Information And Communication Technologies For Development

Its fields of action can be grouped in three big areas:

and/or connectivity to the Internet

capacity building and training in ICT: installing, maintaining and developing hardware and Software , etc.

digital content and services: E-learning , E-health , E-business , etc.

What's crucial in making any ICT4D effort successful is effective partnership between 4 key stakeholders:

Public sector (governments - from developed nations, developing nations, international bodies, and local governments)

Private sector (multi-national organizations wishing to expand their markets to the 4 billion people under $2/day and who have a strong commitment to rethink, redesign, and build innovative solutions for this target audience)

Informal sector (NGOs, advocacy groups, thinktanks)

Representation from the target audience

ICT4D and the United Nations

In 2001 the United Nations Information And Communication Technologies Task Force was formed to address the a.m. topics. The Task Force holds semi-annual meetings. The 5th meeting took place in Geneva in September 2003. The 6th meeting was held in March 2004 at the UN headquarters in New York, NY, USA, with a Global Forum on Internet Governance. The 7th meeting took place November 18-20, 2004 in Berlin, Germany, with a Global Forum on an Enabling Environment. It's 8th meeting was held April 13-15, 2005 in Dublin Ireland, with a Global Forum on Harnessing the Potential of ICTs in Education, followed by two small final meetings in Geneva on October 1, 2005 and in Tunis on November 17, 2005. The UN ICT Task Force's mandate ends on December 31, 2005.

In November 2002, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan issued a Challenge to Silicon Valley to create the computers and communications systems that would enable villages to leapfrog several generations of technology and enter the Information Age directly. This would provide the technical basis for WSIS discussions. In fact, many of the most important developments in ICT4D have taken place outside Silicon Valley.

the Simputer movement in India, Singapore, Bhutan, and Sri Lanka

Pocket PC from Microsoft from Redmond WA

free metropolitan wireless systems

the MIT Media Lab program to create a $100 computer

localization of Linux into languages not supported by commercial vendors

A major event for ICT4D is the twin World Summit On The Information Society (WSIS) . The first part of WSIS took place in Geneva in December 2003 with an exhibition for ICT4D. The second part of WSIS took place in Tunis, Tunisia, in November 2005.

See also

E-Readiness

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Information And Communication Technologies For Development