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Up-scaling pro-poor ICT policies and practices

GERSTER, Richard
ZIMMERMANN, Sonja
February 2005

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This paper is the result of a literature review and discussions during a two-day workshop. It examines how ICT can make a difference in reducing poverty and reaching the MDGs. This potential contrasts, however, with the relatively modest pro-poor ICT implementation level. It asks what key barriers impede the implementation of declarations, and how can we multiply, upscale and replicate successful pilot projects. This study idenfies four "basic requirements" for successful up-scaling of poverty reduction through ICTs: an enabling ICT policy environment; a high priority assigned to ICT for poverty reduction; appropriate technology choices; and mobilisation of additional public and private resources

Revisiting the "magic box" : case studies in local appropriation of information and communication technologies (ICTs)

BATCHELOR, Simon
O’FARRELL, Clare
2003

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This book looks at the way communities and groups in developing countries are appropriating information and communication technologies (ICTs) to address their needs. It finds that ICTs are being integrated into wider community-based activities and adapted to fit different contexts. It follows on from the paper "Discovering the Magic Box". It finds that there are still few examples of community-driven and locally appropriated ICT initiatives and an absence of standards or guidelines to evaluate ICT-based projects. The book includes some analytical frameworks and indicators to identify good practice and evidence of impact A significant development has been in the growth of telecommunications, in particular mobile phones, that are relatively cheap and powerful tools for poor communities, even in remote areas. The book concludes that the power of oral communication through telephones and radio cannot be underestimated. The book proposes that the main challenge is to adapt the new, usually computer-based ICTs to the needs of poor, predominantly oral-based communities so that they can be appropriated effectively and quickly

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