Information and Communication for Development (ICD)

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The term Information and Communication for Development (ICD) spans the full range of issues around information and communication for international development: from radio to the internet; content to delivery; and policy to practical application on the ground.

Many international aid agencies are now recognising the importance of ICD. For example the UK's Department for International Development (DFID) has a dedicated team working on these issues.

This field is quiete a "raising" field. However, evaluations of the impact of ICTs for development are rare. How have Information Communications Technology (ICT) contributed to sustainable livelihoods of the rural poor? Through six country scoping studies in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, a global literature review and interviews with interested international development agencies, a joint research project steered and funded by InfoDev aims to provide some answers.

This project, Enhancing the Livelihoods of the Rural Poor: The Role of Information and Communication Technologies, builds on the work of the UK's Department for International Development, the Food and Agriculture Organisation, the World Bank and the Overseas Development Institute (http://www.livelihoods.org/info/linksevents_sub/linksevents_FAO_ICTs.html). It aims to test their findings and go beyond that work to identify why gaps in pratice continue to exist.

In order to clarify why gaps exist, several key issues will be explored:

+The role of key institutions and intermediaries - governmental and non-governmental - that impact the livelihoods of the rural poor, and how ICT can enhance their capacity and effectiveness.
+The linkages between specific ICT interventions to enhance the livelihoods of the rural poor and broader priorities for growth and poverty reduction in rural areas
+The role of local government service delivery and how ICT can enhance its effectiveness and accountability
+The role of information and communication technologies in increasing the empowerment and voice of the rural poor in decisions that affect their lives and in holding government officials accountable
+Impediments to, and incentives for, policy, institutional and behavioral change at the micro, meso and macro levels that would maximise the effectiveness of ICT-for-livelihoods interventions
+The challenges of striking an appropriate balance between traditional and "new" communication tools and models and the factors - institutional, cultural, etc. that affect that balance in specific environments
+The interdependencies among several dimensions of rural livelihoods (health, agriculture, education, environment, etc.) and the ways in which ICT might help to strengthen positive synergies across these dimensions
+Recognising that rural poor are a diverse group comprising different age, gender, socio-economic and ethnic groups, who all can have different information needs and means of communication.

If policy, investments and donor initiatives in this area are to be driven by rigorous knowledge of "what works under what conditions", there is a pressing need to provide donors and policy makers with a clearer "map" of what we know (and what we do not know) about these issues, along with a general framework for thinking about these issues, and concrete evidence from successes and failures in the field. We welcome your contributions which explore these issues. Please send your experiences and views on ICT for Rural Development by email to: livelihoods-connect@ids.ac.uk

For more information, visit Livelihoods Connect at http://www.livelihoods.org/hot_topics/ICT4D.html