Dimensions of Poverty and How We Can Use Technology to Achieve Poverty Reduction

This article found on the Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) website, describes the third South Asia Regional Meeting in Chennai, India, on October 13, 2004. The purpose of the meeting was to consider ways that technology can help reduce poverty.

According to the article, the focus of the meeting was appreciated by the participants because it represented a cumulative assimilation (since 1997) of information in the form of "lessons learned" and debates around the issue of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for development (ICT4D) and poverty - at national, regional and global levels.

The article describes several questions which emerged at the meeting: "Should ICT interventions (in poverty reduction) aim at "Financial viability" like a business operation? What should be the role of the "public commons" approach, which can address the social aspects of poverty such as empowerment and transparency in governance, which then can facilitate achieving economic viability?"

According to the article, key considerations from the meeting include the following: efforts regarding poverty reduction should be part of a "holistic development strategy"; approaches to poverty reduction should take into account social dimensions; and "empowerment and transparency in governance" need to be key elements of ICT-enabled development programmes.

Further, the role of ICTs in poverty reduction must be "context specific" and must take into consideration local needs. There was common agreement that multi-stakeholder alliances are regarded as effective in stretching limited resources among the public, private and not-for-profit sectors.