DM 218 Information Technology Management
ICT & Development
The world’s poorest two billion people desperately need healthcares not laptops..
Mothers are going to walk right up that computer and say” My children are dying what can you do?” They’re not going to sit there and, like browse eBay or something.
What they want is for their children to live. Do you really have to put in computers to figure that out?
Bill Gates – Chairman and Chief
Software Architect, Microsoft
Defining ICT
• Refer to technologies (web-based, SMS,
MIS, lans) that facilitate by electronic
means the creation, storage management
and dissemination of information
(Digital Opportunities Task force,2002)
• As a vehicle for communication rather than
simply a means of processing information (Curtain, 2004)
Types of ICTs
• Old – newspapers, radio and television
• New – networked computers, satellite-sources
communications, wireless technology and the
internet. A feature of these technologies is their
capacity to be networked and interlinked to form
a massive infrastructure of interconnected
telephone services, standardized computing
hardware, the internet, radio and TV, which
reaches every corner of the globe.
Definition of Development
A critical factor that has to be considered in
the application of ICT for development is
whether it serves the poor especially with
respect to dimensions of poverty such as
health, lack of voice and lack of
information (Curtain, 2004)
Development Projects
Development projects pertain to activities
that relate to the socio-economic well
being of the country or the community.
This involves activities related to health,
education, commerce, the environment
and governance. These are projects
administered within the context of an
organization
As such, understanding the
definitions of ICTs and development,
Tiglao & Alampay (2003) highlights
the ICT projects that have direct
impact on empowering people in poor
communities as well as impact on
alleviating poverty and addressing the
MDGs
Reclassification of ICT4D
World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)
ICT4D Typology ICT Application
Political/Governance/empower
ment
E-government
Economic/Livelihood E-business
E-employment
E-agriculture
Social/Education E-learning
E-health
E-environment
Infrastructure/Access E-science
The UN Millennium
Development Goals
• MDG is a system of time bound and measurable goals and targets that the 191 member states on the UNs have committed to during the UN Millennium Summit in Sept. 2000.
• The goals and targets cut across three broad sectors of development:
a. Economic well-being
b. Social development
c. Environmental sustainability and
regeneration
• The system seeks to enhance the
capability of member states in achieving
development by combating poverty,
hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental
degradation and discrimination against
women as well as commitment to human
rights, good governance and democracy
The UN Millennium
Development Goals
• The Millennium declaration clearly
recognizes the potential and crucial role
that information and communication
technologies can play in meeting the
development goals as contained in target
18, which states that “in co-operation with
the private sector, make available the
benefits of new technologies, especially
information and communication”
The UN Millennium
Development Goals
Global Perspective of ICT
for Development
The WSIS (2003) identified the five (5) priority
themes and their respective sub-themes under its
ICT4D platforms
1. Innovating for Equitable Access
a. Access/connectivity/last/first mile innovation
including WIFI
b. Financing ICT4D
c. Affordable solutions
d. Open solutions/open source
2. Enhancing Human Capacity and
Empowerment
a. Capacity building (formal and non-formal
education/skills development, e-learning)
b. Youth
c. Women/gender
d. Indigenous community/ people
e. Health
3. Strengthening Communications for
Development
a. Enhancing communication through media
b. Intercultural communication
c. Humanitarian aid and disaster information
system
d. Conflict prevention and resolution
4. Promoting Local Content and knowledge
a. Local culture, knowledge and content
b. Indigenous knowledge
c. Local media
5. Fostering Policy Implementation
a. e-Strategies
b. e-Governance (including security)
c. e-Commerce/e-Business
Approaches to the Use
of ICT in Development
1. ICT as LEAD. In focuses on ICT as a driver of the development process. The ICT led approach usually aims to provide the poor the opportunities to receive up-to-date information or achieve an enhanced ability to communicate with others.
(Telecentres seek to promote economic growth through access to better opportunities to generate income as a means of poverty reduction)
2. ICT plays a supporting
roles. In ICT support places
development objective to the
fore and seeks to use ICT to
support the objective
Approaches to the Use
of ICT in Development
ICT Applications: Benefits in All
Aspect of Life
Breakdown of ICT Projects and
Their Application (Tiglao, 2004)
ICT Application # of Projects %
E-governance 240 59.70
E-learning 100 24.87
E-science 43 10.69
E-business 37 9.20
E-environment 22 5.47
E-health 19 4.72
E-agriculture 13 3.23
E-employment 12 2.98
402
ICT4D Applications
1. E-government/E-governance• Easier to access government information
• Government is also the largest single contributor
to the local economy
• Diversity in e –governance projects
• Diversity in the technologies used
Websites
• Philippine government portal (www.gov.ph)
• 1,694 LGUs have a web-presence (91% are at stage 1 –static)
• Notable websites that won awards from NCC are Naga City, Nueva Ecija province, Zamboanga del Sur province, municipalities of Gerona, Tarmac, Abra de Ilog, Occidental Mindoro
Short Messaging Systems (SMS)
• Used for complaints, suggestions, and
request for information ex. Patrol 117,
DepEd DETxt, TextSSS, Patrol 2920 and
Text NAIA
Computerization and Specialized
Databases
1. e-LGUs projects
a. Real property tax systems
b. Business permits and licensing
system
c. Treasury operations management
systems
d. Tax mapping system
e. Geographic information system
Best Practices
Naga City. The city’s website, which
updates and informs the citizens on city
services, financial and bidding reports, city
legislations, investment data, statistics and
procedures in local bureaucracy
2. E-businessa. E-ticketing
b. B2b: b2bpricenow, bayantrade,
virtual malls (divisoria.com,
turoturo.com, myAyala.com,
PadalaKo.com,online portal
EXPERTRADE, electronic yellow pages
(EYP.ph)
c. For SMEs: eastASEANbiz.net, Asia Pacific Economic
Council (APEC), APEC Centre for Technology
Exchange for Small and Medium Enterprise (ACTETSME)
3. E-learning – a. Distance learning b.
ICT Skills Development c. Networking
Knowledge Institutions and d. Providing
access and exposure to the technologies
DOTC Mobile Information Technology
Classroom
4. E-employment: overseas and local
employment
Overseas: use of internet, e-mail,net
meeting, cyber photos and cyber
greetings.OWWA “teleugnayan centres”,
SART Padala Remittance Service,
SMART money (Estopace, 2004)
Local employment – DOLE(http://phil-
jobnet2.dole.gov.ph) LGUs: job posting in
Naga City, Bulacan Province and Bohol
Province (Niles and Hanson, 2003)
5. E-environment. Most of the projects involved Geographic Information System (GIS) applications to map out, contour, hydrology, land use, soil type, erosion, loan cover, population, among others
SMS: bantay usok, bantay dagat, bantay kalikasan
NDCC/PAGASA monitor weather and environmental disturbances
6. E-Agriculture. Agriculture and Fisheries
Research and Development Information
system (AFRDIS), national Information
Network (NIN), Agriculture and Natural
Resources Information Network (AGRINET),
Farmer’s Information and
Technology services (FITS), Geographic
Information System to identify soil patters and
topographies and mapping properties
7. E-Science. Projects pertains to the access of the ICT infrastructure: Multipurpose Community TeleCenterproject (www.barangayconnect.ph), ATIKHA’s use of video phones for OFW families (Doyo, 2002), broadband access such as in PREGINET and CATNET and IFDCI’s use of satellite and omnidirectional antennas (Hocson, 2002)
8. E- Health. E-health initiatives can be classified into main categories:
a. Health information and education (internet, SMS, dedicated hotlines) DOH SARs hotlines and textlines)
b. Specialised databases and information systems (Infectious Disease Data Management Systems) e-conferences Qu4Rad (www.qu4rad.net), ICT enhanced management information system on HIV/AIDS and sexual reproductive health services
LGU Web-presence (as of September 30, 2005)
NATIONWIDE
With
Website
Stage
1
Stage
2
Stage
3
Stage
4
Stage 5 Total %
Cities
(n=117)
20 75 20 0 0 115 98.3
Provinces
(n=79)
18 47 14 0 0 79 100
Municipalities
(n= 1500)
1,215 229 50 0 0 1,494 99.6
Total
(n=1696)
1,253 351 84 0 0 1,688 99.5
Source: National Computer Centre (2005)
Genesis and History of DOT Force
• At the Summit in Kyushu-
Okinawa in 2000, the G8 Charter
on Global Information Society
was adopted
• The G8 leaders agreed to
established a Digital Opportunity
Task Force (DOT force)
43 members participated
DOT Force Representatives17 government
representatives + 1
Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, UK,
USA, and a representative from European Commission
Developing countries governments (Bolivia, Brazil,
Egypt, India, Indonesia, Senegal, South Africa and
Tanzania)
7 representatives
from Internationals
/multilateral
organizations
ECOSOC, ITU, OECD, UNDP, UNCTAD, UNESCO,
WB
11 representatives
from private sectors
Three global networks: GIIC, GBDE and WEF
8 Representative from
non profit sector
One representative from each G8 country
DOT Force focused on
the three main objectives
1. To enhance global understanding and
consensus on the challenges and
opportunities posed by information and
communication technologies, and the role
that these technologies can play in
fostering sustainable, participatory
development, better governance, wealth
creation, and empowerment of local
communities and vulnerable groups
2. To foster greater coherence among
various initiatives, both G8 and other
currently underway or proposed to
address these challenges and
opportunities
3. To enhance the effective mobilization of
resources to address these challenges
and opportunities
Barriers to take up of ICT for
Development• No robust inventory of documented development
outcomes
• Many projects have been viewed as “technology
transfer” rather than aiming to achieve
development outcomes. This means that project
“success” or “failure” has been measured in
terms whether a technical system was deployed
or not. The actual development outcome (or
relevance) of the system was neither monitored
nor measured
• There is the “iceberg phenomenon” meaning that ICTs have been hidden beneath the surface of other development projects. When viewed as enables of other development sectors, ICTs were rarely liked to impact indicators. This phenomenon suggests that ICT in many development projects is best viewed as a crosscutting issue
• A focus in project evaluation on management issues and project cycles together with the use of inadequate tools, methodologies and timeframes, has hidden ICT’s contribution to longer-term social change
• There has also a desire to hide failures on the
part of those involved, in many cases. Although
any ICT for development initiatives have failed,
few failure have been documented. This is due
to lack of incentives in the development system
to encourage project managers, development
agencies or implementing partners to critically
report and make public project shortfalls or
failures
UNDP Evaluation Office 2001
•Does access to
advanced ICT
benefit the
poor?
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