Over 100 leaders from 39 countries gathered at the Development Gateway Forum 2004 in Bonn, Germany, recently to profile the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for development and to define steps to improve its impact.
The Development Gateway Foundation, an independent non-profit organization launched by the World Bank, recently awarded the 100.000 euro (743.000 DKR) Petersberg Prize to Grameen Bank Village Phone for achievement in using ICT. The Village Phone Project heltp Bangladeshi women run wireless phone businesses in 28.000 villages.
The Gateway Forum included roundtable discussions on case studies and challenges in using ICT for enhancing aid effectiveness, increasing government transparency, and helping build local capacity for fighting poverty. Action items based on Forum discussions will be published soon.
– The development of ICT for us is not a matter of choice, but that of a necessity, Rwanda President Paul Kagame told the forum, sponsored by Deutsche Telekom AG and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. – The issue is not whether it is worthwhile for us to make use of ICT, but rather how best we can use it to meet the needs of our people and to enable us to achieve our development objectives.
Grameen Bank-Village Phone won the prize as an example of what can be accomplished-even in remote areas of the world. By providing rural women in Bangladesh with micro credit financing and cell phones to run wireless payphone businesses, Grameen Bank-Village Phone is empowering a new class of women entrepreneurs.
These local entrepreneurs, in turn, have improved the livelihoods of farmers and their communities by providing access to critical market information and lifeline communications in some 28.000 villages. – ICT has the wonderful capacity to empower the individual person, even the poorest, Grameen Bank Managing Director and Founder, Muhammad Yunus, said in accepting the Development Gateways first-ever Petersberg Prize.
Mozambiques Minister for Higher Education, Science and Technology, Lidia Brito, pointed out that “Six years ago, e-government was non-existent in Mozambique, in the meantime, many government agencies have entered into the digital era.” She added: – ICT is placed high as a tool to improve service delivery within government and to the public, however the change process requires transformation of the organizational culture.
Meanwhile, Rwandas Minister of Education, Science, Technology, and Scientific Research, Romain Murenzi, presented his countrys recently adopted plan for its transformation to an information and technology based, middle-income economy by 2020. Like Mozambique, Rwanda is working with the Development Gateway to advance its goals.
Also demonstrating their use of ICT both at the Forum and at their first global meeting, were the Country Gateways, local development portals in 55 countries supported by the Development Gateway.
Country Gateways in Colombia, Mongolia, Morocco, Romania, and Poland have started using localized directories of development projects for better donor information and coordination. These local systems are based on the global AiDA directory of development activities from more than 200 international agencies, hosted on the Development Gateways portal.
Country Gateways in Indonesia, Romania, and Venezuela are among the local partners launching the Development Gateways dgMarket services, which increase transparency and competition in public procurement by posting it online.
Rwanda has launched a Country Gateway and research and training centers that are helping to build skills and tools, such as geographic information systems which give policymakers better information for decision making.
The “Petersberg Call to Action,” due to be published soon, focuses on improving the use of ICT to enhance development effectiveness; increase transparency in public sector procurement; and help build the local capacity of institutions and individuals to become agents of change.
Each year, the elements of this “Call to Action” are gathered at the Forum to help the Development Gateway refine its strategy as it also helps define priorities for the larger ICT community.
The Development Gateway issued a progress report on action items in last years Petersberg Declaration. In answer to the call to prioritize local partnerships and applications, for instance, 37 of the 55 Country Gateways are now operational, and the Development Gateways research center in India has advanced 12 applications, including multilingual web searches and low-bandwidth information exchanges.
In response to the mandate to link ICTs to the Millennium Development Goals, a platform has been developed to allow countries to monitor policies and actions aimed at achieving the MDGs. On the global Development Gateway portal, a network of more than 100.000 development practitioners from around the world are now sharing information, collaborating to improve development effectiveness, and building enterprise.
– Information technology is a central element in speeding help to people in developing nations, World Bank President, James D. Wolfensohn told participants.
Development Gateway President, Mamphela Ramphele, highlighted the importance of ICT in development, saying: – We know that the world is counting on us to meet our development goals, and we must make the most of every tool at our disposal. ICT is one of the most promising of these tools.
For information on the Petersberg Prize winner and finalists,
visit www.developmentgateway.org/prize.
To read Forum papers by Ministers Brito, Murenzi, and Shouleva, and for other Forum information, visit www.devforum.org.
For additional information, contact Karen Lynch at [email protected] or visit www.developmentgateway.org.
Kilde: www.worldbank.org
