ICTs and Rural Development

Big World > Links > ICT Sources by Topic

An annotated list of key on-line sources which focus on how ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) are being used for rural development.

African Youth and the Information Highway Participation and Leadership in Community Development

http://www.idrc.ca/acb/showdetl.cfm?&DID=6&Product_ID=411&CATID=15#toc

Author(s): Edited by Osita Ogbu and Paschal Mihyo

Date of publication:July 2000

Summary: This book describes a new initiative to promote the involvement of youth in Africa's new information economy. It reviews existing infrastructure, the policy environment and its impact, and the feasibility of increased ICT applications in rural communities. It will appeal to decision-makers and ICT producers and users, as well as to development professionals, academics, students, policymakers, and practitioners in international development and information technology.

Assessment of Technology Infrastructure in Native Communities

http://www.doc.gov/eda/pdf/1G3_13_atinc.pdf

Summary:On August 6, 1998, President Clinton directed the Department of Commerce, in conjunction with the Department of Interior and Native American tribes, to undertake a technology infrastructure study of American Indian and Alaska Native communities. The study was to fulfill three fundamental goals:

Assess the current state of technology infrastructure in Native communities.

Identify and describe the challenges and barriers to technology infrastructure development in Native communities.

Propose solutions for overcoming these challenges and barriers.

Bridging the Gaps in Internet Development in Africa

http://www.idrc.ca/acacia/studies/ir-gaps.htm

Author(s): Mike Jensen

Date of publication: August 31 1996

Summary: This study seeks to build on the activities of those who have helped chart the events in Africa toward universal access to low cost electronic communications and the associated activities that need to take place to build Africa's Information Society. It aims to identify the most important gaps in this development process, focusing on the countries, regions and sectors in African society that could benefit most from the increased involvement of IDRC.

Egypt expands digital access for remote communities

http://www.undp.org/dpa/frontpagearchive/2001/july/03july01/index.html

Date of publication: July 3 2001

Summary: To capitalize on the enormous benefits that can be reaped through the use of information technology, Egypt has decided to expand a pilot digital access project in a governorate north of Cairo to all the country's 26 governorates.

El Limon On Line !

http://www.sas.cornell.edu/cresp/ecopartners/comp/net.htm

Author(s): An EcoPartners Project (http://www.sas.cornell.edu/cresp/ecopartners/)

Summary: On Saturday August 29, El Limon went on line, becoming one of the first isolated rural communities in the Dominican Republic with public Internet access. In this cutting-edge experiment , the community will use the internet to reduce rural isolation, support agricultural change and economic development, and facilitate innovative programs like this summerís Art Week. The Rural Information Technology Institute, which promises to be at the core of El Limonís development, will be designed around the communication possibilities of the internet.

All about the El Limon Project (http://www.sas.cornell.edu/cresp/ecopartners/project.htm)

Update from El Limon (http://www.sas.cornell.edu/cresp/ecopartners/updates/Update.html)

Establishing a Public Internet Centre in Rural Areas of Mongolia

http://www.idrc.ca/telecentre/evaluation/nn/15_Est.html

Author(s):Narangerel Dandar for an international working meeting on telecentre evaluation, held at Far Hills,

Date of publication: September 28 1999.

Summary: The main purpose of the project is to broadcast information and deliver Internet access to rural areas.

Examples of Applications: ICTs in developing countries

http://www.iicd.org/base/show_article?cat=1&article_id=13&subcat=7

Author(s): Andreas Crede; Robin Mansell (eds.)

Date of publication: August 13 1998

Summary: This fourth booklet contains a series of case studies illustrating the potential role of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in development. The cases that are described highlight possible ICT applications in a selected number of sectors. The first booklet discussed on the nature of ICTs and their importance for sustainable development. The second booklet focused on the gaps in the provision of ICTs in developing countries and the opportunities for bridging this gap. A third booklet examined the need to develop a national ICT policy framework.

From ISAD to the African Development Forum: the expansion of interest in ICTs in Africa from 1996 to 1999

http://www.un.org/Depts/eca/adf/kate.htm

Author(s): Kate Wild, Claire Sibthorpe, IDRC, Johannesburg

Date of publication: August 25 1999

Summary: A paper fromAfrican Computing & Telecommunications Summit, Cambridge:

This presentation will review the experience of the last three years from three points of view:

The new institutional mechanisms and partnerships intended to improve the effectiveness of donor programmes in the ICT arena.

The (mainly donor-sponsored) events that have followed ISAD with the intention of focussing political attention on the ICT and development connection.

The types of ICT projects that are emerging as priorities for support.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for Sustainable Livelihoods:

http://www.rdg.ac.uk/AcaDepts/ea/AERDD/ICTs.home.htm

Author(s): Clare O'Farrell & Dr Patricia Norrish (AERDD) and Andrew Scott (ITDG)

Date of publication: November 1999

Summary: The follow material relates to a desk based study on new communication technologies and existing information systems of small-scale farmers and entrepreneurs in rural communities. The purpose of the study was to enquire and to illustrate using case study examples:

Whether and how ICTs might further marginalise disadvantaged communities, to determine what could be done to mitigate those adverse effects.

Whether and how modern ICTs can be used to strengthen and develop the information systems of small-scale farmers and small-scale enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries and contribute to poverty reduction.

It Takes the Internet to Raise a Cambodian Village

http://www.greenstar.org/butterflies/Cambodia-Web-Village.htm

Author(s): John Markoff

Summary: This article looks at the work of Bernard Krisher, a 69-year-old former journalist who is trying to bring the Internet to one of the poorest regions in Asia.

Native Networking: Telecommunications and Information Technology in Indian Country

http://www.benton.org/Library/Native/bentonne.pdf

Author(s): James Casey (Cherokee), Randy Ross (Ponca Tribe of Nebraska and Otoe Missouria), and Marcia Warren (Santa Clara Pueblo of New Mexico), Edited by Jean Smith

Date of publication: April 1999

Summary: This is a report on the status and resources on the telecommunications and technology activity in Idian Country today. It was created to serve as a central location where Native Americans, government policy makers, and others could access information about telecommunications and information technology resources. The report is designed as a tool for reference, training, planning, and general educational purposes.

On Estimating Telecentre Demand in Mexican Rural Municipios

http://www.idrc.ca/telecentre/evaluation/nn/26_OnE.html

Author(s): Scott S. Robinson (http://www.idrc.ca/telecentre/evaluation/nn/BIOS/RobinsonS_26.HTML) Professor, Departamento de Antropología, Universidad Metropolitana - Iztapalapa, MEXICO

Date of publication: September 28 1999

Summary: The challenge of creating a set of self-sustaining Telecentres in five contiguous rural municipios in Mexico necessarily involves a model for estimating demand for this model of ICT delivery. Given the socio-cultural and political conditions in these small towns and villages a series of issues come to the fore: How do we conceive demand for a service few are even aware of? How does the technology fit or conflict with traditional cultural norms and preferences? Who belong to the different local factions with potential interest in the service? What are the different political dimensions of this problem? What are the ethical responsibilities of the distinct actors involved? These are some of the questions to be addressed synthetically in this short paper.

"Partnerships and participation in telecommunications for rural development: exploring what works and why"

http://www.itu.int/ITU-D-UniversalAccess/johan/papers/guelph.doc

Author(s): Johan Ernberg, ITU (http://www.itu.int/ITU-D-UniversalAccess)

Date of publication: October 26 1998

Summary: From a Conference at the University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada:

The overall objective of the Programme is to develop best-practice, sustainable and replicable models of ways to provide access to modern telecommunication facilities and information services, particularly to people in rural and remote areas. To this end pilot projects are implemented in a number of countries in different regions, at different stages of development and with different geographical, social, economic and cultural conditions.

Strategy for a Distance Learning Network for the Dominican Republic

http://www.sas.cornell.edu/cresp/ecopartners/comp/distnet.htm

Author(s): Jon Katz

Date of publication: November 10 1999

Summary: Few rural Dominican children have the opportunity to continue their education beyond the sixth grade, and there is little likelihood of substantial improvement in the foreseeable future. An extensive distance learning network could bring intermediate and high school level classes to most of these communities. In the near future, the convergence of cellular telephone and internet technologies will make such a network technically and economically practical. This concept paper provides more information, and proposes a pilot project in the region of San Jose de Ocoa

Telecentres, IT and rural development: possibilities in the Information Age

http://www.csu.edu.au/research/crsr/sai/saipaper.htm#top

Author(s): Perry Share

Date of publication: May 11 1996

Summary: Originally presented to the Annual Conference of the Sociological Association of Ireland, Dundalk:

This paper is part of an attempt to sociologically understand the telecentre experience to date. It outlines the extent of telecentre development in a number of countries; it examines the range of telecentre types and activities; suggests some explanations for the emergence of telecentres at this particular time; and places the development of rural telecentres within a discussion of the direction of rural development policy in the advanced economies. Finally it raises some questions for the future.

The first mile of connectivity

http://www.fao.org/docrep/x0295e/x0295e00.htm

Author(s): Don Richardson and Lynnita Paisley, (ed)

Date of publication: 1998

Summary: This contribution is designed to help bridge the gap between practices of the communication for development practitioners and telecommunication experts who provide services to rural areas. Improvements in technology and reductions in costs have focused new attention on the provision of rural telecommunication services, particularly in developing countries. Until very recently, communication for development practitioners have seldom looked at rural telecommunication services as development tools. Likewise, telecommunication experts have only recently begun to look at the synergy between communication for development practices and the spread of rural telecommunication systems. Working together, these two groups of practitioners can better understand the potentials, limitations and challenges of telecommunication systems for rural development.

The Gaps in Provision: ICTs in Developing Countries

http://www.iicd.org/base/show_article?cat=1&article_id=10&subcat=7

Author(s): Andreas Crede; Robin Mansell (eds.)

Date of publication: August 17 1998

Summary: This booklet examines the major imbalances that exist in the provision of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in developing countries. The major disparities in the provision of the telecommunication infrastructure between industrialised and the poorest developing countries are identified and the divisions between urban and rural areas are discussed.

The Internet Comes to Rural India

http://www.idrc.ca/reports/read_article_english.cfm?article_num=552

Author(s): Keane Shore

Date of publication: November 5 1999

Summary: A pilot project is bringing the Information Age to rural Indian villagers in the form of communal telephone and Internet access. Based on the experiences to date of a half-dozen local 'information shops' in southern India, another 12 villages have requested their own information shops, if funding can be found.

The Positive Business Case for Rural Telecommunications

http://www.devmedia.org/documents/Barr.htm

Author(s): David F. Barr, from SR Telecom Inc., Canada

Summary: The greatest challenge for developing countries is to ensure that telecommunication services, and the resulting benefits of economic, social and cultural development which these services promote, are extended effectively and efficiently throughout the rural and remote areas -- those areas which in the past have often been disadvantaged, with few or no telecommunication services.

The Status of African Information Infrastructure

http://www.un.org/Depts/eca/adf/codipap1.htm

Author(s): Mike Jensen

Date of publication: June 28 1999

Summary: Paper from First Meeting of the Committee on Development Information (CODI), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia:

Communications and information infrastructure has improved dramatically in Africa over the past 5 years. The Internet, satellite television, cellular phones and itemised billing are now widespread on the continent. But what might have been unthinkable a decade ago is still a dream for the majority of Africans those who do not live in the capital cities and are not part of the elite.