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

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Stage Three Identifying Priority Areas and Developing Action Plans HOW ARE STRATEGIES ACHIEVED? Strategies are achieved using a variety of tools, some of which have already been described. Comparative analysis, including studying and comparing international experience and best practices, is another useful tool. ICT strategies start with the development goals of the country and take into consideration local specificities. Invariably, the goals of national development are to seek, develop and maintain comparative and competitive advantage, especially in economic terms. ICTs are tools to help this happen and to ensure that people are better able to benefit as a result. A key component of strategic planning for human development is consultation, as mentioned earlier. Consultation is ongoing and iterative and may need to be institutionalized. The telecommunications and ICT regulatory agency can have a role to play here, but NGOs and other observers and participants should also be involved. ICT strategies and their implementation need good governance to succeed. It may be useful to check on progress and to ensure impartiality by bringing in outside or neutral observers to comment and contribute on an ongoing basis. Addressing the Development Dynamic Using ICTs is not the goal or outcome of ICT4D projects, programmes or activities. The goal is to promote human development and to reduce and eliminate poverty by bridging the digital divide 1 . The goal of using e-strategies is empowerment through information. The outcome is greater self-sufficiency of people and communities. Freedom of access to information is a key part of this, along with freedom of expression that allows people to take advantage of these resources and opportunities. In reality, most jurisdictions accept the need to have freedom of access to business information and to other information that touches directly on economic development. Other issues are sometimes better left alone, especially if they touch on politics and society. 1 Labelle, R. ‘Information and communication technologies for development in national human development reports’, UNDP, New York, 2003. ICT Policy Formulation and e-Strategy Development 59
ICTs promote human development and help achieve the goal of reducing poverty in three ways: · By facilitating access to knowledge and information-sharing; · By helping developing countries catch up and be part of the evolving information economy; and · By acting as enablers of development by encouraging empowerment. ICT policies and e-strategies need to address these issues. e-Strategies for Infrastructure Development ICT strategies will need to consider telecommunications strategies governing access to the networking and communication media. Of particular concern is the development of Internet access strategies. The key is to ensure the availability of as much bandwidth as is necessary to users in the country at a cost that is as low as possible, consistent with the commercial operation of the telecommunications network. In order to limit expenses for unused bandwidth, bandwidth-provisioning solutions based on dynamic bandwidth allocation may be appropriate. These include ensuring bandwidth coming to the country, and by extension, meeting bandwidth requirements within the country. The development of national ICT infrastructure is the purview of the national operators, but government has a role in developing the policy that will guide and encourage infrastructure development efforts and investments because this is in the public interest. Universal access policies, for example, are intended to do just that. The demand for access to the network will drive the growth of national ICT infrastructures and Government policies will help relate the right market conditions to make this happen. The concern of ICT strategy should be with ways to spur the growth of national infrastructure in a manner that keeps costs down so that the largest number can benefit from its use. Universal access policies are intended to ensure that all inhabitants of a country are assured of receiving basic telecommunications services. These services have invariably been considered to include access to the telephone but are defined more broadly by WTO (see Box 7 on next page). Encouraging competition Probably the most important consideration in preparing an infrastructure development strategy is the need to encourage competing telecommunications and Internet access solutions, services and providers. Competition is key to delivering value and service to ICT users. Past experience has demonstrated that monopoly operators overcharge and may also limit access to the Internet. Consistent with this policy is the need to ensure that peering 2 among and between telecommunications, especially Internet service providers (ISPs), is assured. A strong and independent regulatory regime A strong regulatory agency is required. This agency will be responsible for overseeing the 2 See ‘What is peering?’; available at http://iroi.seu.edu.cn/books/ee_dic/whatis/peering.htm. 60 ICT Policy Formulation and e-Strategy Development
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ICT Policy Formulation and e-Strate
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Table of Content Foreword List of A
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Foreword Information and Communicat
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ITU - International Telecommunicati
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Preface The objective of this Guide
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Stage One Visioning and the Role of
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A third aspect is the impact of cha
Page 16 and 17:
significant achievement in internat
Page 18 and 19:
Box 1: Definition of the Informatio
Page 20 and 21: to ensure compliance. Policy statem
Page 22 and 23: Internet users 100 inhabitants, 200
Page 24 and 25: Continuing to improve local standar
Page 26 and 27: are dynamic in the use of new techn
Page 28 and 29: local empowerment and community dev
Page 30 and 31: . Transaction processing: ICTs spee
Page 32 and 33: ICTs for Better Government e-Govern
Page 34 and 35: Geographic Information Systems (GIS
Page 36 and 37: effective 49 . Policy-makers also n
Page 38 and 39: that establish the basis for secure
Page 40 and 41: Stage Two Development of ICT Policy
Page 42 and 43: For example, a draft Mongolia ICT A
Page 44 and 45: infrastructure exists and the idea
Page 46 and 47: policy proposals, if they can be re
Page 48 and 49: However, it is also important to th
Page 50 and 51: and selling tourist experiences in
Page 52 and 53: e-Readiness Assessments Most e-read
Page 54 and 55: opportunities and options. Without
Page 56 and 57: · Don’t forget radio and televis
Page 58 and 59: In summary, a national ICT strategy
Page 60 and 61: · Encourage public-private partner
Page 62 and 63: available on the Internet, as do ma
Page 64 and 65: that encourage competition in the t
Page 66 and 67: Many countries have developed very
Page 68 and 69: However, some countries need assist
Page 72 and 73: Box 7: Basic Telecommunications Ser
Page 74 and 75: The allure of wireless The rapid di
Page 76 and 77: information in the local languages
Page 78 and 79: e-Strategies for Enterprise Develop
Page 80 and 81: Duncombe and Heeks state that the
Page 82 and 83: adio, voice over wireless devices (
Page 84 and 85: Stage Four Management, Monitoring a
Page 86 and 87: ICT Policy Formulation and e-Strate
Page 88 and 89: ICT Policy Formulation and e-Strate
Page 90 and 91: meetings for stakeholders; and · T
Page 92 and 93: The five clusters of the objective
Page 94 and 95: Apart from realistic and measurable
Page 96 and 97: Stage Five Financing and Resource M
Page 98 and 99: Appendix 1. Example of Log Frame An
Page 100 and 101: OUTPUTS A comprehensive national as
Page 102 and 103: Awareness building campaign aimed a
Page 104 and 105: · Regional e-government conference
Page 106 and 107: Community-based use and deployment
Page 108 and 109: - SchoolNet, WorldLinks · World-cl
Page 110 and 111: IMMEDIATE OBJECTIVE 4 (to be substa
Page 112 and 113: About the Author Richard Labelle is
Page 114: Also available UNDP-APDIP ICT4D Ser
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