E-READINESS QUESTIONNAIRE FOR NORTH ... - Kunnat.net

1 Introduction and Background
to the Study
Many observers have argued that in the 21st century, Information and Communication
technologies (ICTs) are the engine of economic and social development. Some
have even gone further to argue that there are scenarios in which aspects of poverty
will not be successfully addressed without suffi cient emphasis on information and
communication processes and the use of ICTs to facilitate them 1 . ICTs offer tremendous
potential to raise the standards of living and enlarge opportunities for individuals,
communities, countries and regions. In particular, ICTs present an opportunity
for geographically remote and poor communities whose access to information and
social services can be dramatically enhanced through ICTs. The Commonwealth Telecommunications
organisation (CTO) asserts that “Information and Communication
Technology (ICT) connectivity is the most economical and effi cient option for African
Governments to ensure an all-inclusive development of their citizenry” 2 .
However, the great opportunities offered by these new technologies remain largely
unexploited in Africa. While there has been global progress in improving access to
ICTs and creating awareness of their potential, access to these technologies remains
extremely uneven with ICT productivity being to a large extent, confi ned to developed
countries 3 . The resultant digital divide, characterized by highly unequal access to ICTs,
manifests itself clearly in Africa and therefore needs to be addressed by national policy
makers as well as the international community. To deal with this problem, the UN
Millennium Declaration advocates for efforts to “ensure that the benefi ts of new technologies,
especially information and communication technologies ... are available to
all” 4 . Many developed countries have responded to this call and have made it a major
aspect of their development policy.
Development policy contributes to the global effort to eradicate poverty through
economic social and ecological development 5 . Consequently, huge investments are
made globally in ICT as an undisputed and essential component of international
development cooperation. It is within this set-up that the North-South Local Government
Programme of the Association of Finnish Local and Regional Authorities
(AFLRA) operates. The overall objective of the programme is to forge co-operative
relationships between Southern and Finnish local governments (LGs) to build the capacity
of the local governments in order to enable them provide services, advance good
governance and administrative practice as well as promote participatory democracy
and sustainable social, economic and environmental development. The programme
was launched in 2002 as an initiative of the AFLRA. It presently (October 2010) involves
17 partnerships (linkages) between the Finnish and Southern LGs. During the
next programme period (2011-2013), much emphasis will be placed on the principles
on good governance and equality.
1 ICTs for Democracy Information and Communication Technologies for the Enhancement of Democracy – with a Focus on
Empowerment, Sida, 2009, http://www.apc.org/en/system/fi les/SIDA_ICTs+for+Democracy.pdf
2 Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation, http://www.cto.int/Default.aspx?tabid=411
3 E-Government in Africa: Prospects, challenges and practices, Kitaw Yayehyirad, 2006, http://people.itu.int/~kitaw/
egov/paper/E-Government_in_Africa.pdfhttp://people.itu.int/~kitaw/egov/paper/E-Government_in_Africa.pdf)
4 World Summit on the Information Society, Geneva 2003-Tunis 2005, http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/wsis-themes/com04/
com04html
5 Finland’s development Policy, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland, http://formin.fi nland.fi /Public/default.aspx?nodeid=1531
8&contentlan=2&sculture=en-US
Strenghtening e-Governance in the North-South Local Government Co-operation Programme 11