Incorporating ICT Policy concerns and multisectoral integration in the national development process

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Incorporating ICT Policy concerns and
multi-sectoral integration in the national
development process

• Shailendra Hajela
• Consultant, ICSTD, UNESCAP
• Regional Workshop on Follow-up to WSIS, Bangkok,
  29-31 May 2006

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Background

• The Tokyo declaration, the WSIS Geneva vision and
  principles, action themes the Bangkok agenda on
  Broadband the Tehran regional action plan based
  on the recommendations of the sub regional
  meetings held at Fiji, Bishkek, Bali and
  Kathmandu and the WSIS Tunis agenda and
  commitment, unequivocally lead us to
  incorporating ICT Policy concerns and
  multi-sectoral integration in the national
  development process.

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Role of ICT in Development

• IT and Telecommunication (ICT) industries play a
  dual role as an industry by themselves and at the
  same time as an essential tool for management of
  all other social and economic activities,
  nationally, regionally and globally
• Convergence of Telecom and IT ICT has widened
  the scope manifold to include general efficiency
  and productivity enhancement and technologically
  as well as in usage, providing a common and
  ubiquitous global networking platform for all
  kinds of e-services e-commerce, e-health,
  e-education, etc., covering all conceivable
  on-line or off-line services from anywhere to
  anywhere, anytime, enabling globalization of
  every social and economic activity. Tremendous
  advantage is to be gained by incorporating ICT
  policy concerns in multi-sectoral integration of
  the national development policies.

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Ground realities

• Common hurdles in the developing countries of the
  region concerning ICTs use are
• Inadequate access to ICTs
• Inadequate ICT infrastructure
• Underdeveloped IT industry
• Social barriers
• Generally, low literacy levels, predominantly
  poor rural population,
• Lack of general awareness about Internet and
  computers
• Language barrier, most content is in English and
  not in the local language(s)
• Absence or inadequate locally relevant content
• Lack of availability or poor reliability of
  commercial power supply

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Ground realities

• Low level of computer education, paucity of
  trained instructors
• Lack of locally available trained manpower for
  operation and maintenance support
• Inadequate investment in ICT infrastructure, and
  general resource crunch.
• High cost of terminal equipment (PCs)
• High cost of Internet access, unaffordable by
  large section of population
• Inadequacy of public access points, like
  Community Tele-centres in rural and remote areas.
• Lack of appropriate bandwidth and high cost of
  international bandwidth, particularly in LDCs,
  countries with economies in transition and
  Pacific Island countries.

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Development priorities

• Each country would have its own priorities. With
  a view to addressing the perceived ground
  realities in the region and based on the
  contribution to growth of ICT industry per se and
  of other social and economic sectors with ICTs
  integration as experienced in certain countries,
  it is suggested that the Governments may consider
  to
• encourage investment in ICT infrastructure and
  ICT industry by giving incentives
• evolve e-Strategies and encourage integration of
  ICTs in development plans and processes with the
  broadest participation of stakeholders
• lead by example in ICT applications, by
  undertaking e Governance projects to start
  with
• promote e-health, e-education, e-commerce, etc.
• lay more emphasis on the applications of ICT for
  empowering women, disadvantaged social groups and
  people with disabilities
• encourage greater use of broadband as stipulated
  also in the Bangkok Agenda

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Development priorities

• promote universal access to ICTs, set up
  Telecentres, Community service centres, etc., in
  rural and remote areas
• - accord high priority to capacity building
  - increase human
• resource capacity to meet the challenges
  of the e-services
• environment
• promote computer literacy, as well as public
  awareness of ICT, on-line services and
  transactions, e-commerce, etc,
• utilize opportunities offered by ICT to generate
  additional local employment and creation of
  better working and living conditions that would,
  inter alia, prevent brain-drain of ICT
  specialists and other qualified personnel
• give special attention to bridging the digital
  divide among different regions of the country and
  remove regional imbalances

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Development priorities

• adopt measures for preserving cultural heritage
  and traditions of various communities
• preserve moral and ethical values
• accord the highest priority to ethical and moral
  values
• introduce cyber laws to improve cyber security,
  prevent cyber crimes, id theft, indecent or
  socially undesirable content, and foster end-user
  trust, consumer protection and privacy create a
  global system of prevention and combating
  criminal activities relating to the use of ICT
  and ensuring IT security
• Foster regional and inter-regional cooperation
  through harmonization of national legislations,
  regulatory processes and procedures, exchange of
  experiences, as well as through public private
  partnerships for the purpose of sharing resources
  and knowledge throughout the region.
• Harmonization of national laws may require
  inter-country agreements

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ICT Policy Strategy

• Policies are expressed in terms of their
  development objectives. In general the following
  principles of ICT policy and strategy may be
  considered
• Promote the greatest access possible to
  information and ICTs that are consistent with
  national and human development goals.
• Adopt an integrated and pro-development approach,
  with positive impact on people, and not merely
  technology deployment, as the main outcome
• Base policies on needs assessments and on what
  the market can bear
• Address ground realities Many national
  strategies may never get implemented because they
  do not take into account local, regional and
  international realities
• Adopt a participatory approach in all steps in
  the development and implementation of the ICT
  policy and strategy. Consult widely and often
  and do not forget the marginalized community and
  
• Promote partnerships among all players in the
  development process, especially public-private
  partnerships.

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ICT Policy Strategy

• Policy, in principle, is governed by the
  constraints and priorities of every nation
• Policy deals with issues relating to development
  of ICT industry and its multi-sectoral
  integration in development process
• Policies and strategies need to be integrated
  into broad development concerns and mainstreamed
  into all aspects of society. Since these are
  cross-cutting and interrelated, the policies
  should correspond to real concerns and be
  supported by stakeholders
• ICT policy for national development must address
  the concerns of poverty, education, health,
  commerce and industry, social welfare empowering
  women and other groups, tourism, RD, environment
  and so on, embracing all sectors of economy.

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ICT Policy Strategy

• E- Strategies are plans based on the selection of
  scenarios and options for applying ICTs to
  national development. They apply to all sectors
  e.g. e-commerce, e-governance, e-learning,
  e-agriculture, e-health and other e-enabled
  sectors and activities. In essence these
  e-enabled activities are the application of ICTs
  to the business processes that are specific to
  the respective sector.
• Comparison of policies adopted by various
  countries shows that countries that adopted an
  integrated approach to ICT diffusion were more
  successful in making beneficial use of ICT in
  development

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Identification of Sectors for ICT infusion

• Sectoral concerns in the development of ICT
  policies and strategies include national
  development goals and issues dealing with
  Government, Private sector (E-commerce), Health,
  Learning, the ICT industry, RD, the Internet
  Local and community development
• ICTs and information help people lead better and
  fuller lives
• Integration of ICT in development process
  contributes to self-sufficiency and empowers
  those who use them.

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E Government benefits to society

• Decision makers are more accessible
• Access to information and services is easier
• Greater transparency in government business,
  including procurement
• Equitable access to government opportunities,
  jobs
• Greater efficiency in government operations,
  lower government operations and carrying costs
  (smaller and more efficient Civil service
• Ability to plan better
• Decentralizations and strengthening of local
  government and
• A stronger national identity.
• Community-based access centers or tele-centres to
  provide access to government information. In
  some countries, the aim is to provide public
  access within walking distance for everyone.
• Web portals in local and other languages

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E-business benefits to society

• The cost of doing business decreases as a result
  of increased access and efficiencies
• Markets become more accessible and more efficient
  due to greater access to information about the
  market and its operation. There are more job
  opportunities for women in ICT services like Call
  Centres.
• Transaction processing decreases as a result of
  the widespread use of e-business technologies and
  practices, and especially as a result of the use
  of EDI and EFT.
• The economy becomes more open to foreign scrutiny
  and investment as a result of greater access to
  information and advice online.
• Opportunities for tourism increases as a result
  of an increased online presence.
• Overall increase in investment, business
  development and job creation as a result of
  confidence of global community gained by the
  openness rendered by the ICTs in all processes
  and procedures.

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E - Education

• Better educated citizens, more access to
  increasingly diverse, more interactive and better
  adapted learning opportunities as well as
  resources
• A better qualified workforce and more qualified
  technicians and managers
• Greater access to education and learning
  opportunities for all, especially for girls and
  women who have so far not been able to take
  advantage of these opportunities for cultural or
  religious reasons in some societies.
• Greater access to cutting-edge technologies and
  management practices.
• More effective use of teaching resources.

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E- Education Benefits for society

• Increased efficiency in teaching.
• More graduates able to meet internationally
  accepted educational levels and skills.
• More access to higher education and specialized
  training.
• More opportunities for lifelong learning.
• Fewer requirements to travel to foreign locations
  for schooling more opportunities to use
  e-learning and related practices such as distance
  learning, to complete educational requirements.
  At a time of global instability, when countries
  are increasing ethnic profiling and screening,
  e-learning technologies offer an option for those
  who are or who feel they are excluded or selected
  against.
• More awareness of international trends.
• Greater involvement in international events,
  business opportunities, negotiations and networks
  of all types.

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E -Health

• Increased access to quality health care for all
• Increased awareness of disease risks, especially
  those associated with sexually transmitted
  diseases (STDs)
• Increased access to health information and
  services, including specialized diagnosis and
  prevention information, as well as increased
  participation in international disease prevention
  and early warning networks and systems
• Increased health research networking and access
  to relevant health sciences information and
  databases more opportunities to take advantage
  of health research efforts, as well as disease
  treatment (international monitoring and early
  warning of epidemics) and
• Better ability and capacity to follow up and
  treat chronic diseases such as tuberculosis and
  HIV/AIDs (anti-retroviral treatments and
  follow-up using SMS).

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Research Development

• Better quality, greater relevance and capacity of
  national research
• Creation of an RD Base to support national
  aspirations as well as the needs of society as a
  whole and private sector in particular
• More collaboration and networking, increased
  participation in international research
  activities, meetings, improved access to
  international research grants and funds,
  public-private partnerships

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ICT Advantage

• We have several case studies from the region to
  demonstrate how the applications of ICT result in
  improved business efficiencies, good governance,
  increased access to education, health services,
  and increased and equal employment opportunities
  to all sections of the society. ICTs have the
  potential to significantly boost the social and
  economic development.
• ICTs, particularly remove gender disparities by
  directly benefiting the women as reflected in the
  relatively higher proportion of women employees
  in IT and ITES, in comparison to other sectors of
  economy.

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Information security

• By far, the only weakness in ICT is data
  security. There was an upswing in the incidence
  of cases involving loss or misuse of data across
  the world in 2005 highlighting the
  vulnerability of existing systems and processes
  to such breaches and stressing the importance of
  a robust security policy and environment both
  at the company as well as the country levels.
• Fool-proof security is an indispensable element
  of ICT applications and for global service
  delivery, special emphasis must be laid to put in
  place a comprehensive policy framework to build
  an info-secure environment in the country.

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Implementation mechanism

• Recognizing the importance of ICT in national
  development process, suggestions have been made
  to consider establishing an independent agency
  established by the Government or a non-profit
  association to oversee implementation of ICT
  strategy. There is no denying the fact that
  monitoring the implementation is desirable. How
  this may be done in a country may be left to its
  Government
• Richard Labelle, UNDP APDIP

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Thank you