ICTs can provide ways for smarter water management such as automated systems handling the measurement and observation of the water supply and propose possible solutions and interventions based on the data gathered. ICTs can also be used to provide data to practitioners in the field enabling them to provide more water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services.
Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy
ICT-powered solutions such as smart electrical grids, smart homes and buildings, and automated industrial processes can be deployed to replace their inefficient counterparts towards usability and energy efficiency.
ICTs are also being developed to create a lesser carbon-footprint so as to make them environmentally sound.
Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
ICTs are paving way for interested entities to conduct business virtually anywhere in the world. Some of examples of these businesses are online education platforms, computing services and online boutiques. This creates a plethora of new employment opportunities which ultimately fosters market growth.
Goal Number 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
ICT is a crucial tool in industrialization. In emerging information and knowledge societies, open access to academic research, online collaboration and optimization of ICT enable countries to provide infrastructures well-suited for knowledge-based societies such as power networks, transportation systems, water supplies and communication networks.
Goal Number 10: Reduced Inequalities
ICTs can help reduce inequality within and between countries by providing knowledge to the disadvantaged section of the society such as those living with disabilities and women. For example, to those who are visually challenged, there are now accessibility solutions that accept speech as input and output for computing operations. Interactive lectures can also be used to engage people into learning and developing their ICT skills with the goal of bridging the digital divide.
Goal Number 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities
City management can be done effectively with the help of ICTs. Innovative concepts such as smart buildings, smart waterworks facilities and intelligent transport systems not only provide increased work efficiency but also boasts a reduced energy consumption and waste impact.
Goal Number 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
ICTs application help participate in the dematerialization and virtualization of materials such as the case of virtual receipts and electronic books replacing their paper-based counterparts.
Innovative ICT applications can also stimulate a sustainable consumption and production of resources. Some examples of these include smart grids, cloud computing and ICT-based power plants.
Goal Number 13: Climate Action
ICTs such as satellite monitoring are critical in monitoring the earth, interacting with climate and weather information, generating forecasts and using results gathered to enable early warning systems.
Besides monitoring the effects of climate change, ICTs also play a role in alleviating the effects of climate change by providing timely and accurate forecasting and early warning systems.
Goal Number 14: Life Below Water
Utilization of ICTs can also pave the way to the conservation and responsible use of oceans and the marine resources that they hold. Satellite-based monitoring can improve overall monitoring and reporting efficiencies which results to increased liability. On a smaller scale, local sensors and other related systems can also deliver real-time updates to improve the accuracy and efficiency of data gathered from satellite-based monitoring.
Big data from the monitoring activities can be analyzed to look for short and long-term trends in terms of pollution, weather patterns and migration cycles.
Goal Number 15: Life on Land
ICTs can play a major role in the conservation of terrestrial ecosystems and prevention of biodiversity loss. Like on oceans and marine resources, global monitoring systems such as satellite-based monitoring can improve the monitoring efforts which would increase accountability. As a result, several illegal activities such as poaching and illegal wildlife trade can be alleviated through this way.
Data gathered from the monitoring activities can be used to analyze trends in terms of biodiversity, changes in ecosystems as well as to plan mitigation efforts.
The Environment Public Authority in Kuwait has created an environmental portal, Beatona.net. The portal aims to share verified environmental information to the public. One of the key feature of this portal is the ability of the public to interact with it by reporting environmental phenomena and illegal activities.
Goal Number 16: Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions
ICTs can help in strengthening the accountability and reliability of institutions. The emerging trend of governments opening their data to the public increases transparency ratings, enables citizens and helps stimulate financial growth. ICTs are also vital in areas such as monitoring and tracking government data and public demographics.
ICTs are also important when natural or man-made disasters occur because it is responsible for retrieving, communicating and sending reliable and timely crisis information. This allows efficient and correct solutions to be carried out. In the future, analysis of big data can also pave way to accurate forecasting and early warning systems which would be open to anyone.
Goal Number 17: Partnerships for the Goals
Ultimately, ICT plays the biggest role in SDG, although not specifically mentioned. But with the three pillars of sustainable development namely economic growth, social inclusion and environmental sustainability, it is no doubt needed in providing innovative and effective means of implementation in a global scale. It helps in enhancing international coordination, multi-stakeholder partnerships, data monitoring and accountability.
The Sustainable Development Goals is an opportunity for the world to work together to reach goals such as ending poverty, protecting the earth and ensuring prosperity for the planet. Technology if used effectively will accelerate the SDG's task of reaching its goals.
In order for SDGs to achieve their goals, changes are required of each sector. Development sectors like livelihood, agriculture, health, education, water, sanitation and power, infrastructure, disaster relief, government and human rights, environmental protection and crosscutting should achieve their goals of ending poverty by providing sustainable agriculture to ensure food security and improved nutrition for people to have healthy lives. Sustainable management of water, sanitation and modern energy should be achieved as well as the construction of safe and resilient infrastructure for communities. Laws promulgating equal rights should also be achieved. Lastly, protection of the environment should be undertaken.
ICT can address the needs and provide benefits to various organizations and individuals. These organizations include consumers, entrepreneurs or employees, businesses, government agencies and civil society organizations.
However, there are a lot of challenges in implementing SDGs at it focuses on many aspects. Suggestions have been made on how the goals can be achieved at the desired timeline, such as decreasing cost in implementing ICT and increasing public awareness about ICT. Another hindrance is the hierarchy of organizations. There are reports that some agencies are treated as higher than the other, thus, making the development slower. Also, though there are a lot of talented leaders, not all of them are exposed to the real situation. The most contributing factor is that once they are pushed to do something, most individuals and institutions focus on their own sectors, thus, not being able to have a collective mind towards one goal. SDGs also have a huge territory; they focus on too many fields, making it slower for the development of ICT to happen. Though they focus on the most crucial needs of the people, the progression is not at par with their previous goals. SDGs have a long way to go with its goal to be reached by 2030. Improvements are still on its way but there are challenges that needs to be resolved to be able to move forward, by having a collective mind.
Moreover, during the 2000s, a pattern showed that ICTs had a strong drop down the international development agenda. It may even fully disappear from the international development agenda. This is all because of some failures of ICT4D. These failures include: inability to become engaged with the twin colossi of development goals going forward; inability to grasp the meaning, concepts, and discourse in development; and inability to create a role for itself in sustainable and inclusive development.
ICT4D should be able to solve these failures and do its tasks accordingly to be able to have a fitting place in the development agenda.
'Inclusive innovation' refers to the knowledge creation, acquisition, absorption and distribution efforts targeted directly at meeting the needs of the low-income or the base-of-the-pyramid (BoP) population. The focus of Inclusive Innovation is on delivering high performance products and services or high experience at ultra-low cost to the people whose needs are generally not addressed.
There are 5 guiding principles:
- Affordable Access – Inclusive Innovation aims at 'extreme reduction' in both the costs of production as well as the distribution. This is to ensure that if there are any costs at all to be passed on to developing communities, they are minimal, under the principle of getting quality products and services for less while managing to distribute them to more stakeholders. This principle also ties in with the next principle, which is
- Sustainable Basis – In the long term, the access must not depend on the government subsidies or generous government procurement support systems but should work by working with the market principle, a cornerstone of the private sector.
- Quality goods and services – Quality goods and services is also a goal because even the people at the base of the pyramid still have basic rights. That is to say, the objective is not to produce low performance, cheap knock-off versions of technologies in order to sell them to poor people. The point of Inclusive innovation is to harness sophisticated science or technology or creative non-technological innovation to invent, design, produce and distribute quality goods and services that are also affordable for the majority of the people.
- Access to excluded population – Inclusive Innovations should provide access of goods and services to the excluded population, primarily at the base of the pyramid. The excluded population could include the poor, the disabled, the elderly etc.
- Significant Outreach – The benefits of inclusive innovation should reach a significant portion of the target population, and not just a small section of the population.
There has been a rapid rise of interest in inclusive innovation and its application to various spheres. In the past few years, the World Bank, IDRC, GIZ, OECD and other development agencies have all launched inclusive innovation actions. India, Thailand, China, South Africa, Indonesia and other national governments have added inclusive innovation elements into their policies. Many organizations and agencies like World Bank, IDRC, GIZ, OECD and many more are still launching inclusive actions – which many countries are increasingly using inclusive innovation in various sectors and fields, like China, India, Indonesia, South Africa, Thailand, and other national governments.
Here we can view the two key aspects of how inclusive innovation plays: first, who are affected or included? And second, what way they are included? First, the first part who are affected or included? The first part of key aspect is defined as someone is being affected or included in marginalized or poverty line. How these people are being included in some way, which can be redirected to the second key aspect, what way they are included? The most beneficial way to answer that is to comprehend the different perspectives in the "ladder of inclusive innovation", in a group of steps, which in every succeeding step illustrates a higher idea of inclusivity as related to how innovation works. Below are the detailing of the steps:
- Level 1 (intention): when this innovation is inclusive, it has the intention of specific innovation that corresponds to the address of the necessities, wants or problems of the excluded group. However, this does not meant to report in any definite activity, but solely in the abstraction of motivation behind that innovation.
- Level 2 (consumption): when this innovation is inclusive, it has to be adopted and to be utilized by the excluded group. However, it requires the innovation to be developed into definite goods or services; in which case, these can be accessed and payable by the excluded group; for that effect the group have the motivation and capabilities to integrate the innovation. All of those levels, they could be viewed as sub-elements for this level in the inclusive innovation ladder; in spite of, all shall be needed for consumption, as consequently they are not part of the hierarchical sub-steps (which will appear in later levels).
- Level 3 (impact): when this innovation is inclusive, it has the favourable impact on the livelihoods of the excluded group. That specific favourable impact may be comprehended in different views. It could be more quantitative, where the economic perspectives could be defined in the terms of higher productivity and/or higher welfare/utility (e.g. greater ability to consume). Beyond than that, many perspectives could be defined in the impact of innovation of well-being, livelihood assets, personal capabilities, or other foundational theories of what development is.
- Level 4 (process): when this innovation is inclusive, it has the case of excluded group that is involved in the innovation development. It is almost rare for the whole group to be involved, somehow the effect of this could immediately diminish into "members of the excluded group". This level must be de-synthesized as stated by the sub-processes of innovation: invention, design, development, production, and distribution. These could construct a set of sub-steps within, e.g., the speculation of lower value of inclusion downstream elements than the upstream elements. Furthermore, the scope of participation is being identified with the different levels of inclusion. Repeatedly, there could be sub-steps similar to those which are viewed when analysing involvement in the development, with greater sub-steps depicting extensive involvement. Borrowing additional ideas from Arnstein's in his ladder of participation, the sub-steps can be included as follows: being informed, being consulted, collaborating, being empowered, and controlling.
- Level 5 (structure): when this innovation is inclusive, it is produced in enclosed structure that is in itself inclusively done. The justification that can be found here in the inclusive processes that may be for short-term or shallow in what they attain. Extensive inclusion needs the proper fundamental institutions, organizations and relations that constitute the innovation system that are inclusive. However, this might need the selection of serious structural improvement of existing innovation systems, or the establishment of alternative innovation systems.
- Level 6 (post-structure): when this innovation is inclusive, it is generated in enclosed by the frame of knowledge and discourse, which is in itself inclusively done. Any post-structuralists would assert the idea that human's underlying frames of knowledge, as well as the language, are the basis of power to which control the societal outcomes. However, if the framings of main actors are included in the innovation which allow for inclusion of the excluded; by then, the outcome of innovation be truly inclusive.
In the field of ICT4D, an impact is said to occur when efforts are able to reach outside the academia. Research alone is insufficient. Beyond academic citations, the impact created by ICT4D research must extend to policy and practice as well. An impact that is said to contribute to the understanding or re-composition of policy issues and their debates is described as conceptual, while an impact that reforms the growth of policy, provision of services, and practice, additionally guiding legislation, is described as instrumental. Furthermore, the development of capacity in the ICT4D field could be considered as another dimension of impact; one which is attained by interdisciplinary sharing.
For ICT4D research to make an impact beyond theory, it must be treated as the following:
- As a Knowledge Product: As a knowledge product, the researchers behind an ICT4D project must know and understand their target "market" - that is, their audience. It is encouraged that research in ICT4D must have intended beneficiaries, thereby looking into topics that are in-demand to them.
- As a Solution: A defined problem, based on the in-demand issues of the target audience is something that a research must aim to solve. This gives the research a purpose, thus being treated as the problem's solution.
- As Development: Research includes the cycle of diagnosis, action, and evaluation, which makes it a way of improving current knowledge and practices.
There are many initiatives and projects being done in line with information, communication and technology for development. Government, NGOs, public and private sectors have different projects lined up to promote development in different communities. But these projects, although have the objectives to help people in their everyday life, there are little study on whether the technology applied is effective or not. Impact assessment is one way to determine the effectiveness of one technology.
For ICT4D, impact assessment can be based on these questions:
- Why? – this can include both the externally stated rationale, and the internal purpose for the organisation(s) driving the impact assessment. In most cases, the external rationale will be one or more of: a) retrospective achievement – post-hoc assessment of what has been achieved from investments to date; b) prospective priorities – pre-hoc assessment of future development project investments; c) accountability – enabling agencies to be held to account for their ICT4D spending.
- For whom? – typical audiences are a) ICT4D investment decision-makers; b) ICT4D policy decision-makers; c) ICT4D project decision-makers; d) ICT4D project users/beneficiaries; e) other ICT4D stakeholders
- What? – a mixture of the indicators the key audience will best consume, the indicators it is most feasible to measure, and the indicators the assessment team is most familiar with. This may also include identifying the conceptual framework guiding the impact assessment;
- How 1? – alongside the specific measurement issues, a key element here will be the extent of participation of project users in measurement (and in more upstream processes such as selection of indicators).
- When? – the classic impact assessment failure has been to assess ICT4D pilots rather than fully scaled-up projects; and to assess too early in the project's history.
- How 2? – probably the most important and the most overlooked element in the whole process, with some impact assessments being conducted but having little impact. Includes questions on whether indicators are reported "as is", or communicated via causal models, case sketches, stories, etc.
Categorizing impact and its assessment
Heeks and Molla described two different ways in categorizing impact assessment of ICT4D projects. One is based on the attainment of the ICT4D goals and the other is based on how to undertake such assessment.
Here is the classification of the impact of ICT4D based on the attainment of goals:
- Total failure: the initiative was never implemented, was implemented but immediately abandoned, or was implemented but achieved none of its goals.
- Largely unsuccessful: some goals were attained but most stakeholder groups did not attain their major goals and/or experienced significant undesirable outcomes.
- Partial success/partial failure: some major goals for the initiative were attained but some were not and/or there were some significant undesirable outcomes
- Largely successful: most stakeholder groups attained their major goals and did not experience significant undesirable outcomes.
- Total success: all stakeholder groups attained their major goals and did not experience significant undesirable outcomes.
Another categorization of assessing the impacts of ICT4D projects is based on "frameworks" (understanding ICT4D projects and organizing knowledge about them) which are: Generic: general frameworks usable in assessment of any development project.
- Discipline-specific: assessment drawing from a particular academic discipline.
- Issue-specific: assessment focused on a particular development goal or issue.
- Application-specific: assessment focused on one particular ICT4D technology.
- Method-specific: assessment centred on a particular approach to data-gathering.
- Sector-specific: assessment centred on an individual development sector.
Mainstreaming and sidestreaming
Mainstreaming ICTs means they should be understood as one among a number of tools seeking to achieve other development goals such as poverty alleviation, health, education of the MDG variety. This tool pertains to the programmes crafted by ICT4D experts who have spearheaded ICT4D, and some have undergone various academic training from ICT4D recognized institutions (Chib&Harris Linking research to practice). Programmes that are developed by these experts are determined to have a social impact which are contributing to the development goals of MDGs.
On what is described as mainstreaming ICT is an implementation of various programmes by converging the techno-social activities that would contribute to address development goals. In the Philippines, the Open and Distance Education of the University of the Philippines Open University is one among in Asia that has successfully developed academic curriculum in information and communication science and has supported various ICT4D programmes in different government sectors such as agriculture and in local government units.
According to Richard Heeks, mainstreaming has its own dangers: losing focus for learning about ICT4D and downplay technological innovation are among them. While these are theoretically true, the need of sidestreaming to support the development ICT4D programmes should be placed. Retaining and supporting specialist of ICT4D units or "sidestreaming" in variety of organization that involves ICT4D together with the mainstreaming of ICT4D resonates an effective structure towards development goals of MDGs.
Vision of a compelling narrative
According to Richard Heeks, ICT has a compelling narrative which drew attention, money, and resources during the turn of the century. It foresaw the creation of an information society within developing countries from a variety of terms. Currently, there is no narrative in ICT4D for post-2015 development because it struggles with the weight to balance different innovations of the modern technology. The development goals and sectors that ICT serves are considered sub-fragments within the economic, social, political and environmental fragments. There is no defined core of an information society, it's mostly far-reaching or grasping for straws in the hope that they may amount to something.
It is quite understandable that the erosion of vision in ICT happened because it was well ahead of its time in the early 2000s. It became path dependent. Absorbing all that it came its way, which is why it is harder to maintain. From casting visions, it now reflects realities. The only solution is to throw the useless loads and start to reinvent a single coherent core.
Heeks suggest that ICT could try to join another's army or try grabbing someone else's flag so that they could push ahead and into the post-2015 discussions. They could also try developing their own internal narrative, one that can reintroduce a single core for its further development. Either way, the future of ICT, its structure, and its policy, depends on how far they are eager to develop and explore.
Criticisms and challenges
As it has grown in popularity, especially in the international development sector, ICT4D has also come under criticism.
Questions have been raised about whether projects that have been implemented at enormous cost are actually designed to be scalable, or whether these projects make enough of an impact to produce noticeable change. For example, in Sri Lanka, journalist Nalaka Gunawardene argued that thousands of pilot projects had been seeded without regard to generalisability, scalability, and sustainability, implying that these projects will always require external funding to continue running and that their impact is limited. This sentiment echoes a 2003 report by the World Bank.
Further criticism of ICT4D concerns the impact of ICTs on traditional cultures and the so-called cultural imperialism which might be spread with ICTs. It is emphasised that local language content and software seem to be good ways to help soften the impact of ICTs in developing areas.
Many fear of the potential of ICT to seriously widen the Digital Divide and the gap between people with access to the information economy and those without such access. This issue was brought to the forefront of the international agenda and was heavily discussed in some major international political meetings such as the G8 meeting in Okinawa, Japan in July 2000. Anriette Esterhuysen, an advocate for ICT4D and human rights in South Africa, pointed out that some ICT4D projects often give more emphasis to how ICT can help its beneficiaries economically rather than helping them create a society where social justice and equal rights prevail. She believes that sustainable development can only be achieved if there are human rights and people can speak freely.
Another point of criticism against ICT4D is that its projects are in the long term seldom environmentally friendly. Beneficiary communities are often given the responsibility to dispose of the toxic electronic scrap when an equipment breaks down beyond repair. Since transporting the equipment to a recycling facility is costly; the equipment is often disposed of improperly, thus contributing to the pollution of the environment.
More often than not, ICT programs are expected to be the solution for all socioeconomic problems. However, disorganized implementation that disregards factors such as cultural realities make ICT for development efforts ineffective.
It is therefore important to pursue regionalized ICT programs first before globalization. There's a need for ICT4D practitioners to seek out ways in which to enable programs make their impact. Establishing regional and national ICT strategies that commit to action is the first step towards creating effective solutions.
A 2010 research report from the Governance and Social Development Resource Centre found "Very few ICT4D activities have proved sustainable... Recent research has stressed the need to shift from a technology-led approach, where the emphasis is on technical innovation towards an approach that emphasises innovative use of already established technology (mobiles, radio, television)." However, of 27 applications of ICTs for development, E-government, E-learnings and E-health were found to be possible of great success, as well as the strengthening of social networks and boosting of security (particularly of women).
Myths of ICT4D
According to Kentaro Toyama, co-founder and assistant managing director of Microsoft Research India, there are a number of myths that surround the field of ICT4D. He argues that these myths can confuse our thinking about the proper role for technology in addressing development problems.
- Myth 1: Technology X will save the world – Technology X used to refer to radio, landline, PC, or more specifically television. Now, the burden of solving all social and political problems is being put on mobile phones. Toyama stated that there are many poor communities that only have a few phones and there are still some that do not have phones. He mentions that ownership of mobile phones does not equate to its sophisticated usage. Sophisticated usage also does not equate to increase in welfare.
- Myth 2: Poor people have no alternatives – Technology has often been thought to be the only way to access information. The truth is, free and non-technological alternatives to get information and certain services exist.
- Myth 3: "Needs" are more pressing than desires – Toyama stated that ""Needs" are relative". The poor would rather spend majority of their salary or income on items such as ringtones, music, movies, weddings or funerals, and customized photos that Westerners (i.e. Bill Gates, as mentioned in Toyama's presentation) would consider as "luxurious" than "basic" things such as education and healthcare.
- Myth 4: "Needs" translate to business models – People don't always pay for "needs" (e.g. education for children, water purifiers, health insurance). Poor populations are harder to reach and are a greater risk. They also have less disposable income. This is the reason why "poverty premium" exists.
- Myth 5: If you build it, they will come – People don't always do what is "best" for them. Let's take smoking, for example. Many people would refuse to stop smoking even if they know and understand the dangers brought about by smoking. Another example would be cataract operations in India. There is an eye hospital that offers high quality operations and it is free of charge. However, 10% of the people that are offered with this particular service will still refuse to have the operation.
- Myth 6: ICT undoes "rich getting richer." – Technology tends to amplify the inequalities in literacy rather than reduce them. "Everyone knows that the hard part is actually doing the work necessary to accomplish a goal, not providing the technology."
- Myth 7: Technology permits socio-economic leapfrogging – There are things that do leapfrog. Things such as upper class capacity and new technology over old technology (e.g. mobile phones over landline phones). However, human capacity is developing slowly and the role of technology in education is poorly understood. Education and human capacity are said to be the critical things.
- Myth 8: Hardware and software are a one-time cost – Over 5 years, the amortization of the annual costs of a "$100 PC" per child that covers breakage, connectivity, power, maintenance, and training would be $250 per child per year.
- Myth 9: Automated is cheaper and better – Where labor is cheap and populations are illiterate, automated systems are not necessarily preferable. Here are some issues that go with full automation: barriers in literacy, cost, and unfamiliarity; user preferences for voice and human-mediated systems; and the question of whether the cost of human system is actually less than the cost of technology.
- Myth 10: Information is the bottleneck – "Information is just one of many deficiencies in developing world" (Toyama, 2010). Kentaro Toyama mentioned some of the other deficiencies: human capacity; infrastructure; institutional capacity; economics. He said that information is not equal to education and communication is not equal to commerce.
Toyama also mentioned the reasons why these myths persist.
- Desire for an easy solution
- Desire for a one-time, catalytic investment
- Desire to see ingenuity triumph
- Seductive power of technology in the developed world
- Not enough insight into actual poor communities
- Misleading explanations of successful ICT4D projects – a variation of AI's "frame problem"
In his presentation, Toyama concluded that technology is just one part of the solution. Part of his conclusion mentions that "Successful ICT4D interventions work as a part of well-intentioned, competent organizations." Toyama ended his presentation with the Key Lesson saying, "Technology is a magnifier of human will, competence, and institutions."
The 9 myths of ICT in education
Kentaro Tayoma argued that the under-performing schools should try to adjust the particular attention to other elements such as teaching improvement skills and administration. He also recommended to use cost-effective depart from traditional means of technology when venturing to other educational resources. Myths below are the most heard praise about technology in schools.
- Pro-Technology Rhetoric 1 – 21st-century skills require 21st-century technologies. This means that not every knowledge or skill that was developed during the 21st-century needs to sophisticated and updated technologies. Examples of such is critical thinking, problem solving, communication and collaboration. In reality, the skills haven't changed; only the proportion of people requiring them. Over the years, people have changed the way they work as well the gadgets or tools to be used. Example of such is that over a decade ago, typing is a required subject while as of today, everybody knows how to type even without a course for it. As Tayoma pointed out, people nowadays need to learn how to differentiate from acquiring knowledge of critical thinking to make a person more inventive and creative from wanting or demanding to learn up-to-date techniques, ideas, or equipment.
- Pro-Technology Rhetoric 2 – Technology X allows interactive, adaptive, constructivist, student-centered learning. Tayoma explained that motivation is important for students to actually sustain the learning. It is given that a good teacher should be interactive, flexible to any environments and situation, artistic, student-centered but if this are the only basis of good education then technology will no longer be needed.
- Pro-Technology Rhetoric 3 – It's still easier for teachers to arouse interest with technology X than with textbooks. In reality, this is true but the technology changes very quickly and should not be the basis how good a teacher is. Technology helps a teacher to make an impact or influence the quality of education but technology does not cure or fix a bad teacher.
- Pro-Technology Rhetoric 4 – Teachers are expensive. It's exactly because teachers are absent or poorly trained that low-cost technology is a good alternative. In reality, low-cost technology is not not low-cost at all for low-income schools. On top of that, low-cost technology will also deprecate and change over time so it will be obsolete. However, if invested to proper training and development, teachers can fix the poorly managed education system.
- Pro-Technology Rhetoric 5 – Textbooks are expensive. For the price of a couple of textbooks, you might as well get a low-cost PC. Obviously a printed book is cheaper than getting a low-cost PC. Additionally, low-cost PC will need electricity to run which will not be "low-cost" at all. Since textbooks can be used as one-is-to-one for students, this is not the case for low-cost PC if we are talking about low-budget schools.
- Pro-Technology Rhetoric 6: – We have been trying to improve education for many years without results. Thus, it's time for something new: Technology X! Tayoma argued that other alternatives to fix the bad educational system, it is time to rebuild the system from scratch as the Qatar did with its education ministry. He pointed out that there are no shortcuts to improve the teachers and administration as starting it from scratch will take multiple years to rebuild.
- Pro-Technology Rhetoric 7 – Study Z shows that technology is helpful. The author agreed that technology is helpful and favorable in the improvement of education. A study cannot be a basis that technology alone (itself) is the main reason for development of education system. The study also has other elements that make the technology look good or have a positive results in studies. He pointed that technology is the not the answer for poor performance of an education system as this will also cost a lot since other than hardware, there are other additional cost to consider such as maintenance, training and curriculum.
- Pro-Technology Rhetoric 8 – Computer games, simulations, and other state-of-the-art technologies are really changing things. In reality, there is no technology that has achieved or passed tests such as lab trials, analysis and more that make a big difference in the education system such with artificial intelligence that can motivate students to study.
- Pro-Technology Rhetoric 9 – Technology is transformative-formative, revolutionary, and otherwise stupendous. Therefore, it must be good for education. Tayoma stated that education and learning is like parenting – it cannot be replaced by any kind of technology. A good and guided education and parenting can make righteous and honorable members of society as well as developed students who are Einstein alike.
To summarize the myths in education above regarding technology, there is no alternative or easiest way to achieve a good education system. He has written more articles about this the connection of technology and education.
Neoliberalization of education
Proponents of ICT have always highlighted the benefits of technology when applied in the different sectors of society especially in education. There is a belief that using ICT will make the lives of the people better. According to Flor (n.d.), education has benefited immensely from ICT for it "offered an entire new range of possibilities to enhance teaching-learning situation". In the Philippines, pedagogic as well as social and economic benefits are cited as reasons for the government's ICT for education policies and programs. The Philippine government believes that an ICT education will prepare the youth to be able to meet the challenges and demands of the economic market once they graduate. In short, the government wants to "produce a critical mass of ICT professionals and ICT-literate manpower".
The need to supply an ICT-literate workforce is anchored on the Information Age wherein the global economy's primary commodity is now information. Labor-intensive production has become knowledge-intensive, thus, the ever-growing need for information workers. Corporate businesses who need information workers thrive on ICT. They do not only own the technology, but they also exert power through it. This results in a parasitic and predatory relationship between those who own the technology and their labor and consumer market. ICT, in the context of global capitalism, is therefore being used to advance private corporate interests towards what Schiller (as cited in Waller, 2007) calls a "corporate controlled information society".
This restructuring of the global economy through ICT has implications that affect us immensely, even more so with the inclusion of ICT in education. It reinforces the exploitative nature of capitalism for it allows business interests to enter into and control our educational system.
To exert its economic power in the global economy and "justify the more aggressive drive of the Transnational Corporations in the global order," capitalist-led WB and the World Trade Organization has put forth the theories of the "global village" and the globalization of market. This global village, according to Lelliot et al. (as cited in Zemblyas and Vrasidas, 2005), is where "the educational and political significance and desirability of ICT" is based on. ICT therefore becomes a symbol and an aspect of globalization because globalization builds on and drives from it.
Consequently, ICT as a symbol and aspect of globalization makes it a central component in the neoliberalist agenda in education of privatizing, deregulating and marketizing education and producing a surplus of skilled information workers for transnational corporations.
Neoliberalism dictates that universities and colleges must look for their own funding in order to operate. This leads to increasing private and corporate influence on schools through study and project grants and the state abandonment of the education system. In line with market capitalism, neoliberalism seeks to restructure the public orientation of education by steering it away from state control towards the private sphere. With corporate interests being allowed to gain control of schools, the capitalist-led international development assistance agencies have been actively pushing for ICT in the education system.
Furthermore, neoliberalism seeks to transform education into a commodity that can be bought at a price. This new kind of set-up, Petten explains, "stands in opposition to education as a social right" where everyone has a right to education regardless of economic status. With the introduction of ICT in education, education now comes with a price tag. Thus, the democratic character of education is threatened.
Three key challenges
In the 2007 Manila Workshop, the three key challenges of ICT4D (also referred to as the three problem trees) were clustered. These are the result of clustering the core problems that are seen in the field of ICT4D. The participants of the workshop grouped the core problems or challenges into lack of rigour problem tree, interdisciplinary research problem tree and lack of collaboration problem tree. The problem trees investigates the cause and effect of the problem.
- Lack of rigour problem tree: Data gathering is the identified root cause of this problem tree. This leads to an ineffective policy decision. Another negative effect of this problem tree is the information wastage wherein the generated information is not utilized properly.
- Interdisciplinary research problem tree: The research environment, frameworks and methods, and terminologies are the identified roots of this problem tree. Among the effects of this problem tree are the quality of research output, and the rigour or precision and accuracy of the information.
- Lack of collaboration problem tree: Research collaboration among researchers, institutions, government and the academe must be pursued. The differences are the identified root cause of this challenge and thus, results to limitations like lack of openness to failure and perception that academic research is not useful.
|Lack of Rigor||Interdisciplinary Research||Lack of Collaboration|
|Core Problem||Lack of Rigor||Interdisciplinary Research||Lack of Collaboration|
Post-2015 gaps – new development-oriented priorities
Shown below is a list of the 16 largest ICT4D gaps (as of 2016) arranged in a descending order according to the priority it receives. In an online article, Heeks states that ICT4D analyses tend to underplay its negative impacts. The "Dark Side of ICT's" is placed 15th in the list – just a place away from the least prioritized ICT4D gap.
These gaps, along with other key topics, are used to come up with a list of post-2015 ICT4D priorities which in turn will be of valuable use in ICT4D activities of policymakers, strategists and practitioners.
Again, this list is topics that are under-represented in post-2015, but not a totality of ICT4D priorities. Works on ICT and education, ICT and health, ICT infrastructure and few others which is not on the list shall continue during this period.
- Environment – to develop Green IT for mitigation of climate change, weather early warning systems, minimization of e-waste. Also, noteworthy is climate change adaptation which is rather a major issue among the global South. Concurrent is the need for ‘strategy.’ That more than monitoring, mitigating, and being able to adapt to climate change is by using ICTs as a guide in making policies and programs of action.
- Sustainability – composed of economic prosperity, social infusion, and environmental sustainability, which are needed to be balanced for it cannot be maximized all at the same time. With reference to Brundtland Report definition of sustainable development (WCED 1987:43), there are two concepts contained: the need of the world and the imposed limitations of the environment. Development that fulfills the needs of the present without compromising the future resources.
- Poverty – focus more on poverty specifics such as policies, poverty reduction/ eradication programs and projects rather than generic ICT priorities. ICT4D should resolve its failures to practically engage with poverty eradication and environmental sustainability, meaningfully involve with discourses on theories of poverty and development concepts, and determine its role in the emerging development.
- Development Finance – use of ICT to monitor aid flows and debts, mainstream banking and finance, improve tax system and taxation of ICT, ICT-enabled investments, e-remittances.
- Basic Needs – able to prioritize the usage if ICT based on basic needs of the people using on Maslow's hierarchy of needs. In that way, it is not ignoring other aspects for the use of higher levels of ICT but being able to address the essential needs of especially the most needy citizens.
- Economic Development: Growth, Jobs and the Digital Economy – intensifying an existing area of economic activity and extensive application of ICT to extend the range of economic activity. The ICT sector had spread widely through mobile-jobs it created and new business models it prompted. It continues to thrive down into the poor communities resulting to their growth and income.
- Development 2.0 – emphasis on 5 transformative shifts (1. Leave no one behind, 2. Put sustainable development at the core, 3. Transform economies, 4.Build peace, 5. Forge new global partnership). It means ICT4D needs to do more on connecting ICTs to the transformation of development. It is in a way transforming processes and structures of development with understanding of its extent and content.
- Accountability and Transparency – Free and open information must be monitored, evaluated and controlled in order to combat corruption specifically with public officials. However, this improved data flow is equally important to be applied among private sector firms and markets especially openness and transparency with these development stakeholders are the ones mostly neglected.
- Data Revolution – have 3 dominant aspects: Big development data, Open development data, Real Time development data. Data revolution is yet to unleash its full potential when able to thoroughly connect with ICT4D.
- Cross Border Flows – supports immigrant and emigrant population, enable international trade, and investment. This will increase even more global connections and economic ties.
- Peace and Security – uses of ICT in mainstream peace and security, across the cycle from insecurity through conflict to post-conflict reconstruction, reconciliation and peace building; from the micro of violence within households to the macro of regional warfare; and bringing in issues from application design and implementation to strategic and policy matters.
- Urban Development – support the inexorable growth, creation and implementation of urban strategies, facilitating urban planning, improving urban governance and design, ecosystems services and infrastructure.
- Resilience – need to form its own particular sub-domain of ICT4D activity. It is to ensure to survive risks and external threats which include anticipated social, economic and environmental shocks. Resilience used to refer only to environmental aspect but it has grown to be applied on systems as well, like in other development initiatives. It is not to merely sustain but also aims to transform.
- Inclusive Development – to do more than just address digital divides – and to engage with the breadth of inclusive development. This alternative approach refers to different divides, different excluded groups other than in terms of information access and availability. Those who are at the rear end in terms of equality, vulnerability, social justice. They are the ethnic minorities, the women and youth, the disabled, among others. ICT4D agendas and mechanisms lead to developing inclusive informatics innovation, inclusive business models and the like.
- The Dark Side of ICT – costs and failures, development of a Cluedo piece-shaped labor market, the loss of work/life balance and growing stress, negative impacts of ICT use on health, learning and cognitive development especially among children
- Changing the Language and Worldview of ICT4D – An informatics label will allow WSIS, the UN Group on the Information Society (UNGIS) and other ICT4D stakeholders to lay claim to the data revolution. Without this, the data revolution will drag attention and resources down its own potentially-isolated path.
The other issues that affects the innovation are: legal and regulatory, moral and ethical, social, economic, technology, language and script, and security.
E-waste through improved design and recycling
In the Development Goals, under Environmental and Sustainability is the topic on waste which is an important aspect of the relation between ICTs and environment. When ICT goes faulty and obsolete they become waste. It's necessary to pay a particular attention on the impact of electrical and electronic wastes. Assessing the side-effects of ICT waste or electronic waste disposal – CRTs, busted fluorescent lamp, used lead-acid batteries, ink toners and cartridges, used oil, contaminated containers etc. The installation of standardized solutions on E-waste management such as improved design example The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) approved new standards for green ICT, including an environmentally friendly charger for laptops and other portable devices (Recommendation ITU-T L.1002) and green batteries for smartphones and handheld devices (Recommendation ITU-T L.1010).
The use of technology to exchange information is the main objective of ICT4D. However, there are still a lot of people who cannot have access nor are able to use these kinds of technology. According to the World Bank(2014), only 85% of the world has electricity. And also as of 2014, almost 14% of the world population is still illiterate. Most of the information are now being shared with the use of computers or mobile devices. For the percentage of people who still do not have electricity nor those who still don't know how to read, this shared information would simply be rendered useless.
ICT4D cannot push forward with these hurdles on the way, so to address these first should be a priority.
Rebound environmental effects
Arguably, ICT's good effects are also being negated by its bad effects to the environment.
Negative impacts come mainly from energy consumption and the materials used to the production and distribution of ICT equipment, energy consumption in use directly and for cooling, short product life cycles and e-waste and exploitative applications.
Also, E-commerce may not save energy if it encourages long distance delivery. Tele-working can increase the home use of energy and demand for electronic equipment such as routers and printers.
One concern on the rebound effects of Smart Grids is with lower energy cost and thereby increased use, potential emissions reductions from energy efficiency gains are lost to rebound effects.
The Dark Side of ICT4D
The Darkside of ICT4D still needs research and analysis, because of the perceived benefits of ICT, these outweigh the disbenefits that are encountered and generated by it.
The following are disbenefits that are acknowledged in the two core review and vision documents (WSIS 2014a, WSIS 2014b)
- Failure of ICT - Mentioned twice, (only as a risk, not a reality)
- Pornography and Viruses - Mentioned once
- Hacking - not mentioned
- Work/Life Balance not mentioned
- Cyber-warfare not mentioned
What does this mean ? Two things need to happen.
- There should be greater priority and attention given to identifying, measuring, analysing and addressing ICT4D’s disbenefits. - More research and more data needs to be gathered to be able to resolve these disbenefits and how they affect the development of ICT.
- There needs to be an expansion of the disbenefits covered: not just the following - security/privacy/protection but also: The costs and failures of ICT4D, The development of a Cluedo piece-shaped8 labour market in which the bulk of jobs are low-paid; mid-level jobs are squeezed out by ICT; and only a very few elite information society workers benefit, The loss of work/life balance and growing stress through use of ICTs, Short- and long-term negative impacts of ICT use on health, learning and cognitive development especially among children.
All of these disbenefits will increase as ICTs penetrate more into development. More resources need to be allocated to them and they will need to be a part of future ICT4D policy and practice.
World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) + 10 Challenges
Many challenges emerged upon the implementation of WSIS + 10 in Geneva in 2014. The following issues have been addressed to proper implement future projects like Information Society beyond 2015 and the Post-2015 Development Agenda.
- Human rights protection offline and online
- Women's empowerment and active participation in the society and its decision-making processes
- Youth engagement in the WSIS development agenda
- People with disabilities especially in developing countries and marginalized communities involvement in the framework by providing equity of access through human capacities and introduction of new ICT innovations
- Potential use of WSIS development-related strategies to improve the national economic status of a country by investing in ICTs, infrastructure, entrepreneureship and innovation
- Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) benefits from the current developments in technology
- Aid the technological gap between developed and developing countries and the skills gap between the rich and poor
- Help in reducing electronic waste to help preserve the environment
WSIS + 10 Beyond 2015 Priorities
Sustainable Development and Information Society are two factors considered as basis in establishing the priorities for WSIS + 10 Vision beyond 2015.
- Protection of human rights as well as the address of gender issues, discrimination and violent actions
- Use of information and communication technology to promote WSIS development goals
- Include broadband and mobile services in the effort to enhance the utilization and trust of the vulnerable and marginalized population in the potentials of ICTs
- Provide assistive technologies and disability-inclusive development framework for people with disabilities
- Help in the countries’ economic growth by aiding the digital divide
- Promote online learning and the utilization of local communities such as libraries in accessing information
- Address security risks and promote cybersecurity and individual privacy
- Acknowledge the use of ICTs in business like e-commerce and address new issues in the digital economy
- Encourage WSIS stakeholders to be more responsible in their roles as well as to address and help in each other's weaknesses
- Promote Green IT and to help in spreading information about Climate Change
Country and region case studies
The Philippines, one of newly industrialized countries (NICs) in Asia, is continuously boosting ICT4D in sectors like education, agriculture, livelihood and even disaster preparedness. Directed by the Philippine Digital Strategy 2011-2016, the government and the private sector have been harnessing ICT to achieve development agenda.
The Philippine's Commission of Information and Communications Technology (CICT) drafted a Philippine ICT-Roadmap in 2006 to "establish new policy directions for CICT as the lead government agency for ICT development in the country". This roadmap is governed by seven guiding principles that centers on the role of government in ICT development as an enabling policy, legal and regulatory environment. CICT also advocates for a "multi-stakeholder approach" which involves the private sector, civil society, civic organizations, international organizations and other partners to have an important role and responsibility in the development of Philippine Information Society.
The Philippine Digital Strategy (PDS) calls upon the knowledge given in the CICT's ICT-Roadmap and builds on it further. Of the four major areas covered in the said roadmap, the PDS has given e-Government the highest priority, stating "ease of access, ease of use, efficiency and quality of services rendered, and establishment of privacy and security standards" for the people of the country. The prioritization also focuses on the aim of the government to fight corruption and poverty, and for government services and information to be more transparent and widely accessible to all citizens. This will also give the government an opportunity to create an open, two-way interaction in order to receive and acknowledge feedback and suggestions from the citizens.
(Based on excerpt from Mapping ICT4D by Noriel Tiglao Erwin A. Alampay)
1. E-government / E-governance
In Philippines, most of the ICT4D works are done by the government and the e-governance projects are diverse.
The Department of Information and Communications Technology or DICT foresee to build a technologically advanced, integrated, and digitally empowered Philippines that constantly provides responsive and accessible public services to Filipino citizens across the globe.
The main problems in the government services in the Philippines are the long lines, slow action, and inadequate processes. Today many government offices and organizations have already implemented different e-government procedures for accessible services, which they call "One stop shop". Below are different online procedures in the Philippines:
- The PAG-IBIG/Home Development Mutual Fund (HDMF) offers online services for membership registration process, payment facility, and short-term loan filing.
- The Social Security System (SSS) offers online application membership.
- The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) has eReg System, where a person can register for a Tax Identification Number (TIN).
- The National Statistics Office eCensus is where a person can request for documents (birth certificate, marriage certificate, and death certificate). They can be paid through credit card, over-the-counter, or online banking. The requested documents will be delivered within 3–9 days after payment.
- The Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA) has Balik-Manggagawa Online Processing System for Overseas Employment Certificate needed for OFW's verification and documentation.
Many e-governance projects are linked to other areas (i.e. health, learning, business, science, etc.) and different types of technology are used to implement them (e.g. web-based services, SMS, other forms of Management Information Systems, Local Area Network etc.).
NCDA Board Resolution No. 13 Series 2008 on Web Accessibility
To promote equality when it comes to web accessibility, the National Council on Disability Affairs granted the Philippine Web Accessibility Group (PWAG) the right of becoming its deputy to assess the competency of government organization and NGO websites when it comes to web accessibility, especially for the disabled. On one assessment conducted by PWAG, only 11 GO websites and 33 NGO websites passed their criteria on web accessibility. This resolution was released with the sign of the Deputy Executive Director of NCDA, Mateo A. Lee Jr.
To address this issue, NCDA released Board Resolution No. 13 that grants PWAG to conduct website assessments of NCDA's participating and member agencies and to enforce upon them the minimum requirements for the websites to become web accessible to the disabled.
The following actions were created to comply to the United Nations' Article 9 regarding Accessibility, which states that people with disability should experience equality when it comes to access to information. A list of offices whose web accessible sites were evaluated by PWAG are listed on their official site, which includes but are not limited to the following: the House of Representatives, the National Council on Disability Affairs, the Department of Health, the Commission on Elections, and the Department of Justice.
2. E-business / E-commerce
37 e-commerce applications running in Philippines are enlisted in different databases. Among them some notable applications are:
- e-ticketing/SMS ticketing service:This service allows passengers to book and purchase tickets and allows ticketing agents to issue accommodations for Super Ferry voyage online. It also provides Easy Cards that is a pre-paid, re-loadable and refundable card for passengers.
- Virtual Mall/Online Shop: There are many virtual malls that sell local product online for foreign customers (e.g. adobomall.com, unitop.com, weemall.com etc.) and some sites serve Filipinos living abroad to purchase local products for friends living in the Philippines.
- Export/Import Portals: EXPERTRADE is a trade portal and online community of Filipino exporters, local and international importers and traders that aims to expand the Filipino export industry.
TV White Space and Free Wi-Fi
In lieu with the drive for better Internet penetration as mandated by the Philippine Digital Strategy, the DOST (Department of Science and Technology) has begun experimenting on novel ways to further Internet coverage.
One of this is the TV White Space (TVWS) pilot testing that has been deemed to be the most extensive in the Asian region. This project aims to address the connectivity deficiency in rural areas by harnessing TVWS, the blank frequencies between broadcast TV channels. This can be tapped to provide wireless data connectivity due to its long-range propagation features (with signals traveling through water and thick foliage).
The project is to be rolled out slowly, and the initial ideas involved using TVWS as a means of connectivity for the eHealth eEducation, and other eGovernment services. It can also help the environmental sensor networks utilized by the DOST.
Another initiative to help increase the country's Internet connection is the DOST's drive to provide free Wi-Fi hotspots in public places across the Philippines. These connectios are envisioned to be available 24/7, and uses NGH (Next Generation Hotspot) technology. The project, which was originally slated to culminate in 2016, will provide free Wi-Fi hotspots to the following coverage areas (in order of priority):
- Public Plazas and ParksPublic Central Schools (Primary and Secondary)
- Public Libraries
- Government Hospitals and Rural Health Units
- State Colleges and Universities
- Train stations (Metro and Light Rail Transits)
- Seaports and Airports
- Municipal and City Halls
- National Government Offices
3. Cross Cutting Trade, Agriculture, and Health Philippine integration into the ASEAN economic community (AEC) requires alignment of standards, especially in safety of food and feed. One of the outputs of the Philippines partnership with the European Union's Trade-Related Technical Assistance Project 3 has resulted in the development of a Philippine Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (PhilRASFF). Relevant officials of the Departments of Trade and Industry, Agriculture, and Health with the Food Administration Authority can share information in real time, including measures taken, for food and feed safety.
4. E-Health in the Philippines
The Department of Health (DOH), a sector in the Philippine local government, is in charge of overseeing the nation's development. They develop health policies, guidelines, regulate health services and products, and provide healthcare assistance to local government units (LGUs).
The World Health Organization defines eHealth as the use of information and communication technologies for health. eHealth in the Philippines grants Filipinos access to multiple health-related ICTs which promote efficiency and effectiveness.
The Department of Health in cooperation with the Department of Science and Technology has created the Philippine eHealth Strategic Framework and Plan (PeHSFP)[permanent dead link] for the years 2014-2020 to implement more projects and programs under the National eHealth Program (NeHP) One of its goals is an ICT-enabled Philippine Health System.
Currently, a Filipino's health information is stored only in the hospital where they are receiving treatment or consultation. The Philippines still uses traditional methods of storing information such as paper forms when storing records of patients. While more hospitals have shifted to storing data on computers with backup servers, many are yet to shift into this practice. This leads to inaccurate, lost, and misinterpreted medical data.
- To address this concern, the Philippine Health Information Exchange (PHIE) is in talks of development and implementation as a secure platform to exchange medical data and standardize processes while being easily accessible.
The role of ICT has grown significantly and is inextricably linked with eHealth in the Philippines. The following are some of the achievements of these two local government departments:
- Health Topics – where DOH provide information about health, diagnosis, prevention, treatment on their website through libraries, resources, and publications linked on their homepage, (www.doh.gov.ph)
- Advisories – establishing an online presence and providing online health advisories through YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.
- Collective and Contributory Environment – community-based internet for locals and professionals alike to participate, facilitate learning, and contribute knowledge related to health on (www.ehealth.ph)
- Online Payment – fast and convenient method of payment when paying for health insurance, such as PhilHealth or the Philippine Health Insurance Corporation, a tax-exempt government-owned and controlled corporation (https://www.philhealth.gov.ph/services/epay/)
- Online Database – health research and resources for transparency such as the Health Research and Development Information Network (HERDIN) (http://www.herdin.ph/) and Philippine Health Research Registry (PHRR) (http://registry.healthresearch.ph/)
As the National eHealth states as their vision: "By 2020, eHealth will enable widespread access to health care services, health information, and securely share and exchange patients' information in support to a safer, quality healthcare, more equitable and responsive health system for all the Filipino people by transforming the way information is used to plan, manage, deliver and monitor health services."
5. E-agriculture and e-Learning in the Philippines
The Department of Agriculture is the executive department of the Philippine government that is responsible for the promotion of agricultural and fisheries development and growth.[better source needed]
E-agriculture or ICT in agriculture is an emerging field that is focused on the improvement of rural and agricultural development through improved ICT processes. Focusing on agriculture, it also includes the conceptualization, design, development, evaluation, and application of innovative ways to use ICts in rural areas.
- e-Learning for Agriculture and Fisheries
e-Learning for Agriculture and Fisheries, a project initiated by the Department of Agriculture's e-Extension Program, with the help of Agricultural Training Institute (ATI) as the head implementing agency is offering certificate courses on farming and fishing technologies as well as social technology courses related to extension and training. This project is in partnership with other government agencies, state universities and colleges and non-government organizations. And, is provided online, offline and blended.
- Development of an Enhanced Production and Risk Management in Agriculture Integrated Decision Support System (EPRiMA)
The Philippines is one of the most high-risk countries from multiple hazards, suffering from hundreds of natural occurrences every year. These disasters include periodic typhoons (e.g., 2013 Typhoon Yolanda), earthquakes (e.g., 1990 Luzon earthquake), tsunamis (e.g., Mindanao Tsunami), volcanic eruptions (e.g., 1991 Mt. Pinatubo Eruption), tropical cyclones, floods, droughts, landslides, forest fires, and pandemics. The country is also facing agricultural and natural resource risks including those associated with rapid urbanization, migration and socio-economic changes.
So, the Food and Agriculture Organizations of the United Nations together with the Department of Agriculture developed the EPRiMA (Enhanced Production and Risk Management in Agriculture) Integrated Decision Support System. This project aims to increase resilience against multiple-threats to the agriculture sector by facilitating the development of an Integrated Decision Support System for EPRiMA. This project will allow key actors in the Department of Agriculture to make more effective and timely decisions through more comprehensive and near-real-time access to crop production, and risk and damage assessment information and tools. This project will run from January 2017 to June 2018.
The government of the Philippines have supports the modernization of the society by promulgating the ICT4D in the country but then due to the risks involved with this innovation the came up with several laws to be implemented and mandated in the country.
House Bill No. 4115 "Data Privacy Act of 2011"
Senate Bill No. 2965 " Data Privacy Act of 2011"
House Bill No. 5808 " Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2011"
Senate Bill No. 2796 "Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2011"
House Bill No. 4667 "Department of Information and Communications Technology Act of 2010"
Senate Bill No.50 "Department of Information and Communications Technology Act of 2010"
Executive Order 893 "Promoting the Deployment and Use of Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6)"
CICT MC No. 01 Implementing Rules and Regulations for E.O. No. 893–"Promoting the Deployment and Use of Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6)"
Over the last decade, the ICT access in Africa has increased immensely. As access increases, opportunities arise to leverage ICT to extend timely information and services to previously underserved populations, and to increase productivity and innovation in the public and private sectors. Examples of this are the increase in the number of people who are able to acquire mobile phone service, improved disease monitoring and vaccination planning and m-banking services using the mobile to extend access financial services to populations that never before had a bank account. But despite of the dramatic ICT improvements made, significant access gaps are still there.
infoDev, a global multi-donor program in the World Bank Group that supports growth-oriented entrepreneurs through business incubators and innovation hubs, aims to help African countries leverage ICT to reach their development goals by building local capacity. Along with the Global Information and Communications Technology Department of the World Bank (GICT) as a co-sponsor, a study entitled "Broadband for Africa: Policy for Promoting the Development of Backbone Networks" was made to review the current of backbone network infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa and investigate the significance of this for the development of mass-market broadband ICT services in the region. Through this study, the underlying reasons for the current pattern of infrastructure development were examined. Options for policy-makers to promote further development and use of these networks were also set out.
Furthermore, infoDev has helped with innovation and entrepreneurship as well as education. Small enterprises serve as one of the biggest contributors of production and employment in Sub-Saharan Africa but these enterprises are not able to reach their full potential due to three reasons:
- capacity constraints
- limited market linkages
- lack of access to finance and unconducive regulations
Entrepreneurs who wishes to start and grow their businesses can seek support from business incubators who provide shared facilities that reduce the cost of setting up a business, business development services and mentoring that strengthen the management capacity of the entrepreneur, market linkages that result in more cost-effective supplies and a larger customer base, and financial services that cater to start-up enterprises. infoDev's Incubator Initiative, launched in 2002 with support from the Government of Japan, supports the incubation and growth of competitive entrepreneurs and SMEs through a global network of over 150 business incubators spanning 70 developing countries.
When it comes to education, a series of ICT initiatives serves as a representation of the enormous potential of ICTs in the region. Just like small enterprises, education has an important role in the development of the region. infoDev aids by sponsoring a series of substantive cutting-edge research and analytical studies as well as capacity-building activities designed to enhance policy-relevant knowledge about what works, and what does not, in using ICT in education in developing countries, especially as it relates to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and to make this knowledge more accessible to developing country policymakers and their colleagues in the donor community.
These are elements that P. Clint Rogers observed in successful ICT4D projects in Africa:
- Augment existing economic activity, focus on the strong point and make it even better.
- Increase relevance by involving the end user from the very beginning of the project.
- Build on existing infrastructure (e.g., radio, TV, mobile phones), and/or let the end user see how simple the infrastructure is.
- Think what an African community has to offer to others and not what others can offer to an African community.
A cross-cutting study of Regional Trade and Integration was carried out by ICT Development Associates, and includes case studies of Botswana, Kenya and Senegal. Africa's trade performance is weak compared with other world regions, particularly in trade within the continent, and is undermined by inefficiencies and poor coordination between national agencies along the supply chain. The study describes experience and opportunities for using ICTs in trade facilitation –- especially in improving the efficiency and coordination of trade and transport logistics; port, customs and border management; and the availability to trading businesses of information about markets and trade requirements. Data sharing through national and regional "single windows" can reduce costs and delays, improve reliability and enhance the profitability of trade. ICTs should, however, form part of a broad approach to trade promotion, and implementation needs careful planning and resources. Regional integration through Regional Economic Communities (RECs) can play a crucial role. The RECs and International Financial Institutions (IFIs) should work with other stakeholders to advance ICT-enabled trade facilitation.
A second cross-cutting study on ICT Competitiveness was carried out by Excelsior with TNO, with country case studies of Kenya, Morocco and Nigeria. These countries are embracing the use of ICTs in novel ways to improve the social and economic opportunities available to firms and citizens. Provided the African ICT market continues its impressive double-digit growth, the market could be worth more than US$150 billion by 2016. The study highlights the need to build a competitive ICT industry to promote innovation, job creation and the export potential of African companies.
Of course, challenges remain. The continent largely lags behind the rest of the world in terms of ICT readiness and Africa has made slower progress in the past two years when compared to other regions. The Arab Spring has caused a short-term decline in inward FDI in the north of the continent. Pricing of ICT services, especially broadband, continues to be higher than other regions. Furthermore, the growing trend towards taxing incoming international calls suggests a worrying reversion to the former view of the ICT sector as a cash cow. The challenge for the next decade is to build on the mobile success story and complete the transformation. This will require reducing the cost of access for mobile broadband, supporting government private-sector collaboration, improving the e-commerce environment, enhancing ICT labour market skills, encouraging innovative business models that drive employment, such as microwork and business process outsourcing, and creating spaces that support ICT entrepreneurship, such as ICT incubators, and local ICT development clusters.
Cambodia, one of the 6 countries comprising the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), has been actively participating in the development of the telecommunication infrastructure of the subregion. The GMS Economic Cooperation Program includes the Telecommunications Backbone as one of its 11 flagship projects. This project focuses on the development of optical fiber network of the telecommunications systems of the GMS countries, and it is now largely completed through the aid of Asian Development Bank (ADB) and bilateral financing from Germany, the People's Republic of China, JICA and KOICA.
Together with Lao PDR and Vietnam and through the funding of ADB, Cambodia participated in the Establishment of Backbone Telecommunications Networks Project-Phase I (Phase-I Backbone Project). A telecommunications sector policy study "GMS Telecommunications Sector Policy Formulation and Capacity Building", through the funding of ADB, preceded the project.
As the Telecommunications Backbone comes to completion, Cambodia now focuses on another GMS project – the Information Superhighway Network (ISN). The country is also taking part in development and poverty reduction programs through ICT applications.
One of the strengths of Cambodia when it comes to ICT is the country's wireless connectivity. Theirs is the most developed compared with Lao PDR and Vietnam. The number of cellular phone subscribers in Cambodia is greater than the number of landline subscribers – the first in the world to achieve it. As of May 2016, there are already 21.2 million mobile phone subscribers in the country.
However, among the three countries mentioned, the Cambodian backbone is the least developed, which may be attributed to the low availability of electricity and the high generation cost. There is also a very low demand for eServices in the country.
|No||Type of Licenses||Licenses in Operation|
|1||International Telecommunication Gateway||3|
|2||Mobile Phone Services (2G/3G/4G)||8|
|3||Fixed Phone (Wire Line & WLL)||6|
|4||Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)||22|
|5||Internet Service Provider||28|
|7||Submarine Optical Cable Infrastructure||1|
|8||National Optical Cable Infrastructure||3|
|9||Value Added Network||1|
- Mobile: 21.8M (as of June 2015)
- Fixed: 363K Subs.
- Internet: 5.9M (ASEAN rank: 8th)
Internet Cafe: 289 sites
Local TV Channels: 15
Local Radio Channels: 160
Total length of fiber optic backbone: 26,411 km
- TC (State Owned): 1,600 km
- CFOCN: 7,611 km
- Viettel Cambodia: 17,200 km
- GAIS : 165 km (UTP Cable)
- PAIS: 366 km
ICT is being adapted in Lao PDR as a possible means of reducing poverty in the country. Being one of the poorest countries in Asia, its Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry is refining its strategies for agricultural development to:
- achieve food security,
- assist communities in developing agricultural production for cash,
- stabilize shifting cultivation, and
- develop forests sustainably.
The challenge is in the level of their workforce and staff: they lack the required breadth of knowledge and skills for them to become effective and creative problem solvers. Their solution to this challenge is the creation of the Bachelors in Poverty Reduction and Agriculture Management (PRAM) degree program to provide broad skills at the grassroots level. The United Nations University International Institute for Software Technology (UNU-IIST), in partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, is designing and building a software for capacity building. It is designed with the help from district up to national levels and the PRAM teachers and students themselves.
Thailand prioritizes ICT by establishing a National Information Technology Committee (NITC) which is chaired by the Prime Minister. The committee has four modules that cover agriculture, industry, finance and government. The National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC) serves as support to the committee through R & D program and initiatives. The committees' job is to develop ICT policies and to promote ICT development and utilization in Thailand. The first ICT policy created was the IT2000 which has three main goals, (1) the development of a sound IT infrastructure (2) the development of people in the area of IT to ensure growth of the IT sector (3) good governance in delivery of public services and in government administration. Under this new policy, several initiatives have been started. Here are some of them:
School Net Thailand
It seeks to improve and provide equal access to education to Thai youths whether living in urban or rural areas by connecting schools through a shared network using the internet. Also the network has a program that allows teachers to create their content to add to the existing library in the network.
Government information network
This network provides a private network for government agencies but also provides other services like government directory, e-Government Portal and secure electronic mail using digital ID and public-key infrastructure (PKI).
NICT has passed several laws, including data protection laws and computer crime laws, that have already been enacted.
This framework was approved in 2002. For the first decade of the 21st century. His Majesty recognized that to build a strong economy that can compete internationally it must exploit the benefits of Information Technology to move to a knowledge based economy which plans on investing on technological infrastructure to build the information industry and to promote innovation. Also to increase the amount of knowledge workers.
Malaysia has a road map called the Eight Malaysia Plan (2001–2005). The plan focuses on making Malaysia in to a major ICT hub by promoting e-commerce and R&D activities on soft factors of ICT developments, upgrading ICT infrastructure, supporting local-content developers and ICT-based small to medium enterprises. The plan seeks to hit 21 development areas because ICT's general purpose can be applied in to many areas. Malaysia positions ICT as an important complement to support the 21 development areas. The government takes an active role in initiating projects but non-government organizations have also played a significant role in initiating ICT projects. Here is a list of some of the development areas and the initiatives that go with it. Note: Not all of the 21 development areas have ICT usage yet.
Population and human resource development (poverty eradication)
- Online Poverty Database (1998)
This database centralizes all information concerning the urban poor. It simplifies the verification process so all types of assistance can be recorded so the Ministry of Rural Development can take action.
- E-Learning for Life (Coca-Cola) (2002)
ICT hubs are erected in six secondary schools and several
semi-urban areas across Malaysia. Thu hubs have hardware and software and an internet connection for the teachers and students to engage in ICT training for the overall goal, which is part of Malaysia vision of building a knowledge economy.
- Computer in Education (CIE) (1995)
Started by the Ministry of Education, this initiative
introduces the subject of computer literacy to primary and secondary schools across Malaysia. It trained 1230 teachers on CIE in education and created 90 laboratories for secondary schools and 20 laboratories for primary school.
Regional and agriculture development
- Community Communications Development Programme (CCDP)
CCDP targets rural and remote communities and provide them
access to internet for e-learning and e-commerce. It encourages the usage of communications based media all over Malaysia.
The goal of this initiative is to attempt to improve the life of poor rural farmers by giving them access to knowledge of agriculture through the computer centers that have access to the internet and to provide IICT training to bridge the digital divide.
- AkisNet (2001)
Akisnet is a software application specifically created for
the agriculture sub-sectors Wwth the goal of bridging the digital divide in the agriculture communities. The four main goals are:
- Establishment of an ICT infrastructure.
- The creation of productivity enhancing programs.
- Teaching farmers ICT to increase ICT literacy in these communities.
- The creation of commercial opportunities for the agriculture community.
The goal of this software is to help local farming projects to produce low-cost solutions to prepare them for participation to the e-Marketplace.
It is an online portal that connects members to a wealth of
unbiased medical information, medicine and self-care for minor ailments and any other health related information. The portal also allows users to have direct contact with pharmacists who can complete a pharmaceutical transaction online.
Youth and woman development
- Networking Women
Newwoman.net is the website of the National Council of
Women's Organization created to teach ICT skills to women. The website serves as a hub for other women organizations and as a platform to conduct research on the impact of ICT in women lives.
- K-Youth (2003)
The project seeks to equip youth living in the paddy farming
area of Karpan Malaysia with ICT knowledge for sustainable community development. The project is design in phases. The first phase will teach them about basic computer usage from operating windows to surfing the internet.
- e-Public Services
e-PS was designed to assist people in navigating important
information on forms and public services. E-PS will enable the public to easily download application forms and to access a variety of government services online.
Digital Bangladesh implies the broad use of computers, and embodies the modern philosophy of effective and useful use of technology in terms of implementing the promises in education, health, job placement and poverty reduction. The party underscored a changing attitude, positive thinking and innovative ideas for the success of "Digital Bangladesh".
The philosophy of "Digital Bangladesh" comprises ensuring people's democracy and human rights, transparency, accountability, establishing justice and ensuring delivery of government services to the citizens of Bangladesh through maximum use of technology, with the ultimate goal being the overall improvement of the daily lifestyle of general people. This includes all classes of people and does not discriminate people in terms of technology.
The government further emphasized on the four elements of "Digital Bangladesh Vision" which are human resource development, people involvement, civil services and use of information technology in business.
- National Portal Framework (NPF)
The National Portal Framework (NPF) is the single platform for accessing all public information from any government organization to ensure easy accessibility to information for citizens and easy management and share of data and information among various organizations.
- Multimedia classrooms and e-books
Multimedia classrooms has been introduced in 500 schools, 15,200 secondary schools and 5,300 Madrasa through Ministry of Education of Bangladesh within 2014. A number of 23,661 primary and secondary school teachers now use multimedia contents through teacher's portal. More than 300 electronic text books of primary and secondary education are made available online for students.
- e-Purjee-Digital Sugarcane Procurement System
The system allows the sugar mills all over Bangladesh to send purchase orders to the sugarcane growers through SMS. Sugar and Food Industries Corporation of Bangladesh has been running the e-Purjee system in 15 state-owned sugar mills of Bangladesh since 2011–12.
- Jatiyo e-Tathyakosh
Establishing eCommunity centers
China is the world's biggest nation and fastest growing economy. Firstly, China develop both satellite and fiber optics technology for its rural infrastructure. However, there's an agreement with the Government of Israel for provision of 500 small aperture terminals (VSAT) for its rural satellite broadcast and internet access. Secondly, the eCommunity centers belong to a centralized multi-tiered network (national, provincial, prefecture, township and villages). Thirdly, the Ministry of Agriculture are building such networks service providers in agricultural bureaus, agricultural information centers, local government and distance education institutions. Fourthly, eCommunity centers that is part of distance – learning network called as the Central Agricultural Broadcasting and Television School (CABTS).
The CABTS Network
CABTS is huge network. It has 1 central school in Beijing administering the network, 38 provincial schools, 330 prefecture schools, 2,480 county school, 23 000 township training centers, 60 virtual classrooms, that will increase soon in 560 Israel's donation of VSAT units, 2 750 administrators, and 4 107 staff.
While the CABTS is growing, its network is now being linked and sooner it will focus on livelihood sector in non-agricultural sector and this will shift into ICT4L. (Reference: AGFlor BGFlor book in ICT4D version 2.0)
China's agricultural information dissemination models
China implemented various types of information dissemination models such as a web portal, an SMS-based service where information can be distributed through text messages; a membership-based online community where people can share their experiences and information, an interactive video conferencing services and many more.
Its initial stages began during the 1970s to 1990s when China imported their very first computer for agricultural informatization and established their first computer application research institute in agriculture. During this period, they also began their research and invested more on ICTs, mainly in adding more computers in the different departments of their agricultural sector. They also conducted computer seminars for their staff in order to push through with their development goals.
It's establishing stage was around 1990 to 2000s where more informatization programs were added, expanding their ICT networks all over the country. And from 2000s to today, China's rural ICT infrastructures and development programs continues to expand and improve, benefiting their country and their economy.
These information dissemination models helped China improve its agricultural landscape, which improved farmers' income, disaster preparedness, trading, marketing, policy-making and in establishing best practices for their agricultural sector. Human actors were key proponents to the success of these information dissemination models in China. The success of these models were based on people related factors such as farmer's ICT literacy, level of awareness and education and motivation.
Indonesia implemented Presidential Decree Number 3 of 2003 and Republic Act Number 22 of 1999 (known as the Local Government Code). The first promulgates the application of E-Governance all over Indonesia and the latter is for decentralizing the agricultural extension function from the Ministry of Agriculture to the Dinas Pertanian of the decentralized local governments.
Another law implemented in Indonesia is Republic Act Number 25 of 1999, which is intended for the distribution of the agricultural budget extension to local governments, which will further relocate this budget for other urgent priorities. But this law has weakened the Information and Communications capabilities of the agricultural extension force since the funds were channeled elsewhere.
Further, Republic Act Number 8 of 2003has limited the number of Dinases in each district to three unless the criteria for establishing more than three is fulfilled. In addition, the Ministry of Agriculture has no direct influence on any decisions regarding agricultural programs at the local level.
The government of Indonesia invested heavily in ICT for basic delivery of services in the country, in fact Indonesia was the first Southeast Asian country to launch its own satellite for telecommunication purposes. Indonesia was leading in programs promoting rural access. However, internet access in Indonesia is still among the lowest in Southeast Asia. Furthermore, The MOA Center for Agricultural Database and Information gets services from commercial Internet Service Providers for the district and sub-district level programs since the noncommercial internet backbone is not effectively tapped for agricultural extension.
The Ministry of Agriculture has sufficient hardware, software and networking facilities up to the provincial level and district level but at the sub-district level and below the hardware is lacking and aging.
Despite the existence of the potential for ICT infrastructure, it is not being employed effectively for agricultural development, the noncommercial internet backbone should be developed and utilized accordingly.
Program planning and development
The Agency for Agricultural Human Resource Development (AAHRD) cannot directly implement ICT programs at the field level for agricultural extension.
However, the following ICT-related programs, which may be linked to the agricultural extension ICT system in Indonesia, are in the pipeline:
- FAO TCP National Program for Food Security (NPFS);
- ADB Poor Farmers Income Improvement through Innovation Project (PFI3P);
- World Bank Farmers' Empowerment through Appropriate Technology and Information (FEATI).
Even though there is a lack in programs on agricultural extension ICT systems, there are still opportunities to link-up with exiting and upcoming programs that are related directly to agriculture.
Indonesia should develop a strategy that that utilizes high-end ICTs such as the Web, cable modem, PDAs, 3G Cellular telephony and low-end ICTs such as cable television, SMS, rural radio and indigenous media.
The Agency for Agricultural Research and Development (AARD) has kept its Assessment Institutes for Agricultural Technology (AIATs) and retained its nationwide agricultural research network, this network enabled the AARD to implement field level activities from national program perspectives. Dismantling the agricultural extension system has left an empty space, which did force the AARD to carry part of the extension burden in the countryside since the content for innovative agricultural technologies is housed in the AIATs.
The participation of AIATs in the agricultural extension ICT system makes content available.
Indonesia has 8,000 researchers compared to 35,000 extension workers, most of them receive their salaries from the local governments. The AIATs carry part of the agricultural extension burden, yet the AIATs are ran by researchers and not by extension workers.
Other than that, most extension workers in local governments are over 40 years and awaiting retirement, which means that they belong to the old school of ICTs. Agricultural extension workers need training courses for designing, developing and utilizing ICTs, these courses should include sessions on digital multimedia production, they should also incorporate interfaces with conventional and traditional media and last mile linkage strategies.
International programs, agencies, and strategies
eLAC is an intergovernmental strategy that conceives of information and communications technologies as instruments for economic development and social inclusion in Latin America and the Caribbean. eLAC is based on a public-private sector partnership and is part of a long-term vision (until 2015) in line with the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and those of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). The inter-governmental strategy contributes to the implementation of these long-term goals by pursuing a consecutive series of frequently adjusted short-term achtion plans with concrete qualitative and quantitative goals to be achieved. Three plans have already been worked on to implement this vision:
2005-2007: eLAC2007 with 30 goals and 70 activities for the years 2005-2007
2008-2010: eLAC2010 with 83 goals to be achieved during the 2008-2010 period
2010-2015: eLAC2015 with 24 goals to be achieved during the period 2010-2015
Strengthening Capacity Research in Asia (SIRCA) is a pioneer capacity-building programme that intends to develop social science research skills of emerging researchers in Asia Pacific region in the information and communication technologies for development (ICTD) space by supporting research that was scientific, replicable, generalisable, collaborative, and actionable (i.e. applied research). It is conceptualized by the Singapore Internet Research Centre (SiRC) and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and was initiated in August 2008.
SIRCA has the following objectives:
- Promote high-quality inter-disciplinary social science research in Internet development, e-services, new media use and social impact, and policy for the benefit and advancement of individuals, organisations, nation and society;
- Support networks and linkages among researchers through a mentorship programme, as well as workshops and conferences to share knowledge and conduct training activities; and
- Disseminate the research findings through such venues as academic journals, conferences and other relevant online and print media outlets.
The SIRCA programme facilitated 15 research projects (12 grant recipients, and three graduate student awardees) of emerging ICTD from eight Asian countries from 2008 to 2011. The topics covered on these studies address key development goals in agriculture, education, health, migration, livelihoods, and disaster-preparedness for the benefit and advancement of individuals, organizations, nations, and societies in Asia. The program mentors ensured that projects had not only an applied practical context but were grounded in theory, a necessity for publication in the best peer reviewed journals, and for contribution to the scientific community.
To further improve SIRCA to become one of the best ICT4D programs in Asia, SiRC hired an external evaluator in cooperation with their management. Two evaluations were done: a formative, The SIRCA Programme Evaluation; and a qualitative, The Mentorship Model Evaluation. The formative evaluation spanned for two years and four months (March 2008 – July 2010). Grant Review Process, Mentorship Programme, SIRCA Workshops, and Conferences were areas of The SIRCA Programme Evaluation. On the other hand, the second evaluation (qualitative) consisted of interviews of Principal Investigators (PI) and mentors.
Following the success of SIRCA, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Singapore Internet Research Centre (SiRC) decided to launch a second programme that will extend to a larger group of emerging scholars from Africa, Asia and Latin America. Launched in 2011, the Strengthening Information Society Research Capacity Alliance (or SIRCA II) would put more emphasis on regional collaboration and real world (policy) impacts.
SIRCA II would maintain the primary goals of SIRCA I, which is to provide support to emerging ICT4D scholars by awarding them with research grants; and to shape them into future research leaders by developing their capacities to conduct research in ICT4D. However, it is intended that SIRCA II would go beyond the extent of SIRCA I by giving an increased emphasis on research take-up, as Harris & Chib (2012) explained: "the utilisation of the knowledge generated by research within the fields of policy advocacy and programme practice through the packaging of research in a more suitable manner such that it can be presented to policy-makers and have direct or even indirect impacts on policy."
Harris & Chib (2012) also pointed that SIRCA II "will achieve the same academic impact in terms of peer-reviewed publications that remain a priority within the professional context, but will add this new layer of socio-economic impact in order to further promote ICTD research as a tool for advocating for policy formulation and enhancing programme practice".
Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) is the federal government agency tasked to administer most of Canada's official cooperation program with developing countries and countries in transition. CIDA's mandate is to reduce poverty and to contribute to a better world by supporting sustainable development in developing countries. To attain this goal, CIDA focuses on the following priorities:
- basic human needs – where 25% of CIDA's resources is devoted
- full participation of women
- infrastructure for the poor
- human rights/democratic development/governance
- private-sector development
- the environment
CIDA's strategy in participating in ICT projects is guided by needs and priorities of developing/transition countries. This strategy is meant to guide and inform CIDA's work in the ICT sector, especially its involvement in international projects and initiatives for the next three to five years. All of these are based on the principle of country ownership. This further recommends that CIDA's approach to be at two levels:
- Programming should focus on
- using ICT as a tool for development of the education and health sectors – particularly the control and prevention of communicable diseases like HIV/AIDS.
- building environments via support for policy and regulatory framework advice and development and promoting local capacity development; and
- supporting knowledge sharing and networking.
- Strategic institutional partnerships by supporting international initiatives between different sectors (the government, private sector, civil society) through exerting efforts in knowledge-sharing activities and bridging the digital divide through the Knowledge for Development Fund.
CIDA has been programming in ICTs for over 25 years. Through the years, its interventions and contributions are deemed relevant, addressed real needs, and participated in balancing the development of institutional, human, and infrastructure capacity without letting go of the rapidly changing ICT dynamics. Its work in ICT4D can be divided into 3 categories:
- Category 1: ICTs – a sector in itself
- Infrastructure services, where ICT belongs, is one of the six programming priorities in which it is mandated to help developing countries deliver environmentally sound infrastructure services, with an emphasis on poorer groups and on capacity building. Such services/projects include The Telecommunication Sector Reform project (Colombia) and The Digital Telecommunications Training Project (China).
- The role of CIDA in this category are:
- support for modernizing IT and telecommunications sectors
- support for installing a telecommunications, television, or radio network
- training and capacity development in ICTs
- Category 2: Using ICTs as tools
- These international projects uses ICTs as tools to enhance the efficiency, effectiveness, and impact of sectoral interventions. Due to its cross-cutting nature, ICTs affect various sectors, thus lending themselves well to integrated efforts. Projects that fall under this category are Global Distance Learning Center (Ukraine), Integrating and Launching ICTs in Education (Jordan), and Carioca HIV/AIDS project (Caribbean Region).
- ICTs are used as tools by:
- enhancing delivery of education through distance education (tertiary education, teacher training)
- improving public sector administration systems (taxation, finance, health)
- utilizing Geographic Information Systems to manage water systems, environment, and agricultural production
- sharing information
- promoting health care
- Category 3: Using ICTs to promote knowledge sharing and networking
- The focus of these projects is building knowledge networks, links, and sharing knowledge. Networks are used as a vehicle to achieve positive development outcomes in other sectors. These projects include the (global) Developing Countries Farm Radio Network, the Earth Council, and the Sierra Leone
W.TEC is a Nigerian non-governmental organization working for the economic and social empowerment of girls and women, using information and communication technologies (ICTs). We have chosen to focus on this area because statistical evidence has shown that in most African countries, women's use and knowledge of ICTs (to store, share, organise and process information) is lower than men's, denying them of income-generating opportunities and the chance to network with others.
W.TEC's programmes will consist of technology literacy training, technology-based projects, mentoring and work placement. W.TEC will also research and publish works examining pivotal issues related to how African women use technology, barriers preventing or limiting technology use, and strategies for more efficient technology use.
Our objectives are for Nigerian women to develop financial independence by: training for ICT-specific jobs, like computer engineer, programmer, system analysts, hardware and network specialists, designers; developing technology skills that can be used for other ICT-reliant jobs or self-employment. We also want women to develop skills and confidence to use ICTs for activism, learning, awareness-raising and advocacy for a better quality of life.
Girls in ICT
The Girls in ICT initiative of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is a global effort to raise awareness on empowering and encouraging girls and young women to consider studies and careers in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). The initiative is committed to celebrate and commemorate the International Girls in ICT Day on the fourth Thursday of every April as established by the ITU membership.
The Girls in ICT Portal is a tool for girls and young women to get an insight into the ICT sector as well as for partners to understand the importance of the International Girls in ICT Day, developed by the Digital Inclusion programme of ITU Telecommunication Development Bureau.
ICT4Peace is an international foundation established in 2006 that utilizes ICT to improve crisis information management, provide humanitarian aid and promote peace. Before it became a foundation, it originated as a project of Daniel Stauffacher (Ambassador of Switzerland to the WSIS) to address the armed conflicts in many countries that undermines progress towards the Millennium Development Goals through ICTs. Stauffacher held a series of meetings that bore groundbreaking outcomes in advocacy, research and networking. The ICT4Peace Project then became ICT4Peace Foundation with Stauffacher as its chairman.
The following are the initiatives and programs of the foundation:
- In-depth research on the role of ICT and information management in preventing, responding to and recovering from conflict (see report: https://web.archive.org/web/20080510114007/http://www.ict4peace.org/articles/ict4peace_ebook.pdf )
- Negotiation and adoption of Paragraph 36 of the WSIS Tunis Commitment.
- Setting up of ICT4Peace Foundation including website and Contributions to the Peace.it publication by the Crisis Management Initiative: https://web.archive.org/web/20080828155145/http://www.ict4peace.org/articles/PeaceIT_1_2007.pdf and https://web.archive.org/web/20080124171925/http://ict4peace.org/view_blog_posts-1-v-119.html
- Establishment of an ICT4Peace Informal Policy advisory Board under the Chairmanship of President Martti Ahtisaari of Finland: https://web.archive.org/web/20090406065646/http://www.ict4peace.org/people-1.html
- Launching of partnership between DESA Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID) and ICT4Peace Foundation: ICT4Peace Foundation appointed as leader of GAID community of practice of ICT4Peace.
- Expert meeting: under the Chairmanship of President Martti Ahtisaari of Finland, a group of experts from the UN, international civil society, business and academia met in March 2007 to identify key challenges of and solutions to existing ICT mechanisms on conflict management. Launching of collaborative research of best practices by CMI, ISCRAM, ICT4Peace Foundation, Interpeace Alliance.
- Launch of ICT4Peace inventory wiki: A global database of ICT in crisis management, humanitarian aid and peacebuilding (http://inventory.ict4peace.org)
- Launch of partnership between the ICT4Peace Foundation and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) through the Global Symposium +5 ‘Information for Humanitarian Action’ event and the ICT4Peace: An International Process for Crisis Management process (http://www.reliefweb.int/symposium )
- Meeting at the United Nations, New York on 15 November 2007 to launch the ICT4Peace initiative and introduce it to an international range of stakeholders. Presentation of a report on the UN's Crisis Information Management capacities and capabilities at the United Nations in New York on 8 July 2008.
- ICT4Peace Foundation signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre on 29 August 2008
- High-level meeting to discuss Interim Report: Stocktaking of UN Crisis Information Management Capabilities, held on 7 November 2008 at the United Nations in New York (supported by Martti Ahtisaari, former President of Finland and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2008)
- Training programme with the Cairo Regional Center for Training on Conflict Resolution & Peacekeeping in Africa (CCCPA) on using ICTs for peacekeeping operations. Click here for Memorandum of Understanding between the CCCPA and the ICT4Pe
"Based on the article by AGFlor BGFlor version 2.0"
According to their resource material,it was mentioned that experts and economists warned everyone about an imminent danger of facing a global food crisis that was unlikely similar to what we’ve encountered before. To put it another way, the Industrial Age we took advantage of, brought with it were problems that harms the agricultural sector which leads to food shortages and price hike at a global scale.
Factors of agriculture causing the surge in food prices:
- Poor harvest in major producing countries because of extreme weather condition
- Declining of food stocks (lowest level since 1970)
- Lack of investment in the agricultural sector
- Subsidization of bio-fuels product that substitute food production
- Speculative transactions that hedges future markets
- Exporting restriction causing panic buying
The global crisis that these factors contribute is simply a product of social entropy or societal break down. Fortunately, entropy can be countered by information because it is true that in the process of information exchange, the world may find its salvation.
Through exchange of information, communities of practice must do this in order to correct unsound policies (land conversion), uninformed decisions (biofuel), and unwarranted practices (using staples as animal feeds, and inaccurate prediction and forecasts. As a result, these would lead to the potential advocacies of eAgriculture: alternative fuel, alternative fertilizers, alternative feeds, and alternative foods. Unfortunately, since most eAgriculture involves the participation of mobile communities, they have been confronted by the following challenges: Carriage, Critical mass, Collaboration, Content, and Costs.
The Five Cs
- Carriage: There are no first/last mile linkages
- Critical mass: ICT use in the rural areas has not reached the numbers required to make an impact in agriculture of rural areas in productivity and poverty alleviation
- Collaboration: Intermediaries only make partnerships and collaboration possible. Generally, farmers, housewives and rural youth do not use ICTs without of intervention of line agencies that provide basic services. This otherwise known as Calvano's Missing Link hypothesis.
- Content: There is a lack of content. There cannot be a universally accepted medium.
- Cost: Rural communities cannot afford ICT hardware and services.
As technology advances, the mentioned challenges of the participating mobile communities were offset by devices such as the iPhone 3G.
In terms of carriage, a device like the iPhone 3G with such capabilities can successfully address all of these problems and =solve first mile/last mile challenges. Modern devices can also create shareable and reusable user-generated content which helpful especially among farmng communities.
In terms of critical mass, back in 1998, the Philippines quickly reached the sufficient of adopters of an innovation (devices with 2G or GSM). Thus, becomes beneficial to the community and promotes growth in mass communication.
In terms of collaboration, advance devices capable of an effective Web 2.0 would lead everyone to collaborate, share and reuse, and simply to exchange information. Students of would benefit especially in matters of online learning because it is cheaper and has no significant difference in learning.
In terms of content, web communities can effectively use audio and video, with the language of their choice, to exchange information.
Lastly, in terms of cost, as technology is getting better, faster, stronger, and cheaper. One can afford a phone with the right components to achieve the minimum requirement for an effective performance in exchanging information.
There is a lot of debate and critical thinking about solving the problem on ICT4D especially in the eAgricultural sector. It means it still needs a lot of study on how to entropy the poverty alleviation and the step by step productivity of ICTs.
Artificial Intelligence is the future of ICT4D. Therefore, agriculture should be the focus.
Food stocks are necessary for long term cultivation of life. We have to prepare for the worst. Due to recent escalating issue on climate change the natural resources are at risk and in order for it to maintain its purpose is to monitor and analyse its activities 24x7 by cognitive technologies. Crop choice allows diversity. Mixed crops can be adapted to develop further ways of consumption and production. Analyzing the information at hand and working hard through intelligence technologies will change outcomes and probabilities of maximizing the crop returns. Virtual assistant is another automation that may interact with agricultural farmers. Conversational approach to understand and learn techniques at the right time and moment of need. We can leverage to this technology to assist farmers in their questions and answers can be given right away.
Artificial intelligence technologies are making its way to agriculture and it is now the future that we see for ICT4D. Food stocks, crop choice and virtual assistant are the main focus of the advance intellectual technology that can bring the livestock and agriculture to industrial and to information links back again. As a result, these will shape the future of ICT4D.
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|Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: Information and Communication Technologies for Poverty Alleviation|
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