ICT4D

Dec 06, 2010 Editorial

With the spectacular development of information processing (personal computers) and communication technologies (the internet and smart phones) since the eighties, a whole new intervention has been conceptualised and unleashed to deal with the problematic of poverty in underdeveloped countries – ICT4D or Information and Communication Technologies for Development.
Ever since WWII, a flourishing international development complex has developed – dedicated to the proposition, contrary to the biblical aphorism, that the poor does not have to be always with us. Working through institutions such as the World Bank, the alphabet soup progenies of the UN such as the UNDP and a potpourri of NGO’s from the north, the development experts laboured mightily but sadly without much visible success. The countries that did in fact manage to claw themselves out of poverty – and even into the ranks of the developed world – pretty much did it on their own.
The development industry was at its wits end – what were they to do to save themselves from going the way of the dodo? Well up came the mavens that wanted to market the new communication and information technologies into what were now dubbed “emerging markets” and “proto-emerging markets”. It should be self evident, they pointed out that it was the new technologies that had propelled the newly developing countries into even higher stratospheric rates of prosperity. It was these new technologies, therefore, that would catapult the underdeveloped countries over their seemingly intractable backwardness to join the first world in one fell swoop. And the ICT4D euphoria was born.
It would appear that President Jagdeo has been bitten by the ICT4D bug. He had long railed against the lethargy of GT&T to increase the telephone connectivity of our populace and over the former’s staunch opposition allowed Digicel to enter and transform our cellular connectivity. Then, even though GT&T introduced its fibre-optic cable and promised massively increased bandwidth, the government is spending some US$30 million to bring in its own cable from Brazil. We understand it has already reached our border. Over the last decade, the government and private and international NGO’s have placed computers in thousands of schools across the country. The icing on the cake however, is the President’s promise to practically every (poor) Guyanese family – which means the majority of Guyanese – a computer in their home. This certainly beats President Roosevelt’s promise of a chicken in every pot as a symbol of his eradication of poverty in the US of the 1930’s.
There is no question that the new Information and Computer Technologies have the potential to be transformative. We can only marvel at how the now ubiquitous cell phone has quickened social and business relations. But if we are to receive the full benefits of our investment – not just for the few lucky business folks and development experts that will land the contracts to supply hardware and software – the bottom line on the ICT4D model is that it is no silver bullet.
Technology—no matter how well designed— in the long run is only a magnifier of human intent and capacity. It is not a substitute. If you have a foundation of competent, well-intentioned people, then the appropriate technology can amplify their capacity and lead to amazing achievements. But, in circumstances with negative human intent, as in the case of corrupt government bureaucrats, or minimal capacity, as in the case of people who have been denied a basic education, no amount of technology will turn things around.
We cannot look at the developed countries and even the newly developing ones and assume that we can simply import equipment and development will inevitably follow. Technology is successfully applied only where human intent and capacity are already present – as happened with our mechanisation of our rice industry – or unless we are willing also to invest heavily in developing human capability and institutions.
We already have internet cafes in almost every village but how many farmers, say, utilise the facilities to check the world market price for rice or advice on plant diseases? Let us also focus on ensuring our people’s literacy.

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