ICT for Poverty Alleviation Framework Prepared for the Workshop for UNDP Country Office ICT Programme Officers/Focal Points in Asia-Pacific

Executive Summary This report addresses the digital divide and the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for the alleviation of poverty. The digital divide describes the stark disparities between the few people with abundant access to ICTs and the vast numbers of people without any access. Information and knowledge are critical components of poverty alleviation strategies, and ICTs offer the promise of easy access to huge amounts of information useful for the poor. However, the digital divide is the result rather than the cause of poverty, and efforts to bridge it must be embedded within effective strategies that address the causes of poverty. Earlier patterns of adoption and diffusion suggest that ICTs will not achieve their full potential without suitable attention being paid to the processes that they are intended to assist and the context within they are being implemented. However, there are many examples of successful implementations that allow for a synthesis of experience that can lead to an understanding of how to approach the use of ICTs for widespread alleviation of poverty. Poor people will gain fruitful access to ICTs through shared facilities that are appropriately managed and properly constituted within sound development strategies. Implementation efforts have to take into account the wide variety of factors that are critical for success. A poverty alleviation framework is presented to facilitate the full consideration of all such factors. Models of ICT adoption and diffusion are discussed followed by an examination of the areas in which ICTs have been shown to demonstrate effective poverty alleviation. Lessons learned from the examples are presented within the context of the adoption and diffusion models. An outline of development telecentres follows along with a consideration for project implementation. A framework for poverty alleviation is derived and it is used to analyse the outcomes and the factors that influence them. 1 Mark Malloch Brown, UNDP Administrator ICT for Poverty Alleviation Framework Roger Harris Final Draft 27/12/2002 2