ICT FOR DEVELOPMENT

Information and communication technology refers to the general application of information and communication technology within the fields of socio-economic development, international development and human rights. The dominant term used here is ICT4Dev i.e application of technological solutions to the problems of developing words especially poverty reduction .

ICT4Dev may be interpreted as dealing with the disadivantaged populations anywhere in word but is more typically associated with applying information technological approaches through health reduction.

ICT is the central to today’s most modern economies, many international development agencies recognize the importance of ICT e.g Word Bank’s ICT section has about 200 staff members working on ICT issues.

Developing countries lag far behind developed countries in computer use and internet access. E.g averagely ony 1 in 130 people in Africa has a computer ! while in North America and Europe 1 in every 2 people has access to internet and about 90% of students in Africa have never touched a computer.

However local networks can provide access to software and information even without utilizing an internet connection

What should be done? Initiatives and projects on ICT4Dev should be designed and implemented by International Institutions, governments, consultants, non - profit computing and NGO’s in rural areas where technology is the main problem in developing countries.

Challenges; Apart from conducting technological based project still there many obstacles that hinder/hamper the process in rural areas .Projects deploying technology in underdeveloped areas face well known problems specially infrastructure problems.

Also introducing ICTs in these areas is mostly cost hence a need of well funded projects.

Another problem is the selection of software installed on technology instructors trained in one set software e.g UBUNTU can be expected to have difficulty in navigating computers donated with different software e.g window XP.