The event forms part of the OECD response to international calls to mainstream ICT, not only within project planning and design, but within development strategies, both nationally and internationally. It builds on the first event in this series ‘Exploiting the Digital Opportunities for Poverty Reduction’ held in March 2001 (see http://www.oecd.org/dac/digitalforum), and also acts as a platform for discussion leading up to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).

‘Three factors in particular account for successful development,’ said Seiichi Kondo, OECD Deputy Secretary-General in his opening address:

• ‘ownership of the process by developing countries;


• effective dialogue between developing and developed countries; and


• coherent policies in developed countries, in areas such as trade, investment, and agriculture.’

Information and Communication, not just Technology

‘The focus of ICT for development efforts is not on the technology, but on how technology and knowledge can be used to combat poverty and create opportunity,’ said Bruno Lanvin Program Manager for InfoDEV at the World Bank. This theme ran through the event. ‘ICTs can play a vital role as a tool of development, but only if ICT strategies are effectively linked to the broader challenges of economic and social development’ concurred Jean-Claude Faure, for example. From a developing country perspective, ‘ICT for Development is not about simply giving technology to the poor,’ pointed out David Sawe, Director, Management Information Systems, Civil Service Department, Tanzania. ‘Developing countries face a number of daunting challenges, including resolving the legacies of their own past, sustaining basic survival in the present, and meeting the complex emerging challenges of the future.’

Tim Kelly, Head of the Strategy and Policy Unit, ITU provided an update on the status of the digital divide. ‘Between 1995 and 2001 more than 100 million Internet users were added in the developing world, but 4 times more were added in the developed world. In the developed world, 2 out of 5 people have access to the Internet, while in the developing world only 1 in 50 have access. In telephony, there has been a surge in demand for both fixed-line and mobile telephones in developing countries, with mobile phones taking the lead in responding to new demand in these countries. Meanwhile, in developed countries, demand is rather flat, leading to a situation of overcapacity in the developed world and under-supply in the developing world’.

But what impact has the digital divide had on human development? Jose Maria Figueres, Chair of the UN ICT Task Force and Senior Managing Director, World Economic Forum (WEF), highlighted that ‘in 2003, we are already halfway along the timeline from the [UN Millennium Development Goals] (MDG) base year of 1990 to their expected attainment by 2015, and as of now we are clearly not on target to reach those goals’. Moreover, ‘only two of the 48 indicators for the Millennium Development Goals are explicitly about ICT access and use,’ pointed out Stephen Browne, Practice Leader, ICT for Development, UNDP. ‘The real challenge is to find ways to use ICTs as effective tools for the other 46, and thus to make ICTs a comprehensive tool in the fight against poverty and the achievement of the MDGs’.

‘Thus it is important to link WSIS to other international efforts to create the conditions for global economic growth’ summarised Bruno Lanvin. ‘“MDG”, the initials for the Millennium Development Goals, might also stand for “Monterrey, Doha, Geneva”. Linking more explicitly the objectives and strategies of the financing for development, trade, and information society agendas at the global level might help us advance on all fronts.’

ICT in donors’ policies, strategies and programmes.

The forum examined the role of ICT in donors’ ODA programmes. This was seen from the perspective of donors on the one hand, with speakers articulating how ICT feature in their programmes, and on the other, from developing countries with speakers describing how ICT features in their national development programmes. ‘Development aid is undergoing a quiet revolution’ observed Jean-Francois Rischard, World Bank Vice-President for Europe in his keynote address. Nevertheless, ‘ICT has still too rarely found ‘a home’ in donor programmes and national strategies. Few Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) have an ICT component, and the coverage of ICT issues is weak or incidental. In general, the development community has not been a major force behind national ICT strategies. There are many possible reasons for this, including: old development fallacies such as “phones are a luxury for the poor”; the complacent belief that “the private sector will take care of it”; lack of dedicated ICT resources/teams within bilateral aid agencies; bewilderment in the face of proliferating jargon; and insufficient understanding of the knowledge-based economy paradigm that provides the fundamental underpinning and rationale for ICT for development’.

By embedding ICT strategy in the broader Poverty Reduction Strategy process, donors and developing countries can more effectively chart the potential impact of ICTs across the full range of economic and social challenges these countries face,’ said Keith Yeomans, ICT Advisor at the UK government’s Department for International Development (DFID). ‘Yet, of 21 countries whose PRSPs were recently reviewed, only 4 explicitly mentioned ICTs as a tool in poverty reduction. Furthermore, six others mention ICTs in their national plans but not in their PRSPs. The challenge, then, is to more explicitly tie ICT-for-development strategies to the PRSP process’.

‘The efforts of developing countries to mainstream ICTs are complicated by the fact that many of them have three or four different planning exercises, often instigated by the donor community, including PRSPs, sustainable development strategies, national ICT strategies, and in many cases 4 or 5-year plans,’ highlighted Steven Browne. ‘At the same time, there are many interlocutors in the donor community, each with its own mandates and interests, but also with its own comparative advantage. Therefore, efforts to identify and leverage these strengths and priorities, such as the Summary Matrix of Donor ICT Strategies prepared by the OECD for this Forum, are most useful’.

Source: Donor ICT Strategies Summary Matrix, OECD. The full document can be downloaded from http://www.oecd.org/dac/ict

Donors’ roundtable on ICT for Development

Two parallel events were held on 5 March, a donors’ roundtable on ICT for Development, and a series of three breakout workshops dealing with connectivity and infrastructure issues, human resources development, and multi-dimensional/multi-stakeholder approaches

The highlights of the roundtable discussion included:

• ‘It is important that OECD’s analysis of the growth impact and economic/social benefits of ICTs include attention to the pro-poor and poverty-reducing benefits of ICTs in developing countries. Otherwise it will be difficult to make the case for increased ODA support for ICTs.


• Local expertise in developing countries is crucial to making donor aid sustainable. Therefore, one important element of donor ICT programs should be support for local capacity-building and “centers of excellence”.


• The countries of the former Soviet Union have a great deal of expertise on ICTs, which could be of benefit to developing countries, but they would need support from the donor community in order to be useful in this regard.


• One of the reasons why rigorous economic and social analysis of the impact of ICTs is so important is that ICT strategies do not automatically translate into poverty reduction strategies. If one takes the often-cited example of the dramatic growth of the ICT software and service industry in Bangalore, the primary beneficiaries have been those who already had access to English language training; i.e. the middle and upper classes. Proactive strategies are required to assure that the economic and social benefits of ICTs extend to all, and these strategies must include proper attention to enabling conditions and capacity-building, as the Bangalore example demonstrates. In order to reach all sectors of society, furthermore, ICT strategies should not just focus on high-end technologies such as the Internet, but on the full range of ICTs (including, e.g. radio) and on the synergies among them.


• We need more research and analysis on appropriate models for financing ICT growth and access, and the OECD can make a valuable contribution here.


• It is important that the WSIS attract broad and active support in order to be credible and have a positive impact. It was suggested that this year’s OECD Ministerial Committee meeting should call on world leaders to engage actively in WSIS and indicate OECD’s active involvement in the Summit’.

Resources:

This summary excerpted with kind permission from OECD. The full website for the Forum, including presentations and reports, can be accessed below:

• OECD http://www.oecd.org/dac/ict