Notes from the the II Encuentro Internacional TIC para la Cooperación al Desarrollo (Development Cooperation 2.0: II International Meeting on ICT for Development Cooperation) held in Gijón, Spain, on February 10-12th, 2009. More notes on this event: cooperacion2.0_2009. More notes on this series of events: cooperacion2.0.
Innovating in ICT for Human Development
John Dryden, Ex-Deputy Director Science, Technology and Industry. OECD
Main learnings from the OECD in the field of ICT4D:
- Global initiatives in “ICT4D” have been long on discussion and short on action
- ICT mainstreaming is indispensible to achieveing MDGs
- ICT mainstreaming is implicit rather than explicit in the push for “aid effectiveness”
- The conjuncture is very poor so current prospects do not appear good but there are a few developments that create opportunities both for development co-operation and for ICTs to enhance its quality and effectiveness
OECD’s findings on the benefits of ICTs do not carry over easily to developiong countries.
ICT in Development Cooperation institutions vs. ICT4D
ICTs in development cooperation
- ICT aids management and delivery of development assistance
- ICT “mainstreamed” as part of development assistance: ICTs integrated on what institutions “deliver”
ICT4D
- All of the above, plus ICT productgion and use to achieve economic growth, development and social welfare.
The Seoul Declaration, 2008
- Facilitate the convergence of digital networks, devices and services
- Foster creativity in development, use and application of the Internet
- Strengthen confidence and security
- Ensure the Internet Economy is truly global
For developing countries, this means
- more access to Internet and related ICTs
- competition
- use by all communities: local content and language, inclusion
- energy efficiency
Against the Solow Paradox: there is now evidence on the economic impacts of ICTs:
- macro-economic evidence on the role of ICT investment in capital deepening
- sectoral analysis showing the contribution of (a) ICT-producing sectors and (b) ICT-using sectors to productivity growth
- detailed firm-level analysis demonstrating the wide-ranging impacts of ICTs in productivity
Problems to implant ICTs in developing countries:
- Barriers of entry and different people needs
- The relationship between ICT investments and economic growth in OECD countries is complex and uncertain,highly dependent on complementary factors, many of which less apparent in developing countries: power supply, maintenance, skills and literacy, the degree to which society is networked, the extent to which its economy is reliant on services, etc.
The Genoa Plan of Action
- development of national e-strategies
- improve connectivity, increase access, lower costs
- enhance human capacity development, knowledge creation and sharing
- Foster enterprise, jobs and entrepreneurship
Mainstreaming ICTs
UN ICT Task Force Mainstreaming ICTs for the achievement of the MDGs: ICTs as an “enabler” of development, not a production sector
ICTs should be able to enable donnor coordination: need analysis, non-duplication of efforts and projects, etc.
Debate
Caroline Figueres: is effectiveness only top-down? aren’t we seeing bottom-up effectiveness? A: Yes, of course.
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