2.3. Using ICTs as an enabling tool for more effective development programmes

"Knowledge is like light. Weightless and intangible, it can easily travel the world, enlightening the lives of people everywhere. Yet billions still live in the darkness of poverty- unnecessarily." (World Development Report 1999)

ICTs encompass the full range of technologies, including traditional and emerging devices such as community radio, television, mobile phones, computer and network hardware and software, the internet, satellite systems, and podcasting.

Figure 2: ICT for development: Range of technologies and relevance to users

Source: Weigel & Waldburger (2003)

Much of the conceptual groundwork covering the link between ICTs and development (or ICT4D) has been done by Weigel and Waldburger in their influential 2004 publication ICT4D Connecting People for a Better World: Lessons, Innovations and Perspectives of Information and Communication Technologies for Development.⁹ Figure 3 presents a diagram that the authors have developed to map the use of ICTs as tools for development.

Figure 3: ICT for development: Key dimensions and main goals

Source: Weigel & Walkdburger (2003)

In a nutshell, there are three overlapping areas of concern when considering ICTs as a strategic tool for development:

• Access: Using ICTs to facilitate access to and sharing of relevant information and knowledge.

• Voice/communication: Using ICTs to strengthen the voices of poor, excluded and disadvantaged people generally, but particularly in decision making.

• Networking: Using ICTs for networking and communication while fostering multi-stakeholder partnerships to achieve effects on a larger scale (i.e., upscaling).

A few additional points are worth noting:

• ICTs serve as a strategic tool and catalyst for change by increasing efficiency and effectiveness: When referring to ICTs as a strategic tool, it is implied that the tool is an integrated component of a development programme. Therefore, use of ICTs as tools embedded within existing development programmes makes these interventions more efficient and effective (e.g., offering increased access to market information through a mobile phone to increase income; increasing the reach of an HIV/AIDS prevention campaign through the use of interactive community radio). ICTs are therefore considered a catalyst for change within development sectors such as education (e.g., distance learning, e-learning), health (e.g., e-health, mobile health, telemedicine), governance (e.g., empowering citizens through increasing participation and inclusion in decision-making processes; more accountability/transparency through access to information) and rural development (e.g., access to market information).

• Beyond infrastructure: The effective use of ICTs is not just a question of infrastructure. It is not only a question of hardware but also software. It also requires an appropriate institutional and regulatory framework, the development of human capacity and relevant content.

• Convergence is key: Convergence between different ICTs is key for more inclusion and interactivity. For instance, community radio becomes more participatory as people use mobile phones to voice their opinions.

• ICTs are necessarily embedded in broader poverty reduction strategies: ICTs are a component of a broader strategy for sustainable development and should not be seen as a panacea for all development problems.

• People-centred and demand-driven application: People come first, technology second. Technologies are a means to the end and any intervention needs to start with the development question rather than a technological question. Combined with the embedded approach within broader development strategies, positive impacts can emerge.

• A multi-stakeholder partnership approach is necessary for effective ICT implementation and upscaling: The effective use of ICTs is not just a question of infrastructure and hardware. It also requires an appropriate institutional and regulatory framework, and the development of human capacity, software and relevant content, amongst other things. This means that broad-based ICT roll-out programmes require a multi-stakeholder approach, with all contributors and affected parties around the same table – including beneficiaries. Bilateral donor agencies can play a key role as a “neutral broker” or “facilitator” of these multi-stakeholder partnership processes.

⁹ Gerolf Weigel and Daniele Waldburger, eds. ICT4D – Connecting People for a Better World: Lessons, Innovations and Perspectives of Information and Communication Technologies for Development (Berne: SDC and GKP, 2004) www.globalknowledge.org/ict4d

Key developmental facts about climate change
* The poor and marginalised are least informed about the potential impact of climate change on their livelihoods, therefore scientific jargon and high-level concepts about climate change need to be demystified to make them comprehensible and applicable to the layperson.
* Climate change fundamentally changes vulnerability patterns for the poor and marginalised
The poor and marginalised are the most vulnerable with the least resources to adapt to climate change, calling for basic awareness raising, capacity development and knowledge sharing among communities
Coping solutions and adaptation strategies need to be localised and decentralised with grassroots interventions to be initiated.
* The voices of those most affected by climate change are not sufficiently included in the policy debate with the subsequent search for solutions and informed decision making.
Vulnerability and risk can be substantially reduced by enabling access to and the sharing of information and knowledge.

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