Information Society: The Next Steps- Special Report

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In Numbers
Charts and graphs on how internet usage and spending on information and communication technologies have changed in developing countries- click here.

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About this Report

This Special Report provides a forum for diverse perspectives on the Information Society and what's ahead for ICT as a development tool. Participating in this Special Report are our online communities focused on:
	Afghanistan Reconstruction
	Culture & Development
	E-Government
	E-Learning
	Environment
	Food Security
	Foreign Direct Investment
	Gender and Development
	HIV/AIDS
	ICT for Development
	Indigenous Issues
	Iraq
	Knowledge Economy
	Microfinance
	Non-Governmental Organizations
	Poverty
	Space Applications
	Trade and Development
	Urban Development
	Water Resources Management
	Youth for Development



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Special Report

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FROM OUR MEMBERS

How do you use ICT for development?

Development Gateway members use ICT for a wide range of personal and professional activities. Our survey asked our members how they use ICT, providing a window into how the Information Society impacts everyday life for development practitioners.

Samudra Haque, Bangladesh
My current personal research area of interest is developing PC-based technology for broadband, multi-service integrated switching, transmission, distribution network infrastructure, and essentially package it into small hardware modules. Along with integrated software suite of applications, these technology modules can be delivered so that they can be affordably installed at schools, hospitals, residences and businesses to connect local communities with each other, and other towns/cities. The objective is to use as low-power consumption as possible and as many Megabits/second as possible to deliver the most amount of services as possible, across long distances. The technology is patent-pending and has been developed so far over 7 years now. It has been deployed commercially already in Bangladesh, and demonstrated elsewhere with World Bank project support and has recently been acquired by US companies to build affordable products for global markets.

Henrietta Lahai – Sierra Leone
In Sierra Leone we use ICT for development particularly by making mobile phones available and affordable to the population. The Sierra Leone government has tried to ensure this by allowing four mobile telephone companies—Celtel, Milicom, Africell and Cominium—which has led to competitive and affordable rates for mobile phones, allowing even some of the poor to have access to them. The use of such ICT makes communication easier and speedier for businessmen, farmers, the private and Government sectors.

Emmanuel Roldan - Philippines
Our small organization works toward sustainable agriculture by teaching farmers and indigenous people the organic way of farming, the use of appropriate farming technologies, harnessing renewable energy source, biogas; and supports the propagation of IP knowledge, skills and practices not only in the field of agriculture but also in health and self governance. ICT could be used to speed up, spread out and deepen the learning process.

Amera Salman – Pakistan
I have used computers and the Internet to volunteer online, for research purposes and for personal education. I have also introduced computers to many people both in urban as well as rural areas and have encouraged them to rely on information that is available over the Internet as a means to informing themselves about current practices on various topics. My special focus has been women and students and making them aware of the potential advantages as well as some of the risks that the Internet may pose to them. Many of these people have even taken up employment related to ICTs.

I coordinate a distance education program in ICT. It is called the Bachelor of Information Technology (BIT) external degree awarded by the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. The participants are distributed throughout the island. In addition to the information given through the web, a regular program on national TV gives additional support to students enrolled in the program. We started this program in the year 2000 and currently we have produced 176 BIT graduates who are well employed. Our students are mainly those who cannot enter the state University system, though qualified due to lack of space. It is completely self-sufficient and does not depend on any government grants.

Development Gateway Member

Brenda Anugwom - Nigeria
Students can now conduct research through electronic means as opposed to the tiring and frustrating journeys they would have previously embarked on. It is now time saving and more cost effective. Business executives have discovered ways of holding meetings with people from different countries at the same time by conducting video conferences. Trainees can actually be trained at their various locations without moving to the location of the training. All these aid development in any country where they are given a chance to thrive.

Giacomo Rambaldi, Netherlands
I set up a DGroup now having close to 800 members and dealing specifically with Participatory Geographic Information Systems (PGIS) for development www.ppgis.net (my own personal initiative). I am actively involved in elaborating and disseminating good PGIS practice via different communication channels (Internet, face to face, prinThe requested resource (/editor/default/) is not availableted, electronic and audio visual media).

I use ICT for Development in the following ways:

Development Gateway Member

Additional Comments
By working with local communities as part of a total supply chain management challenge. Both buyers and sellers have needs which must be met for these supply chains to work and I seek solutions where the marriage of on and offline solutions is optimized. As a tool and medium for collaboration still mostly among the "knowledgeable" within the country, within the region and across the world. It makes us hopefully more efficient and maybe some day more effective, where our effectiveness depends still more on offline than on online-activities. I use free and open source software to process spatial data and gain insight about environmental, social and economic conditions in urban and rural areas. In various ways, from e-office services to licensing and obtaining an ID card or taxation payment. But usually, government services lagged behind that of private sectors, especially from banking industries or financial sectors.

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