ICT for Development: Who’s Doing What?

1. ICT for Development:Who’s Doing What? Thomas Kalil September 10, 2003

2. Who is doing what on ICT4D? (1) • Huge variety of actors • International organizations • Developed and developing country governments • Multinationals and local (developing country) firms • Foundations, non-governmental organizations, “social enterprises” • Research community, higher education

3. Who is doing what on ICT4D? (2) • What are the capabilities, agendas, and limitations of these different organizations? • What is their level and duration of commitment to ICT4D • What is the right “division of labor”? • Possible partnerships between different actors

4. UN ICT Task Force (1) • Developing country participation in setting ICT policy • Shortage of experts • Low-cost connectivity • Free or reduced cost access from satellites and int’l cables • National and regional Internet exchange points

5. UN ICT Task Force (2) • Support for developing country entrepreneurship • Human resource development • National and regional e-strategies

6. World Bank (1) • U.N. specialized agency • Mission is to reduce global poverty • In 2002 – provided $19.5 billion, mostly in loans • 1,800 projects in more than 100 countries • 10,000 staff

7. World Bank as knowledge bank (2) • Vision: • Capture and organize knowledge and experience from staff, clients, partners • Share that information as widely as possible • Put knowledge on par with money • Become the first resource anyone would contact for information on development

8. World Bank (3) • ~ 100 thematic “communities of practice” to increase knowledge sharing • Advisory services • Support for external initiatives such as Latin American Urban Network • Development Gateway • Capturing and sharing “indigenous knowledge”

9. World Bank (4) • Critique of Development Gateway: • May undermine other efforts with richer and more diverse content • Overly ambitious • Reflects biases of the Bank and its shareholders • Bank not serious about consultation with NGOs

10. World Health Organization • Health InterNetwork Access to Research Initiative • 28 publishers, over 2,000 journals • Free access to public institutions in countries w. under $1,000 GNP/capita • Reduced price for $1,000 - $3,000 GNP/capita

11. National “e-strategies” (1) • Telecom and IT infrastructure • Human capacity • IT workforce • Local entrepreneurs • Users • Public policy • Competition in telecom & Internet services

12. National e-strategies (2) • Environment for private sector • Access to credit and finance • Property rights, commercial law • Access to local and global markets • Content and applications • Local language content

13. Mozambique (1) • Profile: • ~ 2X size of California with 17.5 million people • Life expectancy at birth of 31.3 years • Civil war from 1977-92 • GDP/capita of $1,000 • 81 percent of labor force in agriculture • Gov’t budget of $1 billion – foreign aid of $632 million

14. Mozambique (2) • Telecom/Internet: • 0.44 fixed line penetration • 0.84 percent mobile penetration • 60,000 Internet users – 80 percent of which are in Maputo (capital city) • Higher education produces 30-40 graduates with IT skills

15. Mozambique (3) • Elements of ICT strategy – examples: • National Transmission Network • VSAT stations • Information systems for HIV/AIDS • ICT for fighting illiteracy • Youth Program for Content Development • Telecom policy reform

16. Chile – universal access (1) • “Reverse auction” to provide rural access for minimum subsidy • Multiple geographic licenses • One stop process • Licenses for rural areas combined with other attractive opportunities • Good market research and demand analysis

17. Chile – universal access (2) • Supported payphone service to 6,000 villages with 2.2 million people (1995 – 2000) • Reduced population without any access to basic voice from 15% to 1% • Over 6:1 leverage • Subsidy only 0.3% of telecom revenue

18. HP – e-inclusion efforts (1) • E-inclusion: allow everyone to access the opportunities of the digital age • Motivation: • New markets, revenue, profit growth • Establish HP as a leader in an area that also demonstrates HP’s character • Global showcase for HP’s capabilities in devices, infrastructure, and services

19. HP Labs – India (2) • Research thrusts: • Novel solutions for networking, esp. rural • Affordable access devices • Language technologies and simpler interfaces • Sustainable business ecologies • Contextual design

20. HP i-community in Kuppam, India (3) • Access to technology for literacy, income generation, expanded access to gov’t services, education, health care • Kuppam as “living lab” for unearthing customer needs • Ecosystem of partners (e.g. women’s organization for digital photography) • 3-year project to create “bias for action”

21. ITC Ltd. “e-Choupal” (1) • Agribusiness selling soybeans, coffee, shrimp, wheat • Has network of Internet kiosks (e-Choupals) in rural India that reach 12,000 villages • Operated by literate farmer elected locally • “Supply chain” more efficient – results in quality and cost savings shared with farmer

22. E-Choupal (2) • Services • Price information • Risk management tools • Weather information • Best practices on farming, aquaculture • Soil testing services • Long-term goal is to reach 10 million farmers in 100,000 villages

23. Infocentros – El Salvador (1) • Current access in El Salvador: • Fewer than 2 PCs for 100 inhabitants • Less than 1% of the population uses the Internet • Goal of Infocentros: • Build, operate, franchise 100 telecenters • Provide access for 1/3 of population • Make centers profitable in ~ 2yrs

24. Infocentros (2) • Services: • Able to negotiate volume discounts on hardware, software, connectivity • Web hosting, financing, accounting, billing for small and medium-sized business • 8 hrs of computer/Internet training for students (Ministry of Education) • Generation of local content