ICT4D: Global Views and Practices

There is no denying the fact that information and communication technologies have immense impact on virtually all aspects of life. As the conference overview stated, these technologies can be a powerful tool for increasing productivity, generating economic growth, creating jobs and improving the quality of life.

ICT for Development projects, I understand, are intended to combat poverty. In short, the projects target the poor sector of society.

If I am poor or simply a person below the poverty line, what can ICT do for me to improve my status.

First, I need a job that will pay me enough to feed my family. ICT could provide a tool for me to find the right job. Therefore, there should be somebody who will provide the right content in the Internet for me to find a job. That is, there must be a government agency or an NGO who will gather information on available jobs and provide the information in the Internet so that people like me can find the right job. Contents in the web targeting the poor sector of society should be the business of people who wants to improve the status of people like me.

Or if I already have a job, say a fisherman, how can ICT help me maximize what I can get from my daily catch. Well, ICT through the Internet can provide me with information on which market I can get a higher price for the fish I caught. Again, somebody should gather the information and post them in the net so that I can query them every time I came back from fishing.

My point is that for ICT to be useful to the poor, there must be somebody who will provide content in the net. Content targeting the poor sector of society. The only entities who can provide this content are government agencies and NGO’s because you cannot expect the private sector to get into this because basically you do not expect to get profit from these activities. This is because the clients are people who cannot afford to pay.

Another aspect is access by the poor to the technology. The technology will be useless unless it is accessible to the poor. Even if all the contents are provided, if I cannot afford to access them then the technology is useless. Hence, efforts should be concentrated on making the technology accessible to the poor sector of society.

The projects may provide me with access to the technology but this would again bring the question of sustainability. We know that the technology changes very fast. When the machine becomes obsolete can I afford to replace it (assuming the project is already gone). Who will pay the recurring cost of connection and the training that I need in order to use the technology.

My next point is that the technology will cost something. Efforts therefore should be on alleviating my status so that I can have a sustained access to the technology. Unless my status is alleviated so that I can afford to pay the cost of the technology, then only then will I have a sustained access to the technology.

In short, if the poor can access the technology and if there is something useful to be access from it, then there is a possibility that the life of the poor may be alleviated. I am sure that if these two issues I raised are provided, then we can say that ICT indeed will have a positive impact on the lives of the poor sector of society.

Reaction of Dr. Eliezer A. Albacea to the Paper
“ICT4D: Global Views and Practices”