"This study presents preliminary findings of the mounting efforts to develop systematic evaluation frameworks for ICT for Development programs. The evidence from these findings shows that there is increasing interest for understanding the impacts that ICT initiatives are having in realizing socioeco
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nomic change. Efforts from diverse organizations -- academia, foundations, international research institutes, development organizations and practitioners in the field -- are generating valuable information that piece by piece will better inform not only future investments in the field, but most importantly, how these investments are making a difference in the lives of poor and underserved communities. This study presents preliminary findings of different approaches used to evaluate programs in the following areas: 1) E-government; 2) E-education; and 3) ICT and Civil Society. An additional set of evaluation frameworks for Telecenters, E-health, Gender, Poverty Reduction and Small and Medium Enterprises are included in the Annexes for reference." (Abstract)
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"Given the budget, good quality new PCs are likely to be the most stable, and in many instances will be the preferred technology choice. However, their high purchase price remains a key inhibitor to lowering their comparative total cost of ownership (TCO) in a small business, NGO or school. New PC p
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urchase prices can account for 63-85% of the ownership costs that make TCO different between new and refurbished PCs. In contrast, a key TCO inhibitor for refurbished PCs is their failure rate and associated ongoing costs, accounting for 64-75% of the comparative TCO costs. A network of good quality refurbished PCs (imported brands such as Hewlett Packard, Dell and IBM) offers a window period of stability, making them a viable technology choice under certain conditions. They are likely to have the lowest TCO over five years. While the hardware replacement costs over that period could be the equivalent of the purchase price of the PCs, most of these costs are likely to occur in the final years of ownership. The high frequency of failures, together with the high ongoing costs for lower quality refurbished PCs (some 75% of the comparative totals), suggests that they should not be considered a viable technology option. In the case of lower quality refurbished PCs, hardware replacement costs alone can be more than 140% the purchase price of the PCs. A high level of failure can be expected throughout the five years of ownership." (Executive summary, p.4)
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"This primer is intended to help policy-makers and decision-makers understand the potential use of free and open source software (FOSS) in education—where and how it can be used, why it should be used, and what issues are involved. In particular, officials in ministries of education, school and un
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iversity administrators, academic staff and researchers should find this primer useful." (Preface)
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"There are five elements of USAID’s strategic approach to ICT for development: Policy Reform: Getting telecommunications policy right is the foundation for growth in the sector and for the affordable spread of ICT applications. Access: Connecting with those at the end of the “last mile,” econo
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mically and geographically, is essential for expanding access to the benefits of ICT applications to those of greatest concern to USAID. Capacity Building: Building the capability of professionals and the capacity of institutions leads to broader and more targeted use of these applications. Applications: Innovations in how to apply ICTs to benefit users can speed development. Partnerships: Implementing all these strategic elements depends on collaboration with partners to ensure the needed technical and financial resources." (Executive summary, page 1)
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"The important balance between access to copyrighted works and protection for authors is vital for developing countries and LDCs. Despite provisions for limitations and exceptions to the rights granted to authors/ owners of protected works, the WIPO treaties represent minimum standards from which co
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untries can deviate only by providing greater rights than required as the United States has done under the DMCA. The maximalist approach to interpreting the available scope of permissible limitations and exceptions is reinforced by the similarities between TRIPS Article 13, and Articles 10 and 16 of the WCT and WPPT. The similarities suggest that it is not improbable that interpretations of the Internet treaties can be influenced by the ideology of the TRIPS Agreement. Consequently, public welfare interests will require explicit limitations and exceptions that at a minimum facilitate access and use of digital works for study, research, and educational purposes." (Executive summary, page 2)
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"This consultancy report is based on interviews with the technical teams of six organizations in Ecuador. These organizations are very different in nature, target populations and topics of dedication. However, they share the common denominator of using ICT applications to carry out activities for ac
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hieving their objectives. Such denominator responds to the interest of HIVOS, and this is the reason for choosing them as the objective organizations for the evaluation of HIVOS policy and program 'Access for all: equal opportunities in cyberspace'. By using an interview guide, all organizations were visited for about half a day. In most cases, a brief presentation of the project initiated the interview and members of the technical team of each organization interacted with the consultant. In some cases, additional written information was made available, but the brief description of each case and the answer to the guide questions are the interpretation of the consultant. It is important to point out that the material made available on the organizations and HIVOS contribution to them through its program was rather limited. For this reason it was often necessary to talk about the HIVOS involvement in each organization during the interview. This is acknowledged in the description of some of the organizations, but the intention is to provide a better context in which each case can be analyzed." (Introduction)
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