Summary of Informal Panel Discussion

Panel held 17 June 2002 at the Meeting of the General Assembly devoted to information and communication technologies for development

H.E. Abdul Mejid Hussein, Permanent Representative of Ethiopia and Vice President of the General Assembly chaired this panel and the Moderator was Mr. Jose-Maria Figueres-Olsen, Chairman of the United Nations ICT Task Force and Special Representative of the Secretary-General for ICT.

Issues

As the Secretary-General said in the video introduction to the panel, “The information age has dawned, but not yet for all.” Panelists, delegates, and private sector and civil society participants focused their discussion on the issues of leverage and multi-stakeholder partnerships. Participants recognized that the key issues concerning ICT were not technological themselves but pertained more to purpose, governance, mind-set, leadership, policy, vision, willingness and resources. ICT was recognized as a great tool, but one that required the proper environment to make it effective. ICT could have considerable leverage to promote development and reduce poverty, but there were many complications to be overcome. Most immediately it was noted that countries with the lowest levels of telephone and internet usage had the highest phone, connectivity and bandwidth costs.

A particular concern was how to merge the goals of business and development. Business interests naturally focus on earnings and therefore attention has to be given to emphasizing the market opportunities of development. Participants gave much attention to the ways improved communications technology, especially internet, could facilitate the work of government, and conversely, the government need to put on-line a great deal of content useful to the citizenry. “E-governance” was seen as leading to customer-centered solutions, and governments could learn from the private sector in this regard. ICT could lead to information-sharing, more democratic and accountable government functions, expanded commerce, etc., but not always, and not with a level playing field. Similarly ICT could have great gender benefit, but only in relation to equitable access. Leverage is not a simple matter.

Opportunities

The panelist from Hewlett-Packard emphasized that the assets or competencies that such a company as hers brings to the equation include deep ICT expertise, a solutions-approach, inventive capability, an extensive talent base, proven business methodologies, credibility and access to other organizations, and – last among these – limited “social investment” funds (resources for philanthropy). Emphasis was placed in devising multi-stakeholder partnerships the United Nations and public officials should especially call upon the expertise and other competencies of the private sector. On the government side, examples were given of ways to save money and speed administrative work through use of ICT. Even taking into account start-up costs, short-term benefits could be identified from the experience of some speakers. ICT can be a “win-win” situation if business interests realize that bridging the digital divide in developing countries is good business, producing more customers, more purchases and higher living standards.

Constraints and Challenges

Numerous problems beset the introduction and expansion of ICT to leverage development. There is not one digital divide, there are several – rural/urban, young/old, rich/poor, white collar/blue collar, etc. Access is key, but access alone is not sufficient. Basic problems can be listed as including electricity, infrastructure, computers and other devices, skilled users, and content. Moreover, ICT alone doesn’t lead to development. It needs to be integrated into other efforts with adequate financing and skills from various quarters. Other problems include resistance to change and hording of information by those in charge of it at all levels. Another is lack of understanding of system requirements and the various costs of the totality of changes involved. There may be a feeling that the costs are unaffordable and the purposes unrealistic, and that ICT is a luxury for poor countries with limited infrastructure and budgets.

Conclusions

An opinion was expressed that, on the government side, ICT must be recognized as a necessity, not a luxury, in government budgets. It is not an alternative to other expenditure but is a requisite tool for development--thus ICT for education, for health, for government administration and finance, etc. On the business side, ICT should be seen as an area for converting development concerns into business opportunities. Thus ICT can leverage development as businesses see the merit of overcoming the digital divide(s) in relation to customers, investments, savings and earnings. Government has a role to encourage and shape business interests, and the private sector and civil society have important roles for innovation and income-generation. Leadership is very important at all levels. Such leadership helps to shape the policy agenda and the implementation of innovation and leads to the generation of an expanding supply of local content.

The participants agreed that a growing partnership among the United Nations, private sector and civil society is important for leveraging development through ICT, and that this meeting of the General Assembly could offer an important impetus to further this end. Mr. Jose-Maria Figueres-Olsen summed up a general concern when he said, “We must not be so busy with the urgent that we neglect the important.”

Resources:

This article is republished with the kind permission of the UN ICT Task Force.

• UN ICT Task Force http://www.unicttaskforce.org


• UN http://www.un.org