The development divide in a digital age: an issues paper

This paper considers the role that information and communications technologies (ICTs) can realistically be expected to play in improving the level of living and quality of life of people in different parts of the world.

The paper argues that the likelihood that people in low-income countries can improve their life chances is often sharply limited not only by their lack of access to modern means of communication and sources of information, but also by a complex network of constraints ranging from unresolved problems of poverty and injustice in their own societies to the structure and dynamics of the global economic system.

Conclusions and recommendations (international):

• discussion of possibilities to use the internet for improving trade and employment opportunities in low-income countries must be accompanied by an evaluation of impediments associated with the current global financial and trade regime
• lack of attention to the macroeconomic environment and to deficiencies in basic physical infrastructure and public sector capacity frequently leads to over-optimism concerning the development potential of e-commerce. Better co-ordination between international ICT initiatives and broader debates on finance for development is thus essential
• there must be improved co-ordination between those who work on ICT programmes in development ministries and agencies and colleagues who follow the sometimes arcane debates on telecommunications and information policies within international organisations like the ITU, WIPO and the WTO. A development focus is notably lacking in most of these technical debates

Conclusions and recommendations (national):

• the most successful efforts to incorporate modern technologies in national economies have occurred in countries with strong and efficient states, as well as a firm commitment to invest in education. In some cases, privatisation of the telecommunications infrastructure has been important, but in others it has not. The quality of public service and public regulation are far more significant variables than the structure of ownership
• low-income countries depend on foreign institutions and actors to create both an adequate telecommunications infrastructure and a regulatory framework that is progressive and fair. Development assistance is likely to be more effective if it takes place within the context of national ICT strategies, which make explicit the need to adapt available technical and economic options to the needs of specific countries
• it is important to keep an open mind about the kinds of ICTs that are likely to be most appropriate for these purposes. In some cases, internet use may prove too expensive, be too difficult for local people to maintain and thus be unsustainable, or simply not be the best medium for supporting local socioeconomic and political progress. The ICT revolution is lending old technologies, such as mobile phones, satellite television, video and digital radio, new relevance

Conclusions and recommendations (local):

• decisions concerning support for one ICT approach or another can only be taken following evaluation of concrete local situations
• in the process of designing an appropriate local strategy for using ICTs to the benefit of disadvantaged groups, success will depend at least as much on understanding the structure of economic and political constraints affecting people’s livelihood as on remedying immediate problems of access to ICTs