Asian Forum on Information and Communication Technology Policies and e-Strategies, 20-22 October 2003

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Session Summary

Session I - Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), Poverty Reduction Strategies Programmes (PRSPs), and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

Chair: Dr. Abdul Moyeen Khan, Minister for Science and Information Communication Technology, Bangladesh
Resource Person: Dr. Tariq Banuri, Chairman, ePoor.org, Pakistan
Panel/Discussants:

1.	Mr. Sukhbaatar Enkhjargal, Executive Director, Mongolian Information Development Association (MIDAS), Mongolia
2.	Mr. Leewood Phu, Secretary-General, National ICT Development Authority, Cambodia
3.	Mr. Ichiro Tambo, Adviser on Science & Technology, Development Co-operation Directorate, DCD (OECD), Pakistan

Note: The Roundtable was assisted by a facilitator who posed 11 "Key Questions and Issues" to all the participants.

POINTS AND ISSUES RAISED

-	Status check: The divide between the rich and poor (intra and inter nations) is growing annually. Very little of the benefits of the tremendous growth of the world economy as well as the dramatic technological developments over the last century have accrued to the poor. Although the growth process had contributed to moving some people out of poverty, the process was too uneven and slow.
-	The Millennium Development Goals (MDG) are an excellent measure of the state of the world and they ensure that human development remains at the heart of policies and strategies. Need to realise that poverty is a major critical issue for many nations and there are some nations who cant even achieve the prescribed MDG goals. The role that ICT can play has to take into account and co-relate with the MDGs.
-	ICTs can help build linkages to the rest of the world, increase citizen's participation in decision making and provide information in an affordable manner to poor citizens through the citizen information centres. A particular concern, however, was that these initiatives were being supported by donors, and, therefore, the sustainability of the program was in question.
-	Countries have no choice in the matter of investing in ICTs, mainly because the knowledge economy had now become the baseline, and any country that opted out would be opting out of the growth process.
-	There were persistent concerns regarding the digital divide, pertaining not only to the exclusion of the poor from ICT policies and strategies, but also that of women, and the unemployed.
-	There seems to be a lack of understanding and commitment by policymakers on the actual needs of the poor.
-	The market place/ private sector does not necessarily always cater to or have the public interest/ needs at heart. In the same vein, there are also incidences whereby public sector funding for ICT development has not focused on the needs of the poor, and have concentrated primarily on industry and sectoral growths.
-	Need to evaluate whether technology adoption co-relates to increased income, and poverty alleviation. The Grameen Project to a certain extent has demonstrated that the poor are not averse to technology but are limited by financial means/ access to technology.
-	Migration from rural to urban areas has also caused rapid increase in poverty to in urban areas. One of the primary reasons has been due to the lack of income generating opportunities within rural areas.

THE WAY FORWARD: SHARED EXPERIENCES/ PROPOSED SOLUTIONS

-	A need to incorporate/utilize inputs/ viewpoints emanating from the poor themselves; a broader and more in-depth understanding/analysis of poverty and development is required.
-	There is a need to integrate ICT poverty reduction strategies into a coherent framework within a larger socio-economic strategic framework. ICT strategies alone cannot solve social and economic woes of the poor as the causes of poverty (e.g. social, economical, access) may continue to perpetuate/ remain if not addressed adequately on a macro level (national, regional and international).
-	Strategies need to integrate ICT into development plans or PRSP, as very few nations have done so. In addition, the integration of ICT within PRSP would assist donor agencies to be aware of national macro and sectoral policies coordinated for poverty alleviation.
-	Strategies have to take place at all levels (community, state/ province, national, regional, and international) as policies have to be streamlined towards addressing the core needs of the poor. Applications of ICT need to evaluate the relevance of the proposed initiative.
-	The formulation of strategies needs to identify specific requirements and issues of poverty in communities and also to combine with national poverty reduction strategies and streamlining them with state and communal level initiatives while ensuring a cross sectoral approach is adopted.
-	Strategies should concentrate on building collective capacity of the poor through social capital building.
-	Strategies require process innovation and not merely product innovation.
-	There is an immediate need to balance between state and private interests in addressing the MDGs and poverty alleviation - need to strike a balance between communal and private sector development.
-	The main approach that had helped make this process speedier as well as more equitable was that of pro-poor groups, which had been led by civic entrepreneurs, and focused on the creation of social capital. Technology had played a critical role in all these initiatives, especially in raising the productivity of the poor and lowering the cost of their consumption as well as investment goods. ICTs were the most significant technological resource since the Green Revolution to help in this regard. The best recourse was to provide financial and technical support to pro-poor groups in order to help them overcome their technophobia and build their capacity. There is a need to encourage the support and assistance of civic entrepreneurship in addressing specific communal needs.
-	Need to explore means of creating a regional framework that facilitates the support mechanism/ policy advice on how best o utilize ICT for the benefit of the poor.
-	Need to ensure that programmes that are designed to assist the poor such as telecentres are viable and sustainable - from the process of design to implementation. Need to address issues such as finances, language, capacities, and skills development.
-	Need to undertake new forms of studies and devise new indicators. More analysis is required by both policymakers / academic institutions. This lays the foundation for future policy making processes and vision. This analysis should also provide the necessary statistics.
-	Need to coordinate information dissemination that supports industry and the people.
-	The reduction of cost associated with technology has an indirect impact on enhancing productivity and acceptance of technology; hence it is critical to make technology available and affordable to all.
-	Governments must be committed in terms of concrete actions towards the achievement of the MDGs and ICTs' can assist in that process. ICT for Development, whereby ICT is the means and not the ends, needs to be pursued.

Last modified 2004-05-25 03:31 PM