ICT Policy Formulation and e-Strategy Development: A ... - un-apcict

.
.
.
To help plan and undertake appropriate communications and consultations with
stakeholders;
To help identify and make use of appropriate management tools in arriving at these
decisions; and
To help identify priorities, the required resources, and ways to implement these priorities
and move forward.
Many of these issues will be discussed in this Guidebook.
Understanding human needs and how ICTs can help achieve them
To understand the role that ICTs can play in human development, there is a need to first
understand the requirements and circumstances of the people who are to benefit from the
introduction of ICTs. At the same time, the ways in which ICTs can help people address and
meet these needs must be understood.
People do not need word processing to survive, but they may want efficient ways of sharing
information about livelihoods and employment, for example. Word processing may be one of
the technologies or applications that will make it easier to communicate information about
livelihoods, and it may be more reliable than depending solely on word-of-mouth when those
communicating and/or receiving the information are spread over time and space.
An electronic bulletin board system for sharing information about job opportunities may be
useful to those who are connected to the Internet, but useless to people who are not. On the
other hand, in societies where the oral tradition is important, accessing the Internet to inform
a community radio station may be a way of communicating valuable information to computer
illiterate users in rural locations.
ICTs for human development are not about technology, but about people using the technology
to meet some basic need. Understanding human requirements takes time and effort. User
needs assessments are essential in planning the introduction of ICTs to communities, no matter
what their status or HDI.
The Changing International Marketplace
As the information economy becomes predominant, efforts to streamline its operation or at
least encourage greater collaboration and interoperability have been the object of much effort.
An important mechanism affecting ICT diffusion and use have been the agreements negotiated
under the World Trade Organization (WTO). One hundred forty-six countries (as of 2003) adhere
to the WTO agreements, which regulate international trade. These include 30 of the 46 countries
listed by the United Nations as least developed countries (LDCs) 9 .
Considered the political underpinning of globalization, the WTO agreements represent a
9
See http://www.wto.org/english/thewto_e/whatis_e/tif_e/org7_e.htm.
4
ICT Policy Formulation and e-Strategy Development