ICT & Development

The worlds poorest two billion people desperately need healthcares not laptops..

Mothers are going to walk right up that computer and say My children are dying what can you do? Theyre not going to sit there and, like browse eBay or something.
What they want is for their children to live. Do you really have to put in computers to figure that out?
Bill Gates Chairman and Chief Software Architect, Microsoft

Defining ICT
Refer to technologies (web-based, SMS, MIS, lans) that facilitate by electronic means the creation, storage management and dissemination of information
(Digital Opportunities Task force,2002)

As a vehicle for communication rather than simply a means of processing information

(Curtain, 2004)

Types of ICTs
Old newspapers, radio and television New networked computers, satellite-sources communications, wireless technology and the internet. A feature of these technologies is their capacity to be networked and interlinked to form a massive infrastructure of interconnected telephone services, standardized computing hardware, the internet, radio and TV, which reaches every corner of the globe.

Definition of Development
A critical factor that has to be considered in the application of ICT for development is whether it serves the poor especially with respect to dimensions of poverty such as health, lack of voice and lack of information (Curtain, 2004)

Development Projects
Development projects pertain to activities that relate to the socio-economic well being of the country or the community. This involves activities related to health, education, commerce, the environment and governance. These are projects administered within the context of an organization

As such, understanding the definitions of ICTs and development, Tiglao & Alampay (2003) highlights the ICT projects that have direct impact on empowering people in poor communities as well as impact on alleviating poverty and addressing the MDGs

Reclassification of ICT4D
ICT4D Typology
Political/Governance/empowerment Economic/Livelihood

ICT Application
E-government E-business

E-employment
E-agriculture Social/Education E-learning E-health E-environment

Infrastructure/Access

E-science

World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)

The UN Millennium Development Goals

MDG is a system of time bound and measurable goals and targets that the 191 member states on the UNs have committed to during the UN Millennium Summit in Sept. 2000. The goals and targets cut across three broad sectors of development: a. Economic well-being b. Social development c. Environmental sustainability and regeneration

The UN Millennium Development Goals

The system seeks to enhance the capability of member states in achieving development by combating poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women as well as commitment to human rights, good governance and democracy

The UN Millennium Development Goals

The Millennium declaration clearly recognizes the potential and crucial role that information and communication technologies can play in meeting the development goals as contained in target 18, which states that in co-operation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communication

Global Perspective of ICT for Development

The WSIS (2003) identified the five (5) priority themes and their respective sub-themes under its ICT4D platforms 1. Innovating for Equitable Access a. Access/connectivity/last/first mile innovation including WIFI b. Financing ICT4D c. Affordable solutions d. Open solutions/open source

2. Enhancing Human Capacity and Empowerment a. Capacity building (formal and non-formal education/skills development, e-learning) b. Youth c. Women/gender d. Indigenous community/ people e. Health

3. Strengthening Communications for Development a. Enhancing communication through media b. Intercultural communication c. Humanitarian aid and disaster information system d. Conflict prevention and resolution

4. Promoting Local Content and knowledge a. Local culture, knowledge and content b. Indigenous knowledge c. Local media

5. Fostering Policy Implementation a. e-Strategies b. e-Governance (including security) c. e-Commerce/e-Business

Approaches to the Use of ICT in Development

1. ICT as LEAD. In focuses on ICT as a driver of the development process. The ICT led approach usually aims to provide the poor the opportunities to receive up-to-date information or achieve an enhanced ability to communicate with others. (Telecentres seek to promote economic growth through access to better opportunities to generate income as a means of poverty reduction)

Approaches to the Use of ICT in Development

2. ICT plays a supporting roles. In ICT support places development objective to the fore and seeks to use ICT to support the objective

ICT Applications: Benefits in All Aspect of Life

Breakdown of ICT Projects and Their Application (Tiglao, 2004)

ICT Application # of Projects %

E-governance E-learning E-science E-business E-environment E-health E-agriculture E-employment

240 100 43 37 22 19 13 12 402

59.70 24.87 10.69 9.20 5.47 4.72 3.23 2.98

ICT4D Applications
1. E-government/E-governance
Easier to access government information Government is also the largest single contributor to the local economy Diversity in e governance projects Diversity in the technologies used

Websites
Philippine government portal (www.gov.ph) 1,694 LGUs have a web-presence (91% are at stage 1 static) Notable websites that won awards from NCC are Naga City, Nueva Ecija province, Zamboanga del Sur province, municipalities of Gerona, Tarmac, Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro

Short Messaging Systems (SMS)

Used for complaints, suggestions, and request for information ex. Patrol 117, DepEd DETxt, TextSSS, Patrol 2920 and Text NAIA

Computerization and Specialized Databases

1. e-LGUs projects a. Real property tax systems b. Business permits and licensing system c. Treasury operations management systems d. Tax mapping system e. Geographic information system

Best Practices
Naga City. The citys website, which updates and informs the citizens on city services, financial and bidding reports, city legislations, investment data, statistics and procedures in local bureaucracy

2. E-business
a.

E-ticketing b. B2b: b2bpricenow, bayantrade, virtual malls (divisoria.com, turoturo.com, myAyala.com, PadalaKo.com,online portal EXPERTRADE, electronic yellow pages (EYP.ph) c. For SMEs: eastASEANbiz.net, Asia Pacific Economic Council (APEC), APEC Centre for Technology Exchange for Small and Medium Enterprise (ACTETSME)

3. E-learning a. Distance learning b.

ICT Skills Development c. Networking Knowledge Institutions and d. Providing access and exposure to the technologies DOTC Mobile Information Technology Classroom

4. E-employment: overseas and local

employment
Overseas: use of internet, e-mail,net meeting, cyber photos and cyber greetings.OWWA teleugnayan centres, SART Padala Remittance Service, SMART money (Estopace, 2004)

Local employment DOLE(http://philjobnet2.dole.gov.ph) LGUs: job posting in Naga City, Bulacan Province and Bohol Province (Niles and Hanson, 2003)

5. E-environment. Most of the projects

involved Geographic Information System (GIS) applications to map out, contour, hydrology, land use, soil type, erosion, loan cover, population, among others SMS: bantay usok, bantay dagat, bantay kalikasan NDCC/PAGASA monitor weather and environmental disturbances

6.

Agriculture and Fisheries Research and Development Information system (AFRDIS), national Information Network (NIN), Agriculture and Natural Resources Information Network (AGRINET), Farmers Information and Technology services (FITS), Geographic Information System to identify soil patters and topographies and mapping properties

E-agriculture.

7. E-science. Projects pertains to the

access of the ICT infrastructure: Multipurpose Community TeleCenter project (www.barangayconnect.ph), ATIKHAs use of video phones for OFW families (Doyo, 2002), broadband access such as in PREGINET and CATNET and IFDCIs use of satellite and omni directional antennas (Hocson, 2002)

8. E- Health. E-health initiatives can be classified into main categories: a. Health information and education (internet, SMS, dedicated hotlines) DOH SARs hotlines and textlines) b. Specialised databases and information systems (Infectious Disease Data Management Systems) e-conferences Qu4Rad (www.qu4rad.net), ICT enhanced management information system on HIV/AIDS and sexual reproductive health services

LGU Web-presence (as of September 30, 2005) NATIONWIDE

With Website Cities (n=117) Provinces (n=79)
Municipalities

Stage 1 20 18 1,215

Stage 2 75 47 229

Stage 3 20 14 50

Stage 4 0 0 0

Stage 5 0 0 0

Total 115 79 1,494

% 98.3 100 99.6

(n= 1500) Total (n=1696) 1,253 351 84 0 0 1,688 99.5

Source: National Computer Centre (2005)

Genesis and History of DOT Force

 At the Summit in Kyushu-Okinawa in 2000, the G8 Charter on Global Information Society was adopted The G8 leaders agreed to established a Digital Opportunity Task Force (DOT force)

43 members participated
DOT Force
17 government representatives + 1

Representatives
Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, UK, USA, and a representative from European Commission Developing countries governments (Bolivia, Brazil, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania) ECOSOC, ITU, OECD, UNDP, UNCTAD, UNESCO, WB

7 representatives from Internationals /multilateral organizations 11 representatives from private sectors

Three global networks: GIIC, GBDE and WEF

8 Representative from One representative from each G8 country non profit sector

DOT Force focused on the three main objectives

1. To enhance global understanding and consensus on the challenges and opportunities posed by information and communication technologies, and the role that these technologies can play in fostering sustainable, participatory development, better governance, wealth creation, and empowerment of local communities and vulnerable groups

2. To foster greater coherence among various initiatives, both G8 and other currently underway or proposed to address these challenges and opportunities 3. To enhance the effective mobilization of resources to address these challenges and opportunities

Barriers to take up of ICT for Development

No robust inventory of documented development outcomes
Many projects have been viewed as technology transfer rather than aiming to achieve development outcomes. This means that project success or failure has been measured in terms whether a technical system was deployed or not. The actual development outcome (or relevance) of the system was neither monitored nor measured

 There is the iceberg phenomenon meaning that ICTs have been hidden beneath the surface of other development projects. When viewed as enables of other development sectors, ICTs were rarely liked to impact indicators. This phenomenon suggests that ICT in many development projects is best viewed as a crosscutting issue

A focus in project evaluation on management issues and project cycles together with the use of inadequate tools, methodologies and timeframes, has hidden ICTs contribution to longer-term social change

 There has also a desire to hide failures on the part of those involved, in many cases. Although any ICT for development initiatives have failed, few failure have been documented. This is due to lack of incentives in the development system to encourage project managers, development agencies or implementing partners to critically report and make public project shortfalls or failures

UNDP Evaluation Office 2001

 Does access to advanced ICT benefit the poor?