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Opinion at an ongoing information and communication technologies (ICTs) conference in Tunis is divided over the approach to bridging the digital divide -- whether resources should be spent on individuals or on businesses. Indeed, whether ICTs helps end poverty at all
Bridging the digital divide by providing more people with access to the Internet and mobile phones may not help end poverty, at least not to the extent most people believe it will. This was the view of experts at a recent global conference on the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) for development.
The aim of the three-day United Nations-sponsored World Summit on Information Society (WSIS), in the Tunisian capital Tunis, being attended by 20,000 delegates from over 170 countries, is to look at ways of using ICTs to help improve living standards in some of the world's poorest nations.
Speaking at the WSIS on November 17, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said that ICTs could spearhead that campaign. ICTs can "bring new benefits to all social classes," he declared. This meeting, Annan said, "must generate new momentum towards developing the economies and societies of poor countries, and transforming the lives of poor people."
A key aim under the UN's Millennium Development Goals (link) is to connect all the world's villages to the Internet by 2015. But, worldwide, only 14% of the population is online, compared with 62% in the United States of America. In his address to the meeting, Annan concluded that, "for far too many people, the gains remain out of reach".
But one expert cautioned that more research needed to be done before concluding that boosting ICTs inevitably leads to fewer poor people. "The number one thing that people use ICTs for is to communicate with one another. Is that having an effect on poverty? Yeah, it probably is but it's very difficult to measure," said Laurent Elder from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada.
While a Senegalese project to provide farmers with up-to-date prices being offered in local markets for their produce found that 150 growers saw their income increase by US$ 100 a month, other research has unearthed disquieting results, Elder explained. For example, some poor communities in Sri Lanka equipped with ICTs are spending up to 15% of their income on communications. "That's huge," said Elder. "Is that a good thing? Are we making people poorer?"
India for one, is banking on the fact that the answer to that is 'No'. One hundred volunteer agencies, 22 government departments, 34 private sector players and 18 academic institutions announced to delegates at the WSIS on November 16 that they plan to network 1.2 million Indians -- one man and one woman in every village -- and then use them to introduce their neighbours to the Information Age under the Mission 2007 project
V Balaji of the India-based International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) said the project would have to overcome many barriers to be successful, such as training the rural youth expected to lead the village-based information and communication technologies revolution.
Opinion at the ongoing ICTs conference is also divided over the approach to bridging the digital divide -- whether resources should be spent on individuals or on businesses.
In Madagascar, farmers and artisans travel for hours to get to information centres where they can use the Internet to learn about harvesting bigger and better crops, or discover possible markets for their wares. A director of the country's technical information centre answers unequivocally when asked if they are empowering individuals or businesses. "Businesses," says Andramihaja Helene Marie.
Aside from Internet access for micro-enterprises, the Centre uses ICTs to support 800 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the island nation off the east coast of Africa. "The aim is for each business to gain expertise, expand, earn more revenue and, in that way, help reduce poverty," said Helene Marie in an interview.
"The Dutch and Tunisian governments approached us to say the private sector is the engine of growth, particularly in the developing world. We should do something about supporting them with ICTs," recalls Hans Pruim of the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO). In response, UNIDO and the UN Development Programme invited participants from 60 civil society organisations and SMEs to the WSIS.
UNIDO focuses on helping governments develop policies and institutions to encourage SMEs and micro enterprises to use ICTs. It has a special interest in the agricultural sector in sub-Saharan Africa, Pruim said. "If we can help with ICT programmes that create concrete jobs, then we create wealth, which leads to poverty reduction."
British researcher Richard Duncombe told the workshop that he had concluded that a priority should be investing in the smaller number of "growth enterprises" in the developing world, those with the greatest potential to expand, although he admitted that the greatest need was felt by the majority of the poor who operate "livelihood enterprises". According to him, the investment would trickle down through the supply chain to the smaller businesses.
"ICTs are essentially tools that can be used to increase the competitiveness of an economy and the productivity of enterprises," said the University of Manchester professor. "The problem with addressing the digital divide is there's this sort of obsession with trying to create a level playing field, trying to be inclusive and really attacking a problem that is too big for ICTs to solve...The problems of poverty, the problems of rural deprivation are really nothing to do with ICTs; they're to do with a whole range of other issues, such as water, sanitation and health."
Source: www.ipsnews.net, November 17, 2005
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