ICT For Development: Hope or Hype?

In the opinions section of the online publication SciDev.Net, Athar Osama presents the argument that developing countries must solve problems of illiteracy, social mobility, government inefficiency and corruption, and lack of economic opportunities in order to reach the promise that the information and communication technology (ICT) revolution will be an enabling force leading to active participation in the global economy.

The author recognises widely publicised stories of ICT for development such as the Grameen Bank and Grameen Telephone and the MIT Laptop per Child initiative. India has its share of projects as a result of ICT policy in place since the early 1990s. These initiatives include: kiosks giving land transfer and pension information as well as agricultural, weather, market and medical information, and internet access for agricultural transactions.

From the author's perspective, real progress in ITC development has been quite different from "the hope and hype". He says that there is scant information or best practice sharing across projects and little or no impact on the lives of ordinary people.

He cites as supporting information an analysis of six projects by the Indian Institutes of Information Technology in Bangalore. The study indicates, for example, that some projects cannot pay kiosk operators a sufficient wage. Many projects have also failed to use kiosks to deliver critical information to local communities. Instead, they often derive the bulk of their utility and revenues as computer and photocopying shops or cyber cafes. Quality of service delivery is a problem, especially when it falls victim to inefficiency, corruption and patronage. The author also questions the effectiveness of the study-sites if they were to be expanded across India - where a project might need to be duplicated 10,000 times in order to reach the entire country.

In conclusion, the author calls for a closer examination of the promises of ICT in promoting real and sustainable development by looking clearly at the successes and the failures.