"This guide gives practical guidance to building organizational capacity in ICT4D. Drawing from the experience of the international development community, this guide connects established principles with processes for implementing new technology. 1. Why should I be interested in ICT4D and what does i
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t mean for my organization? 2. How do I build ICT4D capacity within my organization? 3. What are the practical approaches and best practices I can implement to improve success?" (Executive summary)
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"Among the many topics discussed here are the difference among specific media formats, including television, newspapers, radio, film and photography; policy issues; and the challenge that new media poses to governance in a developing nation faced with innumerable economic, social and political probl
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ems. Eschewing the currently dominant development communication model, the editors argue that market forces rather than planned state interventions will contribute to a more equitable communication environment." (Publisher description)
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"The Internet will generate economic growth and social transformation in six sectors in particular: financial services, education, health, retail, agriculture, and government. In financial services, for example, M.Pesa's mobile money solutions have brought millions of Kenyans onto the financial grid
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for the first time. Remote diagnostics are expanding medical services to rural areas that have few healthcare professionals. Students are beginning to learn with new digital education tools, and e-government initiatives are connecting citizens with services. This report examines the progress and potential of the Internet in 14 economies that together make up 90 percent of Africa's GDP. In addition to measuring the size of their current Internet economies, it evaluates the strength of five fundamental pillars of Internet readiness: national ICT strategy, infrastructure, business environment, access to financial capital, and the development of ICTrelated human capital. By combining these factors, it is possible to map each country's progress on its digital journey. Kenya and Senegal, for instance, are not Africa's largest economies, but they have nevertheless emerged as the continent's leaders in terms of the relative economic contribution of the Internet." (Executive summary)
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"Drawing on Amartya Sen's capabilities approach to development - which shifts the focus from economic growth to a more holistic, freedom-based idea of human development - Dorothea Kleine examines the relationship between ICTs, choice, and development. Kleine proposes a conceptual framework, the Choi
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ce Framework, that can be used to analyze the role of technologies in development processes. She applies the Choice Framework to a case study of microentrepreneurs in a rural community in Chile. Kleine combines ethnographic research at the local level with interviews with national policy makers, to contrast the high ambitions of Chile's pioneering ICT policies with the country's complex social and economic realities. She examines three key policies of Chile's groundbreaking Agenda Digital: public access, digital literacy, and an online procurement system. The policy lesson we can learn from Chile's experience, Kleine concludes, is the necessity of measuring ICT policies against a people-centered understanding of development that has individual and collective choice at its heart." (Publisher description)
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"This publication is a straightforward overview of the impact of mobile technologies on development-related issues, for development practitioners. Focusing on its role in democratic governance, poverty reduction and crisis prevention, it provides a broad range of examples and statistical evidence fr
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om low and medium income countries. Mainly directed at UNDP programme staff and development partners, this primer also provides some guidelines for project design and implementation." (CAMECO Update 1-2012)
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"The study “Tunisia: from revolutions to institutions” stresses how technology-oriented small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) can generate economic expansion and job growth, including in the economically-isolated interior provinces. Tunisian ICT companies are likely to find an attractive marke
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t in Northern Africa and parts of Europe, thanks to Arabic and French language skills and lower labor costs. Entrepreneurs, however, expressed frustration with the cost of doing business and government control of critical markets, which was installed by the previous regime. They also recognized the need for a more market-responsive higher education system that produces graduates with more up-to-date and practical knowledge. Central to the Tunisian revolution of 2011, ICTs remain critically important to helping address the root causes that led to the uprising in the first place, according to the report. New technologies and applications are necessary to creating a vibrant economy that produces sustainable jobs for the country’s young population and helping to constitute an open and transparent society." (www.infodev.org, March 20, 2012)
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"Conducted in 2009 by a group of five Masters in New Media (humanities) students from the University of Amsterdam under the supervision of Geert Lovink the research examines both the role and implementation of ICTs in Uganda, covering a wide range of subcultures and projects, including internet cafe
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usage, print media, NGOs and communities, software subcultures and civic new media. The book argues that now is the time to look beyond the technology layer and instead focus on the social implications and local consequences of digital media’s widespread use. By recognizing the impact that ICTs have on society and identifying what functions currently and what needs to be improved, we can more effectively understand and develop these technologies in the future." (Back cover)
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"The manual and the toolbox seek to address the following question: how to maximise the contribution of the IT industry in developing and emerging countries towards sustainable economic development and poverty reduction? In order to achieve this, the Manual analyses the obstacles impeding the compet
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itive development of this innovative industry in developing and emerging countries. They can be attributed to three major factors: Specific structural problems of developing countries such as lack of efficient support structures, deficiencies in managerial, financial and technological skills, negative brand and country of origin effects (image); Challenges related to internationalisation and export, such as lack of market intelligence and export capabilities as well as the absence of international linkage; Specifics of the IT industry including technical as well as quality standards, high competitive pressure and short innovation cycles. The manual and the toolbox introduce a methodology and a set of practical tools to address these obstacles and promote the IT industry in developing and emerging countries. Their purpose is to provide a practical guideline for designing and implementing projects for promoting the IT sector in developing and emerging countries; develop a specific methodology to enable effective and sustainable IT sector promotion based on the practical experience of German development cooperation; elaborate concrete procedures, processes and tools to promote the IT industry in developing and emerging countries; provide advice on actions and measures to improve the international competitiveness of IT sectors; provide best practices of IT sector promotion in developing and emerging countries." (Executive summary, page 6)
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"We present our experience of gender as female ICT4D researchers. We highlight our field experiences and comment on our perceptions of how being a woman and performing our female identity has influenced our own ICT4D research. We discuss how gender tensions are further compounded by the researcher
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s own physical and social characteristics, such as race, age, social class, and skin color. We apply the lens of reflexivity and performativity to examine critically and explore analytically our field experiences. We end with practical observations about our collective experience." (Abstract)
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"In responding to some of the major narratives in the literature on information communication technologies and development, this article attributes the relatively poor ICT policy outcomes in Africa, particularly regarding the deployment of information and communication technologies for poverty allev
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iation, to the paucity of critical research that acknowledges the political dimensions of policy reform and economic regulation. Such research would be able to more meaningfully inform and capacitate policy formulation, regulatory practice, and business operations to produce positive growth and development outcomes. The essay argues that the purely economic analyses of ICT sector reform that dominate the literature on Africa fail to explain why, in the face of global evidence of the success of the reform paradigm of regulated competition—which has successfully driven increased penetration of information and communication technologies at lower and lower prices across the world—in Africa, communications sector reform has been so uneven and often resisted. Political economy approaches that highlight the political context in which economic reforms take place seem to have greater explanatory value. Rather than focusing on market reforms only, analyses of the interaction of state and market, and the interplay between various sector institutions may better explain how reform is faciliated or constrained." (Abstract)
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"Cet ouvrage a pour ambition de poser les bases d'une réflexion globale sur les enjeux actuels de l'informatisation de la RDC : quels bénéfices et avantages la RDC tirera-t-elle d'une informatisation de toute la société ? A l'inverse, quels sont les effets pervers et autres manques qui résulte
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nt de la pauvreté numérique ? Comment l'Etat peut-il s'engager dans cette logique de numérisation de façon stratégique et prospective ?" (Description de la maison d'édition)
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