ICT4SD Full Book PDF

Information and Communications
Technology for Sustainable Development
Defining a Global Research Agenda
A Report based on two workshops organized by:

Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
Washington, DC, 2003, and Bangalore, 2004
Authors
Rahul Tongia, Carnegie Mellon University
Eswaran Subrahmanian, Carnegie Mellon University
V. S. Arunachalam, Carnegie Mellon University / Tamil Nadu State Planning Commission
Information and Communications
Technology for Sustainable Development
Defining a Global Research Agenda
ICT-SD Project Investigators:
USA (Supported by National Science Foundation, World Bank, and the United Nations)
V. S. Arunachalam, Carnegie Mellon University
Raj Reddy, Carnegie Mellon University
Rahul Tongia, Carnegie Mellon University
Eswaran Subrahmanian, Carnegie Mellon University
India (Supported by Govt. of India through its Ministries, Departments and Agencies)
N. Balakrishnan, Indian Institute of Science
© 2005 Rahul Tongia, Eswaran Subrahmanian, V. S. Arunachalam
ISBN : 81 - 7764 - 839 - X
Allied Publishers Pvt. Ltd.

Jayadeva Hostel Building, 5th Main Road,
Gandhi Nagar, Bangalore - 560 009, India.
“We must look ahead at today's radical changes in technology, not
just as forecasters but as actors charged with designing and
bringing about a sustainable and acceptable world. New
knowledge gives us power for change: for good or ill, for
knowledge is neutral. The problems we face go well beyond
technology: problems of living in harmony with nature, and most
important, living in harmony with each other. Information
technology, so closely tied to the properties of the human mind,
can give us, if we ask the right questions, the special insights we
need to advance these goals.”
Herbert Simon, 1916 – 2001

Nobel Laureate in Economics, 1978
7
Preface
Technology remains as the fountainhead for human development and economic growth. But its spread
continues to be painfully slow. Electric power, in spite of its unmatched technical prowess, took almost one
hundred years to become commonplace. Even after a century of telephones, billions of people have no access
to it. It appears that technological prowess alone is inadequate to guarantee success. Other factors matter: its
relevance, availability, affordability, the speed of diffusion, and the social and environmental costs for
harnessing it. The development divide we see among and within nations is due to these factors being different
across countries, rather than due to technologies per se.
Information and Communications Technology (ICT), with its reach, richness and performance, holds great
promise. Is it possible to harness this technology speedily and equitably, learning from the lessons of the past?
What are the developmental problems of our society that this technology can address, and does it have all the
necessary functionalities and tools or do they have to be developed? What should be the priorities and how can
we structure the challenges ahead? These are some of the questions we wanted to discuss in the two
workshops we organized in 2003 and 2004.
Instead of allowing ICT experts to discuss their wares, we wanted them to first learn the problems of human
and economic development. We therefore structured the first workshop in Washington DC with development
experts presenting on the challenges in development to scientists and engineers working in ICT. In the second
workshop in Bangalore we invited the ICT professionals to work with development experts and identify areas
for research, design and deployment of ICT solutions appropriate for sustainable development. Before the
second workshop, we also distributed a questionnaire among the participants to know their views and priorities,
and, based on their responses, prepared a discussion note to help the deliberations.
This report provides a summary of the proceedings with a few extensions and analyses. It does not attempt to
identify all the challenges discussed in the workshops, but is content to provide the highlights and priorities
suggested by the participants. These include not only the technological problems but also suggestions for
development and deployment of the innovations. We have also summarized the metrics for assessing ICT-
enhanced development. Each area suggested at the workshops as worthy of pursuit deserves greater scrutiny
than what we have attempted in this report. These will have to be the focus of further studies.
People and governments are becoming increasingly aware that policy innovations and social changes are
essential to make technologies work for common good. They are also becoming impatient of the divides that
condemn a large fraction of the global population to poverty, undernourishment and disempowerment, and look
to technologies such as ICT to eliminate such glaring disparities. This report confirms that ICT can indeed be
shaped to become such a tool.
Raj Reddy V. S. Arunachalam

Carnegie Mellon Carnegie Mellon
University University
9
Acknowledgements and Disclaimers

This Report is the culmination of effort over 24 months by Carnegie Mellon researchers and their associates,
with significant contributions from the dozens of international participants in the Workshops. In attendance were
participants from over 25 countries, spanning all the regions of world.
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Sustainable Development (SD) are themselves vast
fields, let alone their intersection, and thus this report does not claim to be exhaustive. We have, however,
attempted to capture a broad consensus amongst researchers, development professionals, and decision-
makers on the challenges and possible role for ICT in sustainable development.
Support for the Workshops came from the following agencies/organizations:
• US National Science Foundation (NSF) – Grant Number IIS-0303541

• United Nations (UN)
• World Bank (WB)
• Development Gateway
• National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS)
• Center for Development of Advanced Computing (CDAC)
• Govt. of India (through its Ministries, Departments and Agencies)
• ICT Industry (Microsoft; IBM; HP Labs (India); Sun Microsystems)
The Workshops and analysis on which this report is based would not have been possible without the help of
numerous individuals, including those at various partnering and sponsoring organizations:
Rita Colwell, Peter Freeman, Valerie Gregg, Larry Brandt, Richard Lempert [National Science Foundation];
Nitin Desai, JoAnne DiSano, Kui-Nang Mak, J. Gururaja, Friedrich Soltau [United Nations]; Mohamed Muhsin,
Carlos Braga, Jocelyne Albert, Sudhakar Kaveeshwar, Vivek Chaudhry, Reva Eskinazi, Oleg Petrov [World
Bank]; K. K. Jaswal (MCIT), S. Ramakrishnan (CDAC), V. S. Ramamurthy (DST), R. Natarajan (AICTE), R. A.
Mashelkar (CSIR) [Govt. of India Departments and Agencies]; Raveesh Gupta, P. Anandan [Microsoft]; Uday
Shukla, M. Ganesh [IBM]; S. Ramani [HP Labs (India)]; Ganesh Mahabala [Sun Microsystems]; Mark Kamlet,
Walt Schearer, M. Bernardine Dias, Anshu Bharadwaj, Shalini Vajjhala, Anita Connelly, Vivian Lee, Helen
Higgins, Heather Pons [Carnegie Mellon University]; Tina Joseph, Maitreyee S. Chakravarty, S. Srinivas, S.
Swarna, K. Nagarathna, and numerous student volunteers [IISc]; (late) Raja Ramanna, Roddam Narasimha, S.
Rajagopal, M. K. Paul, V. A. Joseph [NIAS]; Robin King [Georgetown University]; B. R. Rau [CSTEP], Vidya
Natampally, P. Mathur and S. Indira.
In addition, the multitude of participants and questionnaire respondents were integral to this effort, and we
acknowledge the contributions of the Workshop presenters, Working Group Chairpersons, and Rapporteurs
(details on the presentations can be found in Appendices 3 and 4). We also thank various colleagues and
several reviewers for valuable comments, suggestions, and discussions.
Photo credits are to Michael Shamos, Oleg Petrov, V. S. Arunachalam, Swati Save, and Kevin Fall.
Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this Report are those of the authors and
do not necessarily reflect the views of the sponsoring entities, Workshop participants, or affiliated institutions.
11
Contents
PREFACE ............................................................................................................................................. 7
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND DISCLAIMERS................................................................................... 9
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ...................................................................................................................... 13
1. INTRODUCTION - SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND ICT ..................................................... 15

Development – Global Targets And Statistics ................................................................................. 16
Drivers for The ICT-SD Workshops ................................................................................................. 17
Structure of the Workshops ............................................................................................................. 18
2. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY (ICT)................................................. 19

Overview .......................................................................................................................................... 19
ICT and Development ...................................................................................................................... 19
WSIS ................................................................................................................................................ 22
ICT and Developing Countries......................................................................................................... 23
Measuring ICT ................................................................................................................................. 25
Continual March of ICT .................................................................................................................... 26
Technology Mapping to Development Needs.................................................................................. 27
ICT Challenges ................................................................................................................................ 29
Digital Divides - Awareness, Availability, Accessibility, and Affordability ................................... 29
Robustness ................................................................................................................................. 31
Content ....................................................................................................................................... 32
Usability and Interface ................................................................................................................ 32
Security ....................................................................................................................................... 33
Internet Control, Architecture and Addressing............................................................................ 33
Regulation and Policy ................................................................................................................. 37
Wireless ...................................................................................................................................... 38
Energy and Power ...................................................................................................................... 38
Digital Information and Broadcasting.......................................................................................... 39
Economic Models, Markets, and Role of ICT .................................................................................. 39
3. THEMATIC GROUPS – ICT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ............................................. 43

Infrastructure Development ............................................................................................................. 44
Water and Sanitation .................................................................................................................. 44
Energy......................................................................................................................................... 47
Transportation............................................................................................................................. 51
ICT and Infrastructure - General Observations .......................................................................... 53
Basic Human Needs and Development........................................................................................... 54
Food and Agriculture .................................................................................................................. 54
Healthcare................................................................................................................................... 62
Education .................................................................................................................................... 66
Basic Human Needs and Development - General Observations ............................................... 70
Economic Growth and Employment ................................................................................................ 71
Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction through Servicing ICT Industries [1] ........................ 75
ICT Enabled or Enhanced Employment Generation and Poverty Reduction [2]........................ 76
Alienation, Empowerment, and Governance ................................................................................... 77
Alienation Issues and Empowerment [1] .................................................................................... 77
Governance and e-Governance [2] ............................................................................................ 79
12 ICT for Sustainable Development: Defining a Global Research Agenda
ICT for SD - Linking Needs to Solutions .......................................................................................... 82

4. WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? ............................................................................................... 85
ICT for SD R&D - Projects and Testbeds ........................................................................................ 85
Defining the Scope of the ICT for Sustainable Development Enterprise......................................... 87
Metrics and Rigorous Analysis ................................................................................................... 88
Role of Stakeholders .................................................................................................................. 88
New ICT-SD Model: Need for Research, Development, & Demonstration (RD&D) .................. 90
Challenges and Lessons Learned ................................................................................................... 93
5. APPENDICES.................................................................................................................................. 95
Appendix 1: Targets of the Millennium Development Goals............................................................ 95
Appendix 2: ICT statistics – Digital Access Indicator (DAI) Metric [ITU – Dec. 2003]..................... 96
Appendix 3: Washington, D.C., Workshop Details .......................................................................... 99
Agenda - Washington Workshop on IT and Sustainable Development ..................................... 99
Washington D.C. Workshop Select Highlights ........................................................................... 101
Participants - Washington Workshop on IT and Sustainable Development............................... 102
Appendix 4: Bangalore Workshop Details ....................................................................................... 106
Agenda - Bangalore Workshop on IT and Sustainable Development ........................................ 106
Bangalore Workshop Select Highlights ...................................................................................... 108
Participants - Bangalore Workshop on IT and Sustainable Development ................................. 109
Appendix 5: Bangalore Workshop Questionnaires.......................................................................... 115
Questionnaire for Infrastructure and Human Development (Energy, Water & Sanitation, Transportation,
Education, Healthcare) ............................................................................................................... 116
Questionnaire for Information Communication Technologies for Agriculture (Food, Fiber and Fisheries)
.................................................................................................................................................... 118
Questionnaire for Employment Generation and Poverty Reduction........................................... 120
Questionnaire on the Role of ICT in Governance and Empowerment ....................................... 123
Appendix 6: Acronyms ..................................................................................................................... 125
About the Authors ................................................................................................................................. 129

13
Executive Summary
Recent global conferences and meetings have brought into focus the unacceptable disparities that exist among
nations in human development and economic growth. The poor and undernourished outnumber the healthy and
wealthy by billions. The member states of the United Nations have adopted the Millennium Declaration that
embodies quantitative goals in many areas of human development, thus providing a roadmap for sustainable
development.
Information and Communications Technology (ICT), by its performance and potential, offers numerous options
to help realize the Millennium Development Goals. Two workshops organized by Carnegie Mellon University,
one in Washington, DC, and the other in Bangalore, India, discussed the challenges to development and
identified opportunities that ICT provides. The workshops also discussed the technical innovations that are to
be realized and the policy options that must be initiated to transform ICT into a veritable tool for sustainable
development.
The following findings and recommendations highlight the initiatives required to make the ICT engine drive
sustainable development (SD).
1) Improve ICT across the 4C dimensions:
a) Computing: ICT is more than computers, and the various thematic areas of sustainable development
require innovations in hardware and software for applications such as sensors, controls systems, etc.
Computers and other devices must become affordable, and rugged for use without extensive
maintenance, security efforts or other specialized skills. They must become easier to use, with
interfaces in all local languages, and even in non-text interfaces (pictorial and spoken).
b) Connectivity: Developing countries, especially rural areas, typically are without connectivity, let alone
broadband (data) connectivity at affordable prices—the “digital divide.” Universal access requires new
networking and business models, perhaps combining public and private partnerships. ICT is more than
connecting to the Internet—human development programs require integration of all forms of ICT and
media, such as mobile telephony, TV, radio, etc., as well as interconnecting systems such as sensors,
controllers, etc.
c) Content: ICT will become relevant to sustainable development (SD) when it provides relevant content
(value) to end-users. Often, this would be locally-specific content. One requirement is for tools to make
it easier for people to become producers of content and information, instead of just consumers.
Ultimately, we would like to achieve the Information Bill of Rights: Getting the right information to the
right people in the right timeframe in the right language in the right level of detail. This requires
extensive development of appropriate solutions that overcome barriers of language, information
complexity, and incompatible or missing structure.
d) (human) Capacity: Most people lack an awareness of the potential of ICT, and, beyond technical
barriers, many limitations to incorporating ICT are social, cultural, or economic. A first goal for
governments must be to increase literacy amongst its populace, especially for the historically
disadvantaged, such as women. Often, the success of development projects is driven by
complementary (non-ICT) institution building, such as the development of appropriate regulations, legal
framework, and supply-chains.
2) Success of ICT for SD requires Integration, Scalability, and Sustainability:
a) ICT can only help achieve development – it is a means and not an end: ICT cannot directly
achieve the Millennium Development Goals. To be meaningful, ICT needs to be integrated into
development as well as engineering and societal systems. Often, proponents or developers place too
much focus on raw ICT (or even just connectivity), instead of optimally delivering value and services.
b) Active efforts must be undertaken for global inclusiveness: Without concerted effort, ICT for SD,
like many interventions or projects, would exacerbate existing divides. Solutions must be locally
adapted, and extend into rural and other underserved areas. A solution might appear beneficial at a
pilot or small scale, but replication and scaling are enormous challenges.
c) ICT for SD must be economically viable, and provide value for end-users: ICT for SD cannot
thrive as a charity—it will become sustainable only when it delivers value. This is not to say that
governmental intervention or subsidies have no role, especially during the initial stages. However,
markets alone will not drive penetration into underdeveloped regions. The challenge is that the required
research and development to make solutions viable can be costly and long-term.
d) ICT for SD research must be participatory and collaborative for the solutions to be globally
relevant and sustainable: The challenges of development are vast, and no single or group of
developers can solve all of them. This requires collaboration, sharing experiences, and scaling the
programs to make them relevant. Many groups or even smaller countries lack the critical mass for them
to undertake the full spectrum of effort required. All stakeholders, including beneficiaries and end-
users, must have a voice in assessing its needs, responsibilities, and measures of success.
3) ICT for SD must become a recognized and funded enterprise:
a) Bring together all the stakeholders and increase their interactions: ICT for SD is an
interdisciplinary field and thus requires technologists, social scientists, and development professionals
working together. Even within traditional disciplines, ICT for SD must become incorporated into R&D
and deployment projects. In the medium and long term, ICT for SD should be categorized as a distinct
field with its own defined challenges, support structures, professional societies, peer recognition, etc.
b) Develop metrics for success and efficacy, and introduce academic rigor: ICT for SD is a nascent
field, but attention is often focused on isolated or niche successes. Very few solutions have been
impartially assessed as to their claims and still fewer have been verified as to their global validity or
scalability. Funding, R&D, and implementation strategies require development of metrics for relevance,
effectiveness, scalability, and financial and social sustainability.
c) Focus on real innovations and new challenges: R&D should focus on real innovations instead of
concerning itself with incremental changes to existing solutions, which are often touted as
breakthroughs. The required innovations cannot not be just technical, but also in business models and
implementation strategies. It is important to identify at least a few “grand challenges” in ICT that can
lead to radical innovations in sustainable development. Some suggestions for further research are
presented in this report.
d) Develop new models for R&D: Innovations in ICT that are now available have largely been designed
to meet the needs of the developed world. R&D and technology development projects addressed
specifically to meet the requirements of developing countries should not be left just to market forces as
these markets may not appear lucrative. “Linear” models of R&D lack the feedback loops required to
capture economic, social, and cultural compatibility. To help balance technology-push and market-pull,
R&D needs to be supplanted by an RD&D (research, development, and demonstration) paradigm, with
real-world deployments and testbeds. Such activities should take place in a network of centers and
institutions, both in the developing and developed world with contributions from the governments and
global organizations. A similar initiative taken some years ago led by the World Bank for forming a
strategic alliance of laboratories for agricultural research resulted in significant contributions to
developing countries’ agriculture.
15
1 Introduction –
Sustainable Development and ICT
Global development We live in a divided world: between rich and poor, healthy and sick, literate and ignorant,
has been unequal, even democratic and authoritarian, and between empowered and deprived. All the technologies
that we developed in the past centuries and all the policies we enacted for enhancing
though the trends in
human development have not wiped out these glaring disparities. The numbers are
human development depressing: more than 2 million people (1.5 million in Africa alone) die of tuberculosis
are generally positive annually, for which medical treatment exists; about 2.8 billion people live on less than $2 a
day; life expectancy in Sierra Leone is 37, a level not seen for centuries in the West, and, in
spite of its protestation of hi-tech, India remains the home for the world’s largest number of
adult illiterates. We can extract such dismal statistics in many areas of human development,
infrastructure availability, economic well-being, environment and empowerment. While
many categorizations of countries have been proffered (such as developing, emerging
economies, economies in transition, etc.), a new label—a sign of the times—is the “digital
divide,” which describes the development of countries (and groups within countries) in
terms of their capacity to harness the power of Information and Communications
Technology (ICT).
Numerous organizations, governmental and non-governmental, public and private, global

and very local are working to remove the glaring disparities in development. Some of their
efforts are already showing results. The poverty rate, for instance, based on a real income
level of $1 per day declined from 29 percent to 23 percent in about twenty years. Infant
mortality, due in large part to water-borne diseases and poor hygiene, has fallen from 4.6
million in 1980 to 1.7 million in 1999. It is unnecessary to emphasize that much more needs
to be done in all areas of sustainable development, especially in specific areas such as
Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia (Figure 1).
In the following section we discuss the targets for sustainable development (SD) projected
at various Global Forums and endorsed either unanimously or by a majority of the nations.
While every country has its own set of priorities and targets, and some have appropriated
the UN promoted targets as their national ones, we shall base our discussions on the UN
promoted ones, for they provide a common template for sustainable development missions.
Most sweeping and specific are the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which span
most facets of human development.
In the subsequent sections of this chapter we outline the rationale for the workshops we
organized in Washington, DC, and Bangalore, India, which aimed to identify and
recommend relevant options of ICT for sustainable human, social and economic
development. While referring to the recommendations of the workshops (Chapters 3 and 4)
we shall also discuss the challenges, barriers, and metrics for sustainable development,
including where ICT is eminently relevant and can provide useful if not path-breaking
options.
Development – Global Targets and Statistics
Over the last 15 years, there have been multiple global meetings on issues of development;
we focus on four major UN sponsored meetings and resolutions: Agenda 21, Millennium
Development Goals, Johannesburg Summit, and the World Summit on the Information
Society (WSIS).
Agenda 21 emanated from the Rio Summit on environment and development, and was a
statement of principles for environmental sustainability and development. The program
areas that constitute Agenda 21 are described in terms of the bases for action, objectives,
activities and means of implementation. The Agenda 21 document runs to forty chapters
including a section on means of implementation. However, Agenda 21 does not set forth
targets, instead arguing for dynamic programs that could be suitably prioritized by countries
depending on their situations and objectives. Agenda 21 was promoted as an evolutionary
document.
The Millennium Declaration was adopted by the member states of the UN in September
2000, and this was followed by the Millennium Development Goals, which were projected
as the road map for implementing the Millennium Declaration. We believe the MDGs,
summarized below, are important for establishing targets for development (detailed in
Appendix 1).
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs):

Global development 1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
targets are embodied in 2. Achieve universal primary education
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
the Millennium
4. Reduce child mortality
Development Goals 5. Improve maternal health
(MDGs) 6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
8. Develop a global partnership for development
The Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development (2002) also drew out some
of the targets of the Millennium Declaration. However, the scope of the Johannesburg
Declaration was more extensive and included many areas of deprivation and action points.
For instance, the 19th article states “We reaffirm our pledge to place particular focus on, and
give priority attention to, the fight against worldwide conditions that pose severe threats to
sustainable development of our people, which include chronic hunger, malnutrition, foreign
occupation, armed conflict; illicit drug problems; organized crime; corruption; natural
disasters, illicit arms trafficking; trafficking in persons; terrorism; intolerance and incitement
to racial, ethnic, religious and other hatreds; xenophobia; and endemic, communicable and
chronic diseases, in particular HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.”
This summit chose to focus on five particular areas, Water, Energy, Health, Agriculture and
Biodiversity, known as the WEHAB framework. The Summit also underlined the importance
of technology for development such as cost-effective desalination of seawater recycling and
renewable energy resources, diversification of energy supplies, advanced energy
technologies and even phasing out of subsidies. There was an explicit reference to
Information and Communications Technologies for development in Johannesburg. The
importance of ICT culminated in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS),
Phase I of which was held in Geneva in December 2003. Chapter 2 goes into more detail
on WSIS.
Introduction – Sustainable Development and ICT 17
Source: UNDP Human Development Report 2004
Figure 1: Human Development Index (HDI). HDI is a composite measure measuring quality of life statistics, beyond
merely economic (GDP-based) metrics. The disturbing decline in HDI in Sub-Saharan Africa is primarily due to
decreasing longevity and health, especially from HIV/AIDS.
Drivers for the ICT-SD Workshops
A few technologies can be classified as all-purpose technologies as their innovations

extend over many areas, and these, in turn, become indispensable elements in society’s
portfolio of development. Over a period, their contributions to economic and human
development become impressively large, replacing older and less efficient methods. Their
ubiquity makes one wonder how it was possible to manage in the past without accessing
such technologies! Electricity is often cited as a typical example of an all-purpose
technology. In spite of electricity’s obvious advantages, it took almost a century before
electric power could become commonplace. Applications from new technologies are faster
these days. The diffusion of radio and television was faster than electricity, and that of the
Internet is spectacular. Within 35 years of its existence the Internet has some one billion
users and its performance has multiplied manifold (and the World Wide Web, practically
speaking, is scarcely a decade old). The rapid diffusion of the Internet and new
communications technologies such as mobile telephony suggests that innovations from ICT
for SD can also be faster than the progression shown by earlier technologies. This may
provide society with targeted tools for sustainable development programs. However, much
of ICT research is geared towards sophisticated applications of ICT or makes assumptions
about end-users and their capabilities. The workshops, and this report, aim to bring the ICT
and developments communities together.
ICT is recognized as an ICT is now part of development. “The debate in the 1990s over choosing between ICT and
all-purpose enabling other development imperatives has now shifted from one of tradeoffs to one of
1
complementarity.” There are many initiatives, groups, and programs working on ICT for
tool for Sustainable Development. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) has a
development…the development group charged with ICT development and increased penetration, and the UN
debate is not one of ICT Task Force focuses on many aspects of ICT for SD. The Development Gateway
“either–or" but of Foundation, supported by the World Bank, is a clearinghouse and repository for vast
information on ICT and development. The G8 instituted the Digital Opportunities Task Force
complementarity (DOT Force) in 2001 to strengthen efforts on ICT and development. ICT4SD’s global
visibility can be gauged by the public challenge Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary General,
made to Silicon Valley and ICT leaders on November 5, 2002 to make ICT relevant for
global human development.2
This report does not attempt to comprehensively summarize either the state of knowledge
in the ICT or the development arenas. Nor does it present case studies on what works and
what doesn’t. It presents a slice of all of these, with the aim of guiding global research in
ICT for sustainable development. It attempts to combine bottom up (needs-based)
requirements from various facets of human development to top down (technology-push)
solutions.
Structure of the Workshops
The two workshops ICT experts, especially those working at the cutting edge, typically lack awareness of the
were structured to problems that professionals working in areas of human development encounter (and the
converse is also the case). We therefore structured the first workshop in Washington, DC,
bring together the June 26-27, 2003, to discuss problems of human and social development. About one dozen
communities of ICT and presentations covered various dimensions of the problem: from agriculture to urban
of development transportation; from health issues to economic growth options for developing countries. In
the concluding session it was suggested that before the second workshop in Bangalore, it
was essential to identify the more important problems in SD where the use of ICT would be
relevant. For this we sent out a specially designed questionnaire to the participants of the
two workshops as well as other professionals requesting their problem preferences. On the
basis of the responses received and the meetings the organizers had with experts working
in these areas, we produced a discussion note for the Bangalore workshop citing areas of
human development and suggesting possible ICT options, to help set the agenda.
The Bangalore Workshop focused on Working Group sessions, spanning various themes of
human development (Infrastructure, Basic Human Development, Economic Development,
and Empowerment and Governance). Appendices 1 and 2 have more details on the
respective Workshop Agendas and Participants. There were informal presentations within
groups to identify and recommend appropriate ICT challenges. The working groups were
also charged with presenting brief summaries of the role for and research needs in ICT.
The deliberations at these sessions contributed to the development of an Action Plan for
SD. In the following chapters, we summarize and integrate the discussions at various
sessions of the two workshops and the proposed Action Plan suggested by the various
groups, concluding with a desideratum on where we go from here.
1
As quoted from Markle Foundation/Accenture/UNDP in ICT and MDGs: World Bank Group Perspective, December 2003.
2
Kofi Annan has also appealed for relevant science to help meet the MDGs, e.g., in an editorial in Science, March 7, 2003: A
Challenge to the World’s Scientists.
19
2 Information and Communications

Technology (ICT)
Overview
The 4Cs of ICT: The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) estimates the worldwide ICT market in
Computing, 2002 was almost $2.1 trillion, which they segmented as Telecom Services (39%), Software
and Services (31%), and Hardware (30%). This comes to nearly 6.6% of the Gross World
Connectivity,
Product. Surprisingly, in developing countries, ICT’s share in GDP is not low.
Content, and (human)
Capacity ICT can be considered to be built on the 4 C’s – Computing, Communications, Content, and
(the often overlooked) human Capacity. The recent World Summit on the Information Society
Together, ICT is (WSIS) focused extensively on 3 Cs, communications, content, and capacity building, and
less so on computers. In truth, computing and other hardware continue to become less and
roughly 6.6% of the
less expensive, especially on a price-performance basis. When considering the use of ICT for
world’s GDP development, conventional wisdom is that even if hardware is free (e.g., donated),
communications, software, and training make ICT expensive.
ICT is more than ICT is much more than computers and the Internet or even telephony, even though the
computers and digital divide and issues of Internet governance were much of the focus of WSIS.
Applications of ICT can be divided under two broad categories. The first are those largely
telephony – ICT is
dependent on traditional telecommunications networks (including the Internet) that enable
embedded in virtually on-demand communications to provide information tailored to the user’s convenience and
all industrial, needs. How that information is processed, whether it is used at all, and whether it is
commercial, and transformed into knowledge is left to the human user who asked for that information in the
services systems first place. The second group of ICT applications, for want of a more appropriate name, we
shall call Human Independent, where information is processed and decisions are arrived on
the basis of preset criteria without human intervention at the time of decision making. These
can be nearly passive systems, or part of a larger system (embedded ICT). Examples
include sensor-based networks that determine automated climate control for buildings
today, or, in the near future, sensor networks for malarial larvae detection. Many of the
more-discussed applications of ICT for SD are of the first category, ranging from distance
education programs, e-commerce, or e-governance, while the second class of applications
remains largely unrealized. A major challenge is how to design both ICT and other complex
engineering or societal systems such that the two can be integrated.
ICT and Development
ICT is a fundamental Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is viewed as both a means and an end
part of economic for development. With roughly two-third of the world economy based on services, and the
rise of India, Philippines, and other nations as global IT players, many developing countries
growth, especially for
have accepted ICT as a national mission. Even within manufacturing and industry, ICT has
the so-termed an increasingly important role to play. During 1995 – 2002, when the US economy posted
knowledge economy impressive overall growth, nearly one-third of the growth in productivity was attributable to
ICT.3 While the growth rates of ICT even in developing countries are impressive, the base
upon which these apply is very low.
John Daly, in a series of articles,4 discusses point by point how ICT can work to meet the
eight goals identified with the 18 targets set by the MDGs. Similar options are indicated in
World Bank publications (such as Footnote 1) and in the World Telecommunication
Development Report 2003, excerpted in Table 1.
Allocation of resources to
an MDG sector and ICT
Allocation of resources Allocation of resources

to ICT in the sector to the sector
Non ICT-related
ICT-related increased Impact on this
increased efficiency in
efficiency in delivering MDG sector
delivering
Increased efficiency in
delivering in the sector
5
Source: Lanvin and Qiang (2003)
Figure 2: ICT and Development: Resource Allocation and Impact in MDG Sectors
3
There are different estimates on the growth and role of ICT, both within ICT sectors and in ICT consuming sectors. These
estimates are from the 2003 Economic Report of the President, and are the growth of productivity after 1973-1995 after
accounting for cyclical business effects.
4
http://www.developmentgateway.org//download/222153/JohnDaly-Main.doc
5
Lanvin and Qiang (2003). Chapter Poverty ‘E-readication’: Using ICT to Meet MDGs: Direct and Indirect Roles of E-Maturity” in
Dutta, Lanvin and Paua, ed., Global IT Report 2003-04 Oxford University Press.
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) 21
Goal/Target Role of ICTs

1. Eradicate extreme poverty and Increase access to market information
hunger and reduce transaction costs for poor
Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the farmers and traders
proportion of people whose income is Increase efficiency, competitiveness and
less than one dollar a day market access of developing country firms
Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the Enhance ability of developing countries to
proportion of people who suffer from participate in global economy and to
hunger exploit comparative advantage in factor
costs (particularly skilled labor)
2. Achieve universal primary education Increase supply of trained teachers
Ensure that, by 2015, children through ICT-enhanced and distance
everywhere, boys and girls alike, will training of teachers and networks that link
be able to complete a full course of teachers to their colleagues
primary schooling Improve the efficiency and effectiveness
of education ministries and related bodies
through strategic application of
technologies and ICT-enabled skill
development
Broaden availability of quality educational
materials/resources through ICTs
3. Promote gender equality and Deliver educational and literacy programs
empower women specifically targeted to poor girls and
women using appropriate technologies
Influence public opinion on gender equality
through information or communication
programs using a range of ICTs.
4. Reduce child mortality Enhance delivery of basic and in-service
5. Improve maternal health training for health workers
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and Increase monitoring and information-

other diseases sharing on disease and famine
Reduce infant and child mortality Increase access of rural caregivers to

rates by two-thirds between 1990 specialist support and remote diagnosis
and 2015 Increase access to reproductive health
Reduce maternal mortality rates by information, including information on
three-quarters between 1990 and AIDS prevention, through locally
2015 appropriate content in local languages
Provide access to all who need

reproductive health services by 2015
7. Ensure environmental sustainability Remote sensing technologies and
Implement national strategies for communications networks permit more
sustainable development by 2005 so effective monitoring, resource management,
as to reverse the loss of mitigation of environmental risks
environmental resources by 2015 Increase access to/awareness of
Halve, by 2015, the proportion of sustainable development strategies, in
people without sustainable access to areas such as agriculture, sanitation and
safe drinking water water management, mining, etc.
Have achieved, by 2020, a Greater transparency and monitoring of

significant improvement in the lives environmental abuses/enforcement of
of at least 100 million slum dwellers environmental regulations
Facilitate knowledge exchange and
networking among policymakers,
practitioners and advocacy groups
Source: Table 4.2, World Telecommunication Development Report 2003 (ITU)

[Reproduced with the kind permission of ITU]
Table 1: How ICTs can help the MDGs

As Table 1 and Figure 2 show, ICT will not directly realize the Millennium Development
Goals (MDGs). Rather, its role should be seen best as an enabler, primarily spanning
several dimensions: (1) efficiency and competitiveness; (2) new business models and
opportunities; and (3) transparency and empowerment.
ICT can help achieve “Bread or computers?” is often asked as though one could in some way substitute for the
the MDGs by: other. Admittedly, ICT is not an effortless or inexpensive proposition, but its benefits
typically far outweigh the costs, and the scale of investment required is often much lower
increasing efficiency,
than that for development (such as providing electricity or water and sanitation). “The issue
transparency, and is whether we accept that the poor should, in addition to the existing deprivation of income,
competitiveness; food and health service, etc., also be further deprived of new opportunities to improve their
opening up new livelihood.” (Weigel and Waldburger, 2004)6
opportunities and
ICT’s value towards the MDGs is in gathering, storing, and analyzing information with greater
business models; and
and greater accuracy and granularity. This enables tailoring development efforts to suit
empowering citizens specific social, economic, gender, age, and geographic conditions and requirements.
If we consider the success of development projects and initiatives, both ICT-based and
otherwise, in addition to the obvious issue of financing, political economy issues (including
legal framework/rule of law, sanctity of contracts, labor and other regulations, etc.) are
equally or sometimes more important.
WSIS
The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Phase I brought to the forefront the
role of ICT for development. Organized by the United Nations in conjunction with the
International Telecommunications Union (ITU), this Summit emphasized the growing
relevance of ICT in the global domain. Phase I was attended by more than 11,000
participants from 175 countries, and Phase II will be held in Tunisia in November 2005.
WSIS Phase I Targets A summary of the development targets for 2015 emerging out of WSIS is given below:
largely deal with ICT 1. to connect villages with ICTs and establish community access points;
infrastructure 2. to connect universities, colleges, secondary schools and primary schools with ICTs;
3. to connect scientific and research centers with ICTs;
4. to connect public libraries, cultural centers, museums, post offices and archives with
ICTs;
5. to connect health centers and hospitals with ICTs;
6. to connect all local and central government departments and establish websites and
email addresses;
7. to adapt all primary and secondary school curricula to meet the challenges of the
Information Society, taking into account national circumstances;
8. to ensure that all of the world's population have access to television and radio services;
9. to encourage the development of content and to put in place technical conditions in
order to facilitate the presence and use of all world languages on the Internet;
10. to ensure that more than half the world’s inhabitants have access to ICTs within their
reach.
Interestingly, these targets deal primarily with ICT infrastructure.
6
Weigel, Gerolf and Waldburger, Daniele (editors). “ICT4D – Connecting People for a Better World. Lessons, Innovations and
Perspectives of Information and Communication Technologies in Development.” Swiss Agency for Development and
Cooperation (SDC) and Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP). Berne, Switzerland. 2004.
There were several Based on official, analyst, and online reports, there were several major issues and points of
issues of contention contention at WSIS, including:
and debate at WSIS • Who Pays for Bridging the Digital Divide?
Phase I • Use of Open Source Software

• Intellectual Property Rights
• Freedom of Information and Rights of Individuals (balanced with security needs and
concerns)
• Internet Governance and Control
There was also a parallel declaration by civil society representatives at WSIS on ICT for
development.7
WSIS Targets – Can they be met?

If we consider some of the targets from WSIS, one of them is the connection of all the
villages in the world (for some basic level of shared access). As per the World
Telecommunication Development Report 2003: Access Indicators for the Information
Society, there are an estimated 1.5 million villages that remain unconnected. If it
costs, say, $3,000 per village to connect (assuming we don’t simply use a satellite
uplink, which could be done for less capital investment) and include other hardware
like a PC, then the capital costs would be under $5 billion. Spread over 5 years, this
implies a billion dollars per year (and substantially less if alternative but less scalable
designs are used). Using soft loans and amortized over a longer horizon, the cost
would be only a few hundred million dollars per year (plus operating costs). With
standardization and R&D, this cost could fall further. In contrast, providing
subsistence electricity connectivity, albeit at a household level, requires billions of
dollars per annum for over 25 years, or at least an order of magnitude more.
ICT and Developing Countries
The history of the The birth and the growth of the Internet were in the United States, and this has led, in part,
Internet is part of the to large distortions in connectivity between the developed and developing nations.
However, economics remains the obvious overarching reason for the continuation of the
reason for the skew in
divide. Data from the Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA) show that
connectivity between the Internet is overwhelmingly concentrated in a few locations (Figure 3). An exception is
developed and the East Asian developing countries, notably S. Korea and China. In the last few years,
developing countries these countries have been aggressively building next generation networks using the next
generation of Internet Protocol, IPv6.
Much of this divide is due to legacy reasons, and locations of hosts and users. A
consequence of this is the dominating use of English language in the Internet, with content
largely hosted in the United States.8 This has profound implications on not only network
design, but also on economics. International connectivity is a major expense and bottleneck
for most developing countries. In some countries, even a few megabits of connectivity costs
hundreds of thousands of dollars annually! Most trans-oceanic optical fibers interconnect
only at specific locations in developing countries, and the capacity is largely used for voice
communications, which is more lucrative and commercially predictable.
7
http://www.worldsummit2003.de/download_en/WSIS-CS-Decl-08Dec2003-eng.rtf
8
Content delivery networks, such as Akamai, and caching are helping reduce this issue, but not all content is amenable for such
processing.
Source: CAIDA (2003)
Figure 3: Global Statistics on Internet Based on Routeviews. One notable exception to North American dominance is for the next generation of IP addressing and routing, IPv6.
Autonomous Systems (AS) and prefixes are measures of number of networks as announced across the global Internet.
Image provided by CAIDA at the University of California, San Diego under the Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA) project under grant NSF proposal ANI-
0221172. All rights reserved by the University of California.
Measuring ICT
Most measures of ICT Data and statistics on ICT abound, but some of these lack transparency and
deal with infrastructure, standardization. Most popular metrics are based on weighted sub-metrics spanning various
facets of ICT, and very few are global (often due to data limitations). The Global Information
or indirect measures of
Technology Report (GITR) ranks 82 economies according to a Networked Readiness Index
user capacity, such as (NRI), which measures the “degree of preparation of a nation or community to participate in
literacy and benefit from ICT developments.”9 The UNCTAD ICT Development Index (2003) uses a
10
Gini Coefficient equivalent to measure ICT distribution inequality. To provide updated and
Content is especially standardized data, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) published the World
Telecommunication Development Report 2003 in December 2003. 11 However, like most
difficult to measure
reports, the emphasis is on connectivity. It is difficult to measure some aspects of ICT, such
as content, let alone its quality or relevance.
This report proposes a new Digital Access Index (DAI), a transparent metric encompassing
numerous factors including Infrastructure, Affordability, Knowledge, Use, and Quality. It
establishes explicit benchmarks (such as literacy rates, total international uplinking
bandwidth12 etc.) as part of the components, and computes the DAI number for a country,
based on which these can be ranked as High, Upper, Medium, and Low DAI nations. We
th
notice a few surprises in the data (Appendix 2), e.g., S. Korea is 4 ranked in the world. Our
analysis shows the exceptionally low costs for data connectivity in Korea and Japan –
especially on a per megabit/second basis – are not just due to technology and design
(densely populated urban areas) but also because of increased domestic content. This
reduces a major cost element for Internet Service Providers (ISPs), viz., international
connectivity or “uplinking.”
The data on the cost of basic Internet access (including any applicable local phone
charges) as a fraction of Gross National Income (GNI) are instructive. We notice that in
many African nations access costs are well over 100% of the average annual per capita
GNI! A detailed analysis shows this is not only due to low earnings. The absolute cost of
Internet access is very high, due to technology choices/design, limited economies of scale,
policy issues such as licensing fees for ISPs, high uplinking costs, and local phone calls
charges. For example, in India the hourly phone charges are several times higher than the
ISP charges for dial-up connectivity.
We require new ICT Based on the ITU report, an estimated one-third of the world has never made a phone call,
measurements that and only one tenth have used the Internet. In spite of this deprivation, according to the
Telecommunication Development Report, over 80% of the world’s population has
capture the relationship
theoretical access to telephony, e.g., fall under a mobile provider’s footprint. Even
to the thematic areas of developing countries have about two-thirds coverage (excluding China and India, who
sustainable development reportedly have over 85% coverage by population). The question then becomes not one of
availability, but of affordability and perceived need for access.
9
Dutta, Lanvin and Paua eds., ‘Global IT Report 2003-04’ Oxford University Press (2003).
10
Footnote 48 on page 72 describes Gini Coefficients.
11
http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/publications/wtdr_03/
12
The US ranks poorly in terms of total international bandwidth per capita because most content US users need is available
domestically. A new metric should be developed that captures location of Internet content, which is linked to the language of the
users.
The above measurements of ICT are not adequate when it comes to planning for
sustainable development initiatives. More detailed and in-depth measurements addressing
each area of sustainable development where ICT could make an impact would have to be
undertaken.
Continual March of ICT
The annual price- In 1965, Gordon Moore (of Intel) predicted that computing power would double every 18
performance months. This was based not on theory but on empirical extrapolation, and “Moore’s Law”
has essentially been validated for decades since.13 Indeed, today’s scientific calculator
improvement of ICT is selling for less than $50 has more computational power than the systems used to land an
dramatic, and expected astronaut on the moon. More impressively, when we factor improvements in storage, optics,
to continue for many and wireless technologies, the price-performance curve for ICT looks even more dramatic.
years As per IBM reports, the annual growth rates of hard disk storage (per square inch)
accelerated over the 1990s from ~60% to approximately 100%, and annual memory growth
rate is also ~40%. Optical networking is growing yet faster (“Gilder’s Law”), and
transmission capabilities have been doubling in roughly 9 months, sometimes even faster.
All these improvements in technology have resulted not only in enhanced capabilities, but
also in dramatically bringing down the costs. Consider, for instance, wireless technologies.
When 802.11 (wireless LAN) devices were originally created (before the WiFi standard), the
speed was only 2 megabits per second (Mbps), and the costs were in the thousand-dollar
range. Now, variants of 802.11 run as fast as 108 Mbps, and are orders of magnitude
cheaper (Table 2). This dramatic improvement came about because of standards and
volume. Similarly, there is volume available in the global marketplace for new technologies,
but only if fragmentation of technology standards across countries can be overcome.
Cost Per Node ($)*

1997 800
1999 400
2000 200
2001 100
2002 50
2003 20
Compiled from various sources

* These costs are for the electronics including packaging and power supply, but exclude
any external antennae or towers.
Table 2: Wireless Costs Trends – The example of the 802.11 Standard
Does this imply that to make ICT affordable, we need just to wait? Halfway, and interim
solutions that are incomplete can cause great harm, creating legacy requirements and vested
interests. A thoughtful, forward-looking technology roadmap and new solutions are required.
There remain a number of questions regarding technology evolution, especially for developing
countries. For example, is a standardized, multi-purpose device/processor the ideal solution,
or are simpler and cheaper specialized chips better? The answers will depend as much on
technology as social acceptance and training, and would vary with the application at hand.
13
The original paper was not directly related to computing power doubling in 18 months, but transistors per chip, which he saw
doubling every 12 months.
Technology Mapping to Development Needs
Many applications of There are a number of hypotheses as to why ICT is not yet integrally relevant for
development. In his Keynote Address at Bangalore, Richard Newton stated that most ICT
ICT for developing
for development is simply “trickle down” from the West. This is problematic for a number of
regions today are reasons: the products are expensive as the intended markets are in the West and these
“trickle-down” instead also assume non-trivial user capabilities (literacy if not e-literacy), and almost all require
of purposely developed support networks. Even electricity for operating the devices may not be available to a
significant fraction of the world’s poor. Any viable solution for developing countries will
therefore involve sizeable investment in R&D, ranging from enabling technologies to
applications (Figure 4).
Source: Bangalore Workshop Keynote, Newton (2004)
Figure 4: Components of Societal-Scale Information Systems. Innovation is required in

numerous complementary technologies, such as power systems, biotechnology, etc.
We present a generalized model for ICT and the R&D needs to making ICT relevant for
development (Table 3). This is different from the overall 4C framework of ICT (Computers,
Communications, Content, and human Capacity) as this is entirely within the technology
domain.
Sensors (S) Acquire and convert observations into information in

digital formats
Communication (C) Reach and richness of networks
Databases / Global databases of information spanning all media
Information Systems Availability of information in appropriate formats,
(DB/IS) language and specifications
Creating knowledge and contextual bases and algorithms
for processes and decision-making
Controllers / Actuators Effecting change (feedback) in nature and the operating
/ Effectors (CTRL) domain
Human-Computer Managing and Interfacing with ICT
Interaction (HCI) (Includes new devices for ICT-handhelds, all-in-one
devices, etc.)
Table 3: Generalized ICT Model. The domains of ICT span different functionality and
segments of any solution.
Fig. 5 shows examples where ICT could make major impact on various areas of human and
economic development.
Infrastructure Basic Human Needs Economic

Empowerment
Development and Development Development
S S Disaster / DB/IS DB/IS

Advanced DB/IS
Urban CTRL Weather Distance and
Forecasting e-Learning
Transport
CTRL C HCI and Warning C HCI C
S Electricity S Health DB/IS AgriculturalDB/IS
/ DB/IS
Efficiency and Monitoring Commodity
E-Governance
Loss/Theft and Price
CTRLReduction C EpidemiologyC HCI Discovery C HCI C
HCI
Expanding DB/IS
DB/IS
S Electricity S Remote DB/IS DB/IS
Markets for National and
Medical
Load HCI Detection /
Rural / Global
Management HCI Traditional HCI Inclusiveness
CTRL C Diagnosis C HCI (local) GoodsC C
S DB/IS S DB/IS
Drip and
Water Digital
Advanced
Management Libraries
Engineering Systems
Irrigation
HCI
Enabling ICT and
CTRL C CTRL C C
Sensors, Communication, Databases/Information Systems (DB/IS),

Controllers/Actuators/Effectors (CTRL), Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
Incorporates issues of: Protocols, Robustness, Software, Hardware, Power Management,
Control, Regulation, Security, etc.
Figure 5: Select Examples of End-use Needs Driving ICT. Shown are the primary ICT components as per the generalized
model (Table 3), but almost all components play a role in any real-world system.
ICT Challenges
The simplified model of ICT (Table 3) masks the challenges that require extensive
research, both in technology and in the social sciences. We list below several issues that
determine the viability of ICT for sustainable development, primarily focused on traditional
computing and connectivity. Some of these are common to the needs of developed
countries as well, but they often have institutions and mechanisms to address some of
these issues.
Digital Divides – Awareness, Availability, Accessibility, and Affordability
The digital divide is actually a manifestation of other underlying divides, spanning

14
economic, social, geographic, gender, and other divides. Attempting to address the digital
divide as a cause instead of a symptom of other divides has led to many failures of ICT
driven development projects.
The Digital Divide is The above four interrelated features determine the value of ICT for a user:
more than differences 1. Awareness – People must know what can be done with ICT; they must also be open to
in availability of using ICT
2. Availability – ICT must be offered within reasonable proximity, with appropriate
hardware and
hardware/software
connectivity
3. Accessibility – relates to the ability to use the ICT (spanning literacy, e-literacy,
language, interfaces, etc.)
4. Affordability – All ICT usage together should, ideally, be only a few percent of one’s
income (under 10% maximum on average); this covers life-cycle costs (termed total
costs of ownership – TCO), spanning hardware, software, connectivity, education, etc.
Reducing the divide requires improvements across all the dimensions of ICT [dubbed the
4C Framework]: Computing, Connectivity, Content, and human Capacity.
1. Computing – PCs are prohibitively expensive for most people, and shared access (e.g.,
community centers or cybercafes) becomes inevitable. PCs today are very difficult to
use, and even “experts” spend a lot of time maintaining their machines, worrying about
upgrades, security, compatibility of hardware, etc. As a complementary technology, non-
PC devices are an important option, e.g., mobile phones.
2. Connectivity – While mobile telephony is improving worldwide (witness in Africa it is
now twice the number of landlines), it remains expensive, limited in rural areas, and
poor at providing data connectivity.
3. Content – Meaningful content is lacking in many languages, and most content is not
locally relevant. Today’s systems tend to make people passive consumers of
information, instead of enabling generation of local information. In addition, rich content
demands multimedia (useful to overcome literacy issues), which, in turn, requires
broadband connectivity.
4. (human) Capacity – Users need to be aware, literate, and innovative to harness the
power of ICT. They also should be empowered to use ICT, both by society and by the
state.
14
Sustainable ICT for Emerging Economies: Mythology and Reality of the Digital Divide Problem – A Discussion Note (2004). Raj
Reddy, V. S. Arunachalam, Rahul Tongia, Eswaran Subrahmanian, and N. Balakrishnan.
Of course, ICT usage does not occur in a vacuum, rather within social and cultural norms
that also shape the divide. In addition, ICT usage is based on policy and business models,
especially regulation. In the long run, ICT must provide value and be sustainable from both
a user and a provider perspective. Affordability is a limiting factor, since we have seen that
many people could avail of ICT but do not. As the Markle Foundation’s Report (2003) on
National Strategies of “ICT for Development” states, “Digital Divides are not just the result
of economic differences in access to technologies (Have’s vs. Have-Not’s), but also in
cultural capacity and political will to apply these technologies for development impact (Do’s
15
vs. Do-Not’s).”
Access is a severe bottleneck for increased ICT use. For many human development
projects using ICT (e.g., the case of e-Choupal discussed in the section on Agriculture),
telecommunications (access) costs are the largest component. As the UN Global E-
Government Readiness Report 2004: Towards Access for Opportunity points out, we need
access to reach opportunity.
Access → Information → Knowledge ↔ Opportunity
The linkages between these steps are not linear or unidirectional. Knowledge is an
interpreted extension of information that captures relevance and context, and it is tightly
coupled with opportunities.
Hardware and Software Cost
Affordability is a prime Until hardware and software costs decrease, ICT may remain beyond the reach of many
factor in the digital users. This is especially true as long as a personal computer is required for data access.
When developing countries face higher hardware costs, how much of this is due to import
divide 16
duties or other artificial constraints or a lack of local production capabilities? Is there a
price point that would make computers affordable? Instead of a computer per se, could a
standardized and mass-produced device serve as a computer, TV, telephone, and digital
VCR?
While hardware speeds may scale with increase in number of transistors and components
on a chip, software scales only with skilled humans. Open source software has the potential
for bringing down software costs, but the interface and use has often been difficult for semi-
and un-skilled users. In contrast, it is widely used within the Internet’s infrastructure, such
as the Apache Web Server.
Some countries actively encourage (or even wish to legislatively mandate) the use of Free
and Open Source Software (FOSS) in public IT applications. There are debates as to the
applicability of open source solutions, and misconceptions about the commercial use of
open source software.17 Is it possible developing economies could produce their own
software, including building upon existing source codes for new programs and applications?
Connectivity Costs
15
http://www.markle.org/downloadable_assets/gdoi_1223.pdf
16
This excludes issues such as higher maintenance costs or shorter warranties (if at all) in some developing countries.
17
Steve Weber, “The Success of Open Source” (2004).
We see from recent ITU data that using dial-up to access the Internet can cost more than
the average annual GNI in many countries. This implies that a shared access model
becomes de riguer for ICT to be affordable (pay as you use). While many worry about basic
access (i.e., dial-up), we contend that broadband should be the target for developing
countries because of the higher bandwidth rich applications and interfaces require.
Broadband represents even bigger disparity in prices. Per bit, broadband for consumers in
Japan is some 300 times cheaper than in Bangalore, which is considered the Silicon Valley
of India!
What Is and Why Broadband?

Broadband is a loosely defined term, with some definitions accepting any speed over
dialup (e.g., 128 kbps) as broadband. Other definitions require 256, 640 or even
1,544 kbps (~1.5 Mbps) to qualify as broadband. Regardless of the exact number,
some features that are attractive to users include always on connectivity and,
potentially, flat-rate (“all you can eat”) pricing. While critics counter that such pricing
hurts infrequent users and breeds inefficiency, it has been found that flat-rate pricing
encourages innovation and development of applications. Richness of applications is
key for enhancing ICT usage, especially when we consider that graphical interfaces,
a must for illiterates, require much higher bandwidth than plaintext.
During the WSIS, some analysts questioned the need for broadband for developing
countries (“Let them eat megabits” was an article by a leading US academic). This
ignored the leapfrog opportunities of newer technologies (ones that could provide the
“Triple Play” of services – voice, video, and data) and also ignored the inexorable fall
in capital costs. As a reminder of why developing countries need bandwidth, consider
even basic applications. One of the authors of this report recently connected for their
weekly dose of Windows and anti-virus updates. Size: 8.3 megabytes (a medium
update). The dial-up: 28.8 kbps. In practice, it took nearly 6 hours, in part due to poor
line conditions and disconnects. The cost for that update, about $6 (dial-up and ISP
charges in India), is almost a week's median income in India.
Robustness
Telecommunications equipment is designed to have “five 9s” of reliability, 99.999% uptime,

or just 5 minutes of downtime per year. However, in developing countries, the reliability of
ICT is typically much lower. Often, the component reliability is trumped by failures in
electricity, software, or other complementary systems, including limited availability of
spares.
For the above and other reasons, manufacturer’s reliability figures do not translate in to real-
world uptimes. The almost mythical five 9s of reliability imposes significant burden on ICT
systems. Given the complete absence of ICT and other infrastructure in many parts of the world,
it would not be unreasonable to consider technology solutions that are slightly less robust or
have lower functionality by design for dramatically lower costs. One example is the use of
asynchronous, ad-hoc email systems, such as the DakNet system using a once-per-day bus
that stores and forwards email wirelessly when passing by a village.18 Similarly, Voice over
Internet Protocol (VoIP) systems can be less reliable than traditional circuit-switched telephony
or offer lower quality, but users should be free to choose from both solutions.
This is not to advocate a loosening of standards and reliability requirements. Indeed,

embedded ICT (such as in sensors) has to be failure-resistant and not require any
intervention. However, designers should incorporate all modes of failure, inside and outside
the system, and innovate accordingly. In particular, feature sets, reliability, availability, and
universal access require trade-offs, and must be defined in context.
18
DakNet: Rethinking Connectivity in Developing Nations, IEEE Computer Outlook, Jan 2004
Content
Much of the content Content and applications drive demand for ICT. Today, virtually all applications and most of
today is not in local the content are produced by or geared towards Western users or urban elites. Jaime
Carbonell envisaged a Bill of Rights for the Information Era19 in 1997: “Providing the right
languages, or directly
information to the right people in the right language in the right timeframe in the right level of
useful for most people detail.” To this we can add: for the right cost.
Not only are issues such as literacy and the multitude of languages yet to be addressed,
there are also concerns over control of data, accuracy, and transaction costs. In addition,
most content is not locally relevant or actionable. In fact, today’s ICT systems are largely
geared towards passive consumption of information, instead of active production of
information and content. Non-ICT knowledge networks in rural areas are often peer-to-peer,
and it is therefore necessary to develop tools to enable people to share information better,
combining local knowledge with experts and ICT-enhancements.
Many ICT initiatives for development are geared towards professionals, e.g., UN/WHO’s
Health InterNetwork, and do not normally address the ultimate end-users. In agriculture, the
UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) is undertaking several initiatives to address
rural information, such as FarmNet, but such global bodies do not have the reach or the
mandate to create scaled ICT networks for rural users.
Achieving the above Information Bill of Rights thus requires extensive changes in how we
control, create, store, index, search, manage, verify, and disseminate information. It also
requires extensive technological improvements in searching, summarizing, translating, and
managing content, which will increasingly be audio and video (multimedia) content.
Restrictions on access to information are another policy challenge, in addition to the view
by many policy-makers that much of the online content is societally inappropriate (like
pornography) or frivolous (like music downloads or video games). This impacts their
willingness to use public funds for ICT infrastructure development.
Usability and Interface
Usability challenges The primary means of interfacing with data has been the computer, which assumes a
represent a major certain level of literacy, both lingual and technical. Until local language and graphical
interfaces are improved, users will primarily be the upper socio-economic strata or
barrier to widespread
developed nation users.
diffusion of ICT
Though much has been said about user interface for those across the digital divide, greater
attention needs to be paid to making hardware and software easier to use for even the
more sophisticated user. Today, most users worry incessantly about upgrades, patches,
drivers, crashes, compatibility, etc. This excludes issues of viruses, spam, etc., which are
discussed under “Security” below. There are some well known examples such as
automobiles where the industry has learnt to transform complex technologies into user-
friendly systems. We need similar innovations in computer-communication systems.
19
CMU Language Technologies Institute presentation, 1997
Security
Security is a concern From end-user perspectives, issues of privacy, trust and verifiability are key concerns.
even for uninformed or Email was the first “killer application” of the Internet, followed many years later by the World
Wide Web. Spam (unwanted email) is now the bulk of transmitted email, and, coupled with
unaware end-users – it
viruses, makes going online an ordeal. These also make going online an expensive
places an implicit cost proposition for developing country users who pay higher usage charges—typically over a
on all transactions slow dial-up. Estimates for the cost of spam vary significantly, but are on the order of 10
billion dollars per year.
Information security, and its aspects encompassing integrity, confidentiality, privacy, and
assurance, is a major concern for all countries, including the developed ones. Because they
lack institutions to tackle cybersecurity, a few developing countries have become victims of
and also launching pads for a number of attacks. To improve domestic cyber-security,
countries should develop domestic or at least regional Computer Emergency Response
Teams (CERTs). CMU houses the CERT coordination center, and has assisted in
establishing a number of such Teams around the world.
Can a global standard on acceptable and non-acceptable use of computers and networks
be agreed to? What should the norm be for so-called “white hat hackers” or “ethical
hackers?” Legislation is the first step towards cybersecurity, and countries should establish
laws allowing the sanctity of digital signatures (and encryption) if e-commerce and online
transactions are to flourish. InfoDev has released a useful guide relating to developing
countries, the Information Technology Security Handbook (2004).20
Developing countries spend only modest amounts on information security, as they do on all
areas of ICT. Many analysts also feel that they typically overallocate funding for capital
expenditures compared to spending for operations and maintenance, a concern in other
areas outside ICT as well.
An added concern is the physical security of equipment and systems in the field. Even
copper cables are often dug out, and resold on the market. Optical fibers are less valuable
for thieves, once they understand they have no resale value; wireless bypasses this issue
to a large extent.
Internet Control, Architecture and Addressing
One of the major debates ongoing in the ICT and development community is over Internet
Governance. This was raised at WSIS, and in March 2004 the UN ICT Task Force held the
first of several special meetings on Internet Governance, which was addressed by Kofi
Annan. Most Internet professionals, including Dr. Vint Cerf,21 were of the view that the
current model of governance is through participation and open standards, and, contrary to
popular belief, does not give final say to the US government. The current system might
have shortcomings, but handing over Internet management to the UN/ITU was not widely
recommended. Instead of scrapping the present system they recommend increasing
participation from developing countries. One issue that was raised was the limited funding
available for such activities, including traveling to the regular standards and oversight
meetings.
20
http://www.infodev-security.net/
21
Dr. Cerf and Dr. Robert Kahn were the co-inventors of TCP/IP, one of the fundamental protocols of the Internet.
From a practical perspective, developing countries face a lack of physical (Internet Protocol)
address space, in addition to issues of Internet name space. The current version of Internet
Protocol, IPv4, has been unevenly distributed between nations. CMU/Pittsburgh
Supercomputing Center, at least until recently, controlled more address space than all of
India! The present constraints require technological fixes such as address translation, which
impose operational burdens on operators. One proposed solution is IPv6, the next generation
of Internet Protocol, which has enough address spaces for the entire world, and enough for all
devices that may eventually get connected. Developing countries should consider embracing
IPv6 while balancing legacy and interoperational requirements. Japan and China have been
leading the push for IPv6, and developing countries could consider joining such initiatives. In
addition to address space issues, the Domain Name Service (DNS) protocol22 is English-
centric, or at least limited to ASCII characters. To enhance foreign language usage,
developing countries are pushing for wider adoption of Internationalized Domain Names
(IDNs), which are based on Unicode characters.
Another aspect of Internet design affects developing countries not by design, but by their
size. An overwhelming majority of international traffic heads to the US or other developed
countries. Larger “backbone” or “Tier 1” carriers, who often also host the data, typically
demand transit as well as peering charges. In contrast, when trading traffic with each other,
they often do private peering under a mutual barter-like system, at no cost. Thus, traffic to
or from a developing country costs the developing country Internet Service Provider (ISP).
On the other hand, in the telephony world, settlement charges actually earn money for the
developing countries, especially as they receive more calls from the developed countries
than they generate. Solutions to reduce international data connectivity costs include
enhancing local content, local storage and data centers, caching traffic and aggregating
traffic to increase bargaining power. There also remain unresolved issues regarding
transitioning to IP based telephony from traditional telephony.
Internet Governance is The history of the Internet sheds some light regarding the problems faced by users, both in
closely linked to what developing as well as developed countries. Technologically, the Internet was built to be
“best-effort” and security, quality of service, etc. have been continual add-ons. The Internet
we want the Internet to
was built for simpler uses, and assumed literacy, affluence, and trust amongst end-users.
do Today, the move is to run everything over the Internet, including voice, video, and even
mission-critical applications. Ultimately, Internet governance and protocols both need to be
23
Some changes may be enhanced to expand its ubiquity and inclusiveness. The Internet of the future must be:
required to make it • trustworthy
more inclusive, reliable, • reliable
and responsive to • globally inclusive
users’ needs
• vendor neutral
• easy to use
• affordable
• able to change rapidly
• innovative and capable of significant expansion
• transparently and well managed
22
DNS maps textual Internet addresses (e.g., www.cmu.edu to the numeric addresses used by networking equipment (in this
case, to IP address 128.2.11.43).
23
“Internet Analysis Report – 2004 – Protocols and Governance.” Internet Mark 2 Project (2004).
Today’s structure of Internet governance largely does not include issues relating
accountability (spam, fraud, etc.), and various stakeholders (ranging from technical bodies
like the Internet Engineering Task Force—IETF—to the UN/ITU) are struggling to define
roles and responsibilities (Figure 6). The current manager of Internet registries, the
International Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN, which has a contract
with the US Dept. of Commerce), states that “… issues of concern to Internet users, such
as the rules for financial transactions, Internet content control, unsolicited commercial email
(spam), and data protection are outside the range of ICANN’s mission of technical
24
coordination.”
24
ICANN website, 2005.
Source: Information Society Library [Reproduced with permission]; Graphic by Baldi, Gelbstein and Kurbalija
Figure 6: Internet Governance and the World Information Society – Under Construction
Regulation and Policy
Competition has overwhelmingly helped consumers in the telecom world, but many
developing countries regulate ICT restrictively. Incumbent telecom providers in developing
countries are often Government companies or PTTs, and are relatively slow to adopt new
technologies. They have also opposed certain disruptive technologies, such as voice over
Internet Protocol (VoIP), unlicensed wireless (Table 4), etc. There are additional burdens on
ICT providers such as ISP licensing fees, import duties on equipment, and restrictions on
services.
Developed Developing
countries countries
% with license exempt wireless
96% 41%
spectrum
% with license exempt wireless devices 95% 40%
% with license exempt wireless
65% 20%
commerce
Source: The Wireless Internet Opportunity for Developing Countries (2003)
Table 4: Policy Divide on Unlicensed Spectrum and Usage. There have been some
improvements over time, but the general trends remain the same.
Government policies Convergence is an accepted evolution of telecom systems, bridging voice and data, fixed
drive technology and mobile. Historically these have been regulated as separate services, despite being able
to operate largely on common infrastructure. The forthcoming ENUM standard, which
adoption, innovation, bridges IP address with traditional telephony numbers, is designed to facilitate such
and investments convergence. However, there remain contentious issues over ENUM regulation and
directories, especially at an international level—developing countries as well as smaller
Countries with fewer service providers don’t want ENUM directories or registration to become another source of
institutionalized competitive advantage in the hands of a few.
restrictions often find
higher levels of ICT Numerous studies have shown that cost reductions for users have come not from
adoption technology per se, but through competition. Nonetheless, competition within the data side
of ICT is less well understood, and even the US is grappling with such issues (such as
Open Access rules). An aspect of regulation that has been finessed in the Internet world is
that of Universal Service Obligations. Mechanisms for universal service, both for access
itself and for VoIP users, need to be devised.
Fundamentally, many national ICT strategies should focus more on users and capacity
building than getting lost in technical issues. To succeed and be sustainable, ICT initiatives
should go beyond top-down or centralized (governmental) initiatives to encompass the
many stakeholders and participants. In fact, many listed successes have come from efforts
that involve cross-sectoral collaboration from the four key sectors: government, business,
researchers in labs and universities, and civil society organizations.25
When considering policy issues, legislation (or lack thereof) is an important factor when
companies consider investing in ICT. Issues that require governmental clarity include those
of jurisdiction, taxation, and culpability/liability. It is especially vital to separate the roles,
responsibilities, and liabilities of end-users versus content providers versus service or
bandwidth providers—if an end-user sends an email violating national standards, should
the ISP be held accountable?
25
Ernest Wilson, various publications.
Wireless
Wireless access Wireless has grown dramatically in the last decade, e.g., mobile phones outnumber
technologies hold great traditional landlines by 2:1 in Africa.26 Wireless technologies offer a compelling solution for
access requirements in the developing world, especially in light of the lower density of
promise for developing users. In particular, unlicensed spectrum, such as through “WiFi,” offers attractive
regions given low opportunities for fixed broadband wireless access. However, many countries are yet to
usage densities and embrace unlicensed spectrum (Table 4). By and large spectrum is underutilized, even in the
limited legacy (wireline) developed world.
deployment While newer cellular phones (GPRS and third generation—3G—cellular) offer reasonable
data capabilities, the actual usage has been modest at best in most developing countries.27
In contrast, SMS (short message service) has become quite popular for transmitting
information. There are several applications of SMS for rural users, but these are usually
based on one-to-one applications. Development of web-interfaced, inexpensive SMS
systems with group mode might be a good technique for applications such as agricultural
price-discovery, weather forecasting, disaster warning, etc.
The very success of wireless telephony in developing countries poses a paradox for
broadband data services. 3G (wireless) services do not have the bandwidth of even modest
wired broadband services. Most developed countries use DSL or cable modems for
broadband data provision. These were built out using an entrenched base of landline voice
users and cable TV subscribers, who are not present in many developing countries.
An additional challenge regarding wireless, telephony, and data networking is convergence,

which adds numerous regulatory and technical challenges. Technology is evolving faster
than regulations.
Wireless – It’s more than WiFi

802.11b (“WiFi”) has garnered a lot of press and attention, with mushrooming
“hotspots” around the world, and it is becoming very cheap (<$20 client node, if not
integrated into devices). However, this technology was not designed for the wide area
network, and is generally optimal for shorter ranges. A new technology, 802.16
(“WiMax”), is an emerging tailor-made alternative for access needs, and offers the
capabilities to work in licensed as well as unlicensed spectrum. In addition, it is
expected to work without Line of Sight, which is required for WiFi over long distances.
One technical issue affecting how well such technologies can be used for access is
the allowed power emission level. Here, the US (FCC) standards allow greater power
than European and many developing countries (ETSI) standards, and FCC standards
are also more liberal in allow antenna gain. If developing countries wish to extend the
capabilities of wireless technologies, they would need to modify their wireless
emission standards appropriately.
In the coming years, we can expect continued improvements in technology, with
lower prices, longer ranges, and greater capabilities. Radical changes are expected
from technologies such as “smart antennae” and “cognitive radios.”
Energy and Power
For truly remote locations, electricity is a greater challenge than ICT, and standalone
solutions such as solar power may cost more than a computer and telecommunications
26
African Telecommunication Indicators 2004, ITU.
27
The upgrade to 3G services itself faces not only financial difficulties (operators in developed countries vastly overbid for the
spectrum) but also a rift in standards and upgrade paths—there are parallels to the GSM vs. CDMA debate.
equipment.28 Even in grid-connected locations, power availability and quality remain

variable, hampering ICT deployment. Low power ICT solutions are required, especially for
remote usage.
Availability of The need for low power consumption becomes critical when we consider ICT devices that
are not computers, such as mobile devices or sensors that can be minuscule. Until
electricity is a critical
technology improves to reduce power consumption, the size and cost of these devices will
pre-requisite for ICT; remain high, and their penetration low. One of the areas of active research is in wireless
the alternative of mesh networks, which can offer significant energy savings. The transmission energy
standalone solutions is increases with the square of the distance, so if we put an intermediate node halfway
very expensive (adding a hop, and thus, some delay), we can cut power requirements per node by a factor
of four. While twice as many nodes are required, the lower power has profound implications
for battery or energy design. The lower radio power emission levels also reduce
interference between neighboring nodes, allowing higher throughput.
Digital Information and Broadcasting
In the era of Internet, broadcasting technologies are often ignored. Over the air
broadcasting is an extremely cost-effective method of unidirectional imparting of
information, e.g., through TV or Radio. Digital Information can be broadcast easily, and
there is already widespread usage of digital TV and, now, digital radio. These technologies
can carry data signals for various end-use devices, ranging from computers to specialized
but less expensive receivers that could receive data on, say, weather, agricultural prices,
etc.
The use of digital media reduces the marginal costs of information transmission
significantly. As and when analog media shifts to digital, it not only improves the spectrum
usage, but makes it more easily compatible with multiple mediums. Through digital radio
stations on the Internet, e.g., we can improve content availability in local and regional
languages. Digital information brings with it a number of challenges, including Intellectual
Property Rights (IPR) and security.
Economic Models, Markets, and Role of ICT
Market-driven models Balancing technology push with market pull is a fundamental requirement for harnessing
alone will not push ICT ICT for sustainable development. End-users ultimately drive demand, and when the
technology has been presented to them in usable formats and affordable “chunks” (e.g.,
into developing regions
pay-as-you-use cellular and cybercafes/kiosks), we find its use growing rapidly in
developing regions of the world. Users are more likely to visit a cyberkiosk if they can
perform multiple types of transactions, sometimes bundled as packaged services. These
may or may not require an assistant or intermediary who can, for example, help place an
order for fertilizer. In the absence of a viable market, as would be the case for the neediest
of the needy, governmental or other external intervention is required to help penetration.
28
If we consider a new desktop PC with CRT monitor and communications, the total peak power consumption can be ~400 watts.
If we assume standalone solar systems cost about $5 per peak watt, which is competitive, the power needs cost around
$2,000. This would only give power for the equivalent of sunshine hours per day, estimated at 6 hours of usage in many tropical
i.e., solar favorable regions. Using batteries to store the power and adding solar panel capacity for non-sunlight periods adds to
the costs further. In reality, average power usage is much lower than peak power usage, and new technologies such as liquid
crystal display (LCD) monitors cut down power consumption significantly. Nonetheless, energy costs are a significant operating
cost (when available from the grid), or capital cost for standalone power.
There are no universally accepted models for choosing technologies and timing. While
leapfrogging is often touted as a boon for developing countries, e.g., the direct deployment
of digital cellular instead of analog, there are few in-depth analyses on the cost/benefits of
leapfrogging and/or waiting for the appropriate technologies. Sophisticated analysis
techniques such as Real Option Theory may help in technology assessment.
Leapfrogging into The notion of waiting may appear counterproductive, but otherwise there is also a concern
advanced technologies that an intermediate or poorly optimized – but readily available – solution will end up costing
much more in the long run. India suffered this fate when it went for cross-bar telecom
offers strong potential
switches in the 1970s, just when digital switches were emerging. Many decisions are also
for cost-effective practically irreversible, locking in users as well as providers.
deployment
When choosing technologies, people often worry about backwards compatibility and cite
that as a reason not to deploy greenfield designs. However, in many developing countries,
the installed base is so modest and the growth rates for the near future are so high that the
extra cost of compatibility even with a leapfrog technology should be less of a concern. The
story is different in developed countries. When London added a single digit to its telephone
numbers in the 1990s, citing increased demand for phone lines due to fax and modem
lines, the total cost was reported to be over $2 billion!
Other than waiting for ICT to become affordable, there have been only a few specifications
suggestions on making ICT affordable for sustainable development. For instance, one can
engineer them to be inexpensive, which itself may turn out to be an expensive process.
Suppliers can also be pushed by externally imposed performance or functionality
standards. It would be difficult to say that a particular technology X has to cost only that
much, but one can mandate that a certain device must be capable of specific services, and
such a device should not cost more than a certain price. An example can be mobile phones
adding enhanced emergency locational services. If there is sufficient demand, suppliers will
figure out how to make solutions cheap.
Developing regions are Studies by Prahalad and others indicate the 4 billion people at the Bottom Of the Pyramid
a large but untapped (BOP) collectively form an enormous and untapped market—who today often overpay for
their goods and services, but in smaller volumes.29 The challenge is encouraging
market…but their
innovations if the expectation will be for reduced producer margins (commoditization); this
needs are not is especially the case for hardware.
necessarily the same
as in developed One hypothesis presented by Richard Newton at the Bangalore Workshop is that there are
regions many ICT and development projects that deal with end-users/devices, but few deal with a
broad infrastructure. On the other hand, if a nearly ubiquitous (but appropriately scaled and
designed) infrastructure were built and available, numerous development projects would be
enhanced or even enabled. One major challenge is evaluating an all-enabling solution like
ICT whose impact will be spread across a number of dimensions, and includes both
tangibles and intangibles. Which set(s) of stakeholders should pay for the ICT? In addition,
as shown in Figure 2, there remains the additional task of optimizing investments between
ICT and the developmental projects.
In addition to the social impact that ICT can generate, its business case can also be sound.
Given that nearly 10% of the gross world product is logistics, even a small reduction in that
expenditure results in tens or hundreds of billions of dollars in savings. The problem, once
again, is on identifying the stakeholder(s) who should pay for such upgrades and services.
In addition, the payback period might be long, and development agencies and governments
29
C. K. Prahalad and Allen Hammond, “Serving the World’s Poor, Profitably.” Harvard Business Review, September 2002.
must be committed to whole-hearted, long-term implementation. The summarizing

presentation30 at the Washington Workshop captured the consensus amongst participants
regarding the role of ICT in helping meet the Millennium Development Goals: “ICT is not the
solution to any of them…ICT is a piece of the solution to all of them.”
30
Michael Shamos, CMU, Washington Workshop Summary Presentation.
43
3 Thematic Groups –
ICT and Sustainable Development
The two Workshops (Washington, D.C., and Bangalore) focused on ICT and sustainable
development, and the discussions were segmented into four broad (and sometimes
overlapping) thematic topics, along with several suggested sub-groupings:
1) Infrastructure Development
a. Energy
b. Water
c. Transportation
2) Basic Human Needs and Development
a. Food
b. Healthcare
c. Drinking water
d. Primary education
3) Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction
a. Agriculture growth
b. Higher education
c. Job creation
d. e-Commerce
4) Alienation, Empowerment, and Governance
a. National and International Inclusiveness
b. Democracy
c. e-Governance
In addition to overlap and linkage, some issues—such as environmental—cut across

individual themes. Given such overlap between some topics, and differences in formats
between sessions, this report doesn’t strictly adhere to the order or segmentation given
above.31 Preparations for the Bangalore Workshop included a series of questionnaires
(Appendix 5) we sent to a number of professionals working in these fields seeking their
comments and suggestions on what they see as challenges in the field and how ICT could
play a role.
31
As a large number of Bangalore participants focused on Education, a separate working group on Education was formed, and its
recommendations are presented in this report.
Infrastructure Development
Water and Sanitation
Overview
Water is a precious Freshwater is necessary for virtually all life on earth. Humans require clean water not only
resource with uneven for drinking but also for cooking, personal hygiene, and reducing disease. It is also a vital
component of industrial and economic growth, to say nothing of being central to agriculture.
global distribution ...
The UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights at their 29th Session (11-29
people worry it will be November 2002) brought forth the following declaration: “The human right to water entitles
the reason for major everyone to sufficient, affordable, physically accessible, safe and acceptable water for
global conflicts personal and domestic uses.”
Unfortunately, much of the world lacks water and sanitation (Table 5). Target 10 of the
MDGs is to halve, by 2015, the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe
drinking water and basic sanitation. Challenges in sanitation are deeper than drinking
water, and this affects healthcare, quality of life, and urbanization.
Percentage Within Region Percentage Within Region

Without Access to Without Access to
Region Improved Water Improved Sanitation
Urban Rural Total Urban Rural Total
Sub-Saharan Africa 17 56 34 27 57 47
Middle East/North
5 23 13 7 30 17
Africa
South Asia 6 20 15 33 78 66
East Asia/Pacific 7 33 24 27 65 52
Latin America &
6 34 14 14 48 23
Caribbean
CEE/CIS & Baltic
5 18 9 3 19 9
States
Industrialized
0 0 0 0 0 0
Countries
Developing Countries 8 31 22 23 65 48
Least Developed
18 45 38 29 65 56
Countries
World 5 29 18 15 60 39
Source: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program, 2001
Table 5: Percentage without Access to Improved Water Supply and Sanitation, by Region
(2000 data)
The above table suggests that by 2015, every year an additional 60 million people will need
to gain access to drinking water and 120 million people to sanitation! At the current level of
investments, there is an annual funding gap of over $100 billion to achieve these targets
(Table 6).
Thematic Groups – ICT and Sustainable Development 45
Estimated
Current Annual Estimated
Annual
(billions of US$) Investments in Annual
Investments to
2000 Funding Gap
Achieve Goals
Access to drinking water 13.0 13.0 0
Sanitation and hygiene 1.0 17.0 16.0
Municipal waste water
14.0 70.0 56.0
treatment
Industrial effluent 7.0 30.0 23.0
Agriculture 32.5 40.0 7.5
Environmental Protection 7.5 10.0 2.5
Total 75.0 180.0 105.0
Source: WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program, 2001
Table 6: Estimates of Funding Needs for Water and Sanitation in Developing Countries.
Only a fifth of countries appear to be on track to meeting the Water and Sanitation MDG,
one of the most difficult of the MDGs.
Not only is there a funding gap, since the mid/late 1990s, investments in international
infrastructure projects have dropped dramatically. Water was never a favored investment
target for the private sector because of its very poor financial viability. Compared to
telecom, the only truly profitable sector in most developing countries, tariffs of gas and
power generally do not cover the full costs, and water lies at the extreme, with cost
recoveries only on the order of 30%! Thus, this sector requires large upfront and continual
public support for its sustenance. In addition, investors face a multitude of risks (similar to
all international infrastructure investments) such as currency risk, regulatory risks,
sovereignty risks, etc.
A saving feature is that the demand for water is not limitless. There are indications that
through technological improvements in consumption and distribution, demand can be
stabilized, if not reduced. Even in the US, in spite of its GNP growth and demand for more
energy, water usage peaked at the end of the 1970s, and has dropped since then. In
absolute numbers, however, US consumption remains far higher than the world average.
Incorporating feedback from participants and questionnaire respondents, we present a

summary of the challenges, barriers, and metrics for success in the thematic groups.
Challenges
1) Provide drinking water to the world’s population; about 1.5 billion will lack sustainable
access by 2015 (under business-as-usual assumptions). This includes the problem of
local access nearby, if not in-home
2) Provide improved sanitation access to the world’s population; about 2 billion will lack
sustainable access by 2015 (under business-as-usual assumptions)
3) Ensure water quality and health standards are met for water consumption
4) Ensure sustainability of water supplies, e.g., without depleting groundwater resources.
This might include technologies for reusing and recycling water for different uses
5) Make water available for non-drinking uses, primarily agriculture, but also commercial
and other economic uses
6) Improve the efficiency of utilization for non-drinking uses such as agriculture, which
accounts for the majority of the consumption
7) Reduce water losses and improve tariff collection
Barriers
1) Water is overwhelmingly subsidized, even in developed countries. The average cost

recovery worldwide is estimated to be around 30%. Poor pricing signals can lead to
wasteful usage and over-usage. The poor often lack public supply of water, and pay a
heavy burden for water gathering
2) Lack of accountability and poor decision-making by public officials. Ignorance of mid-
and long-term consequences of decision-making; the short-term view overwhelming
long-term planning and investment. Unavailability of data and non-transparency in
decision-making
3) The linkages between water, agriculture, healthcare, energy, and economic growth are
not well articulated, especially from a planning perspective
4) Planning for water must correlate to the resource base, i.e., the micro and macro
watersheds. However, most decision making and even data collection is based on
political or other artificial boundaries and, consequently, decisions are not based on
sustainable supply
5) Lack of data on water uses, users, alternative supplies, etc., with a temporal and spatial
granularity needed for optimal decision-making
6) A system that allows the elite to seek exit strategies that do not scale, e.g., through
individual filtering units, tanker supplied water, individual tube wells, etc.
Measures for Success and Failure
1) Reducing the number of persons who lack water and sanitation, especially with reliable
data of sufficiently detailed granularity (household, rural/urban, regional, etc.)
2) Defined and achieved metrics on local access to water and sanitation – whether in-
home or within a 5 minute walk, etc.
3) Measured improvements in the quality of drinking and discharged water
4) Stabilization or rise in water tables
5) Publicly available data on water resources, reserves, and their quality for local users,
who are empowered to seek redress or other interventions as required
6) Improvement in soil conditions for agriculture, especially related to salinity, chemicals,
and other issues dependent on water
Role of ICT
ICT can help in the following areas:

• Assess supply adequacy, modeling different supply and technology alternatives, and
factor in different usage technologies. This can include the development of dynamic
Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for identifying water availability, storage,
transmission, and distribution
• Quality monitoring, especially through low-cost sensors. Quality of water impacts
healthcare, agriculture and industry
• Optimize the allocation between different uses of water (e.g., treated drinking water,
water for industrial usage, agriculture, etc.) via market and non-market mechanisms
• Water use management at a societal level, including distribution systems—which
incorporates loss reduction, equity, etc.—and utilization efficiency
To make a meaningful impact, stakeholders must have access to information for informed
decision-making, and they must have open access to range of different models and
solutions. ICT can also help with education regarding efficiency, loss reduction, and new
technologies. Reducing losses is especially important for expanding water coverage and
availability. Many large developing country cities only provide water supply for a few hours
per day, and 25 – 50% of the water remains unaccounted for (either lost through poor
infrastructure or pilferage).32
Examples of Needed Research
1) Low-cost approaches to quality assessment and modeling, including:

a. Sensors
b. Data collection (including ad-hoc networks) and sensor integration
c. Analysis
d. Dissemination
2) Systems analysis of supply adequacy across a range of uses, technologies, etc., which:
a. Demands adequate data (e.g., GIS (Geographic Information Systems) based, point-
of-use data entry, etc.)
b. Requires flexible and robust models
Energy
Overview
The linkage between Energy use is the engine for development, and its correlation with economic output is well
energy use and documented. Energy is used in every area of human endeavor, from cooking to
manufacturing, from transportation to entertainment. In developing countries, there is a
economic development
large dependence on non-commercial fuels, such as agricultural and animal wastes, and
is well-recognized these do not enter most official statistics on energy consumption. Electricity is a unique
form of energy that is clean, amenable for virtually all applications and transportable with
appropriate networks. Indeed ICT depends on the availability of electric power. However,
there is an acute shortage of reliable electric power in developing countries.
The pattern of electricity consumption in developing countries is very different from the
developed ones. For a start, the level of electrification is low (Figure 7), and some two
billion people worldwide lack electricity. Consumption varies dramatically, e.g., the annual
per capita consumption in India is around 380 kWh compared to the US with annual per
capita consumption of over 11,000 kWh! What electricity is available is often intermittent
(blackouts and brownouts), and of poor quality. It is generally subsidized, but for some
sectors that are economically productive, the prices can be very high. Agriculture can be a
large consumer in many developing countries—mainly for pumping underground water—
and the losses due to transmission, distribution and theft are also typically very high (Figure
8). In many developing countries, energy industries—as the overall economy—are state-
centered. This leads to weak, but rigid, formal institutions including regulatory bodies,
courts, and corporate governance, and makes the introduction of innovations difficult.
Innovations based on ICT are especially vulnerable as they have the potential to challenge
the very established patterns of supply and distribution.
32
World Development Report 2004 (World Bank)
900
800
People Lacking Electricity (millions)
700
600
500 East Asia

South Asia
400 Sub-Saharan Africa
Latin America
300
North Africa
200 Middle East
100
0
1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030
Year
Source: World Energy Outlook (2002)
Figure 7: People Lacking Electricity. South Asia (largely India) represents the largest absolute share of unelectrified
population, but Africa shows slower improvement. A large part of the worldwide gain achieved in the last 20 years
came from China, whose electrification grew in parallel with economic growth.
OECD
China
Ethiopia
Indonesia
Egypt
Philippines
Sudan
Algeria
Eritrea
Cameroon
Zimbabwe
Kenya
Togo
India
Nigeria
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Losses (Percent)
Source: World Development Report 2004, World Bank
Figure 8: Electricity Losses (Select Countries). These losses include both technical as well
as theft. Roughly 10% of losses may be largely unavoidable (technical losses, which
depend on system design), but the remainder is theft. This is one area where ICT can play
a major role – loss reduction.
While much of the discussions focused on the power sector, fuels are also required for
heating and cooking. The latter is largely based on biomass in developing countries, though
official statistics often do not capture such non-commercial fuels. ICT will be required to
adequately quantify energy flows of all types. Given much of the non-electricity energy
consumption in the world is for, cooking, transportation and heating, ICT can have a major
role to play in consumer education. In addition, it can indirectly help financing and
microfinancing plans. It is widely accepted that many small-scale (household or
commercial) energy savings investments—such as upgrading insulation—have a high
Return on Investment (ROI), but are often not undertaken due to lack of financing or lack of
knowledge. ICT can increase the market efficiency and perhaps help create a system for
funding energy efficiency and upgrades. This same system would also be beneficial for
increasing the penetration of modern energy services, where the payback would also be
societal in addition to monetary.
The Workshop discussions explicitly did not factor in carbon dioxide (CO2) and climate
change issues, as participants felt that though this was an important issue, it was not
central to developing country needs. While a large fraction of the growth of emissions might
occur in developing countries, especially China, the absolute growth and total from the
developed countries and Former Soviet Union/Eastern Europe will remain higher for the
coming decades.
Challenges
1) Provide energy and electricity services to all households who lack access today; this
number is at least several hundred million. Increasing electricity penetration and
consumption would also require increasing supply of electricity and generation
2) Increase the use of environmentally appropriate and sustainable fuels, such as
renewables
3) Reduce the losses in energy systems, both technical as well as theft. Devise alternative
technologies (both supply and consumption) that have higher efficiencies and can
enable options such as energy storage, demand side management, etc.
4) Reduce the impact of energy usage on the environment, ranging from locally (down to
the home level, e.g., indoor air pollution by cooking using biomass) to globally (CO2 and
greenhouse gases)
5) Provide energy security for users and nations, including price stability/predictability
6) Provide security and environmental safeguards when using fissile (nuclear) materials
7) Develop appropriate adaptation strategies to climate change and sea-level rise, which
may impact developing countries disproportionately, in addition to mechanisms for
reducing greenhouse gas emissions
Barriers
1) Limited financial resources to help provide commercial energy services, especially

electricity. Distortionary pricing of energy, encouraging wasteful usage by many classes
of users
2) Poor understanding of linkages between energy and other areas of human and
economic development
3) Widespread theft/tampering of electricity and other energy services
4) Conventional wisdom and economies of scale that favors large, centralized power
generation plants over decentralized and renewable technologies, which may be more
appropriate to rural areas
5) Current technological limits in renewable and storage technologies, with relatively low
R&D funding for such options
6) Users unaware of options available for improving their pattern of consumption or
unwilling to modify it. Options are also limited due to long life-span of capital stock
7) Limited enforcement of technical and environmental standards
8) Utilities and providers rewarded economically for increased production and sales, and
not for energy saving initiatives
9) A system that allows the elite to exit poor supply through the use of decentralized
(individual) generation systems such as diesel power generators
1) Improving the penetration of modern energy services, measured by households

accessing such services. Increased use of energy services for improved quality of life
2) Improving the efficiency of energy consumption with consequent increase in economic
output for every unit of energy consumed
3) Consistent improvement in system net availability, including reduction in losses
(technical as well as theft)
4) Increased use of sustainable energy sources
5) Improved environmental metrics, varying from local particulate counts to global CO2
levels
6) Improvements in the availability of quality electricity, measured by voltage profiles,
downtimes, faults, safety records, etc.
Role of ICT
The role of ICT can be for:

• Data collection and system level use
o Metering at all levels (e.g. digital meters that are cheaper than electro-mechanical
and can incorporate control and communications)
o Real time T&D status data
o Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems; new protocols for
smart control
o T&D efficiency and loss reduction
o Smart control of distributed resources and microgrids
• Resource and needs assessment
o Viability of alternative market structural arrangements
o Analysis of network vulnerabilities & interdependencies including during / after
extreme events (storms, floods earthquakes) and non-extreme events
o Search for robust strategies and redundancies
o Control of loads, load shedding, load management, etc.
1) Low cost, reliable digital meters, with ICT enhancements such as control and
communications
2) Convenient low-cost efficient end-use devices with options for demand management
Transportation
Overview
Transportation needs About half the world’s population lives in cities, and rapid urbanization has led to over 300
range from the local to cities in developing countries of over one million people. By 2015, there are likely to be about
23 megacities with a population of over 10 million. This represents a major challenge for
the global, and impact
planners. In the Washington Workshop, Nancy Kete presented several examples of large
the economy, cities in developing countries that have built or are building out advanced public transport
environment, and networks. These projects have incorporated many advanced technologies such as sensors,
quality of life communications and GIS, and have had a major impact on urban development and overall
city “livability.”
Transportation affects not only public safety and healthcare (pollution) but also the quality of
life (commuting), economic opportunities, and productivity. Transportation falls under
several categories, by mode (bus, car, rail, etc.), ownership (public vs. private), and goods
transported along with their characteristics (people, raw materials, finished products,
perishables, etc.)
The Workshops focused primarily on two types of transportation, segmented as private and
public transportation. While energy usage is part of planning for transportation, it did not
form a major part of the transportation deliberations. Nonetheless, such issues are
important given the large fraction of energy used for transportation. In particular, the
strategically important oil is primarily used for transportation. ICT can have medium to long
term benefits on energy reduction through “smart” cars. Today, some 80% of energy in cars
is lost as heat, and 18+% is consumed moving the vehicle itself. Only 1-2% is actually spent
moving the passenger(s). One improvement from an energy perspective would be to make
vehicles lighter. Ironically, marketing and misguided public perceptions of safety are
pushing for heavier vehicles. The use of ICT, sensors, and inter-vehicle coordination (such
as using technologies based on dynamic cruise control) can allow for lighter vehicles while
maintaining or enhancing safety.
Challenges
1) Reduce congestion and overcrowding in all transportation systems and on the roads
within cities
2) Improve public transportation systems including affordability, and deploy innovative
solutions for meeting both peak and off-peak transportation needs
3) Build safe and efficient rapid transport options between urban centers, including the
development of modern port facilities
4) Connect rural areas with urban centers with all-weather roads and other transportation
systems. Improve connectivity between areas of greatest demand
5) Improve inland waterway usage for low-cost bulk transportation
6) Improve the environment in urban (and rural) areas, as affected by transportation
7) Increase the safety of transportation systems
8) Improve the sustainability of transportation systems, especially vis-à-vis fuel usage
9) Improve access for those with special needs
Barriers
1) Limited financial resources for public and private transportation

2) Corruption and high transaction costs in public works

3) Poor quality of designs, materials, construction, and maintenance. Lack of enforceable
standards for construction and materials. Lack of planning tools and testing centers
with authenticated credentials
4) Limited space and ability to effect fundamental redesigns of highways, roads and
streets, only allowing for incremental improvements
5) Perceptions and incentives favoring individual transportation options; increased
affluence allowing greater individual transportation modes
6) Limited enforcement of existing laws, varying from safety to environmental to
encroachment
7) Limited incorporation of externalities into system design and pricing
8) Urban layouts that often relegate the poorest to the most remote or underserved areas
9) Perception that “bigger is safer” when it comes to passenger vehicles
10) Partial improvements negated by signals that encourage further utilization of
infrastructure (i.e., more roads bring even more users, including new residents –
urbanization)
1) Reduced crowding and congestion in public transportation systems and roads

2) Reduction in time spent commuting
3) Improvement in air quality
4) Increase in use of public transportation and ride-sharing options, as well as alternatives
such as bicycling, across all socio-economic strata
5) Improvement in passenger transportation per unit energy input
6) Increase in safety and reliability of transportation systems
Role of ICT
Air, Rail, and Bus Transportation (Shared transportation systems)

• Universal access to on line reservations & purchase for public transportation, with real-
time information; this must be device/platform independent, e.g., through mobile phones
• Mechanisms for improved safety, fuel monitoring/consumption, etc.
• Optimized use of assets and facilities, including efficient load tracking
• Distributed approaches to rail/air traffic control
o Can enhance safety and allow greater capacity utilization
Private and Road Transportation

• Transportation planning models
o Focus on life cycle costs
o Adequate treatment of mixed vehicle types
• Air quality data collection and advanced air pollution models
• Monitoring of infrastructure conditions, e.g. use of low-cost sensors
• Transparency/clarification of decision authority for ongoing operations
• ICT enabled externality metering, such as congestion pricing (but there are equity
issues)
1) GPS based rail traffic control and improved low-cost load tracking (e.g., use of RFIDs33)
2) Low-cost air quality monitors combined with advanced air pollution models (e.g.,
including photochemistry)
3) Optimization of public and private transportation based on GIS and the use of innovative
options such as congestion monitoring and pricing that integrate urban planning
ICT and Infrastructure – General Observations
The Workshop participants determined a number of commonalities between the

infrastructure sectors, and made some observations about the overall role and potential of
ICT.
To aid planners and researchers, the Working Group developed a generalized framework
for energy, water, etc., with applicability to nearly any resource-based system (with
appropriate modifications as necessary). This can be used for even non-infrastructure
systems, such as agriculture or labor (Table 7).
Availability / How much is available, where, when, to whom? Is it in an

Supply / appropriate form, or does it need processing or conversion?
Production (A)
Transmission and Where does it flow, with human intervention or naturally?
Storage (T) What timeframes and contingency plans are available?
Distribution (D) This is where end-users receive the resource, and is often the
segment with the highest losses, due to poor designs and
technical and man-made losses.
Consumption (C) Affects overall demand and sustainability. Lifetime of capital
stock is a barrier to change, but greenfield designs and growth
models can allow leapfrogging technologies and solutions.
Carefully introduced social changes can modify consumption.
Table 7: Generalized Model for Infrastructure/Resources
ICT can help manage The entire ATDC model above can obviously benefit from ICT, especially with fine
and optimize granularity and appropriate dissemination of information to the stakeholders. In addition,
ICT can help optimize resource utilization, not only saving money but also allowing
infrastructure
increasing penetration of infrastructure services.
development and
natural resources It is important to recognize that just putting information on the web is often not enough. For
usage a start, how many stakeholders have access to the web, and what opportunities are there
for effecting feedback? Increasingly, raw data is being made available to outsiders, which
can aid analysis and accuracy. However, even the raw data is subject to assumptions, and,
in many instances, unreliable.
Most infrastructures consist of networks and systems, which can be end-user/individual

devices or shared facilities. One area for R&D would be the application of network and
systems theory, especially integrating ICT, which might lead to valuable insights and ideas.
In addition, not all good solutions need to be centralized or hierarchical, which underscores
the need for bottom-up development.
33
Radio Frequency Identification – very low cost and often passive sensors for identifying and tracking goods. These will likely
become embedded into most commercial goods over the coming few years. Critics worry about privacy issues, but some uses
for supply chain management appear less controversial.
Infrastructure projects In terms of finance, infrastructure projects require large investments, and the debate on
often require both public vs. private needs to be transparent and more informed. Public projects often have a
large private component, if not outright outsourcing, and private projects in turn are often
public and private
beneficiaries of public policies and specialized funding, and are generally subject to public
resources regulation. An additional financing challenge is the process by which solutions are chosen
for public projects in most countries – tendering. While this provides the impression of
transparency, it severely limits the introduction of ICT and other new technologies into
infrastructure or other projects. No vendor or service provider unilaterally adds ICT if it is
not in the requested “spec” since their solution is likely to be more expensive, regardless of
the fact the use of ICT would provide additional benefits and even turn out to be less
expensive.
ICT has the potential to positively impact infrastructure, but it does not function in a
vacuum. Organizational, institutional, and structural issues can often impede the
realizations possible from ICT, and without appropriate reforms or new implementation
models ICT’s value can be diminished. However, there are instances where ICT can
sometimes help overcome institutional rigidities, e.g., by allowing outsourcing of specific
tasks and diminishing the power of unions intransigent to change.
ICT can increase transparency, provide better information for decision-making and
operations, and increase public pressure for reforms. Transparency alone doesn’t always
speed decision-making, as in many processes there are dislocations amongst
stakeholders—some winners and some losers. To realize the full benefits of ICT requires
the active participation of all stakeholders and this, in turn, needs human capacity building.
In addition, all solutions should be adapted to local circumstances and needs. Externally
imposed solutions have usually not been effective or sustainable.
Basic Human Needs and Development
Food and Agriculture
Overview
Food supplies have Food is a basic human need, and agriculture (including fisheries, farming, livestock, etc.)
grown with population, employs the bulk of the global population. Technological improvements have kept pace with
population growth, averting global shortages of food, but regional imbalances and lags
but local and regional
remain, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa.
shortages remain a
concern The MDG target of halving the number of undernourished by 2015 is difficult to realize at
the current rate of reduction of hungry individuals (estimated at ~8 million a year on
average). The task requires paying concurrent attention to increase in farm productivity,
increased employment/livelihood opportunities in rural areas and improved conservation of
natural resources. Greater investment in biotechnological research in relation to agriculture
and trade is widely acknowledged to be a key factor in ensuring food security for all.34 A
number of professionals cite unbalanced global trade practices as a major impediment to
improving the lives of farmers in developing countries; developed countries maintain their
subsidies, tariffs, and interventions are necessary to maintain rural quality of life, if not
lifestyles.
34
Biotechnology doesn’t necessarily mean genetically engineered crops; the green revolution involved biotechnology without
genetic engineering.
Even within national borders, systems for price discovery and supply chain improvements
can be vital for farmers, increasing their share of the retail price from the 5-25% they often
receive for products (or lower, for the retail example of coffee, Figure 9).
200
160
Price (pence)
120
80
40
0
Farmer's Haulage Mktg&Drying Export Costs Packaging Roasting Retailer Price
Price
Source: “Earth” Special, The Guardian (2002)

Figure 9: Value-chain for a Cup of Coffee (UK)
Agricultural output depends on both the land available as well as the productivity (yield).
The availability of arable land has reached a plateau, and, combined with a rising
population, leads to lower per capita land for grain production (Table 8). The only solution is
increasing the output from the land—improving productivity.
Per capita grain

Arable land Per capita arable
Year 6 harvested area
(10 ha) land (ha)
(ha)
1700 265 0.44 n.a.
1850 537 0.44 n.a.
1920 913 0.45 n.a.
1950 1,170 0.47 0.23
1980 1,500 0.33 0.16
2000 1,450 0.23 0.12
2025 1,300* 0.16 ?
2050 1,200* 0.13 ?
Source: Rattan Lal (2003) Washington Workshop
* Different methodology; rounded estimate
Table 8: World Agricultural Land Availability
Agriculture needs to be Soil cannot produce more than the inputs it takes in – else it will degrade and require ever
sustainable – greater inputs up to the point of unusability.35 Sustainability is a fundamental part of long-
term agriculture, which is based on:
environmentally and
economically • Preserving the natural resource base
• Maintaining the soil’s productivity
• Maintaining environmental quality
• Alleviating human drudgery and suffering – making agriculture a viable and respected
livelihood
35
“Lal’s Law of Marginality: Marginal soils cultivated with marginal inputs produce marginal yields and support marginal living.”
The Green Revolution of the 1960s was realized by growing input-responsive varieties of
grains on fertile soils significantly enhanced by fertilizers and irrigation. About 40% of the
global food production comes from the 17% of farmland that is irrigated.36 However, the
growth of irrigation is slowing, and is now under 1% growth annually. In addition, nutrient
input to the soil, which grew six-fold between 1960-1990 (25 million nutrient tons to 150
million tons), is only expected to grow by 50% in the subsequent three decades. The
regional disparities highlight the importance of inputs. Fertilizer use in Tropical Africa is
between 2-19 kg/ha, or only 2.5% of the world’s consumption. Asia uses 73 kg/ha, which is
lower than what the western nations consume. To compound matters, only 2% of irrigable
land area in Africa is presently irrigated. Differences in inputs explain, in part, the enormous
disparity in productivity (Table 9).
World Cereal Yield (tons/ha)

World average yield 3.31
Highest yield (Belgium) 8.48
Lowest yield (Botswana)* 0.24
Source: FAOSTAT data (2004)

*Data for Cape Verde appear incomplete, showing 0.2000 tons/ha for the last two years,
a dramatic decline over 5 years prior.
Table 9: World Cereal Productivity
The answer is not merely increasing inputs to the soil. In fact, over-irrigation can lead to
dramatic soil degradation such as water saturation, reduced aeration, salinity, runoff of
nutrients, proliferation of weeds, etc. Soil degradation might be a physical process, but it is
fueled by extended neglect and misuse of natural resources and not utilizing the scientific
findings that could have saved the land from degradation.
Enough information and knowledge in agricultural sciences are now available to grow
sufficient food with reasonable geographic and economic equity. Unfortunately, in many
developing countries, technical know-how is not easily translated into practical strategies,
especially not in the context of economic, social, cultural, political and ethnic realities. This
is where ICT can play an important role, beginning with education, but extending to soil
analysis, weather analysis, market analysis, etc. Looking at how different forms of farming
affect land requirements per capita, technology and practices are the differentiating factor
(Table 10).
36
Data and information in this section draw extensively from Rattan Lal, Washington, D.C., Workshop Presentation (2003).
Farming System/input level Ha/person
Shifting cultivation 2.65

Low traditional 1.20
Moderate traditional 0.60
Improved traditional 0.17
Moderate technological 0.11
High technological 0.08
Special technological 0.05
Source: Rattan Lal Washington Workshop Presentation (2003)

Table 10: Typical Land Requirements for Different Farming Systems. Increasing
productivity in higher technology systems includes use of ICT.
Challenges
1) Increase the rate of reduction in the number of hungry individuals from the current rate
of about 8 millions per annum to over 22 millions per annum
2) Improve food production for enhanced nutrition and health
3) Preserve natural resources including water
4) Prevent land erosion and stabilize land quality
5) Increase access to markets
6) Value addition through agro-products and food processing
7) Enhance and make available education about best practices solutions for improved
output and incomes
8) Improve agricultural practices, including appropriate use of biotechnology
9) Increase livelihood options in rural areas, taking out a substantial fraction from a sole
dependence on agriculture
10) Help to minimize suffering from catastrophic failures in agriculture, which causes
human suffering as well as increases pressure for urbanization. Establish adequate
safety nets (public and/or private) to protect the rural population affected by crop
failures
11) Reduce wastage and spoilage of produce
12) Development of hygienic and non-perishable storage and packaging systems, while
maintaining environmental compatibility
Barriers
1) Limited institutional accountability and capacity, and lack of dedicated effort and political
will to end hunger anytime soon (through actions and funding)
2) Poor access to education in agricultural practices; limited ability to participate in
exchange of knowledge between experts and farmers as well as farmer to farmer
exchanges
3) Limited rural infrastructure for food processing and other value addition
4) Lack of appropriate technologies and organizational structures for monitoring water
usage, contamination, drought prediction and other resource control mechanisms
5) Lack of access to regional/national and global markets for goods; limited price and other
information on other regional/national markets for agricultural products. No consensus
on allowing gradual integration of global commodity trade and markets; simultaneous

fragmentation of local markets
6) Existence of “perverse” subsidies that compensate (ecologically as well as
economically) inefficient production practices
7) Actual or perceived corporate dominance and of advanced technologies, with
monopolistic effects on farmers
8) Declining investment in application of frontier technologies in agricultural research and
lack of investment in research on technologies for off-farm enterprises
9) Globalization unmindful of local concerns
1) Increased nutritional levels across the population, with increased food production
2) Increased access to regional/national and global markets, with improved share of end-
user price going to the farmer
3) Reduction in spoilage of food at the source and in transport
4) Development of systems for monitoring of land usage, water usage, drought prediction
and other resource control mechanisms
5) Development and use of ICT for knowledge networks in agricultural practices
6) Ability to process food and provide value-addition
7) Viability of farming as profession, with a reduction in urbanization
8) Enhanced adoption of ecologically sound production practices on the small farm
Role of ICT
ICT can help with both the physical production of food, as well as improving agriculture as a
livelihood.
• Sensors and Information Systems – to optimize inputs based on soil, water, crop, and
environmental conditions
• Interaction with specialists – two way audio-visual communications for pest
management, e.g., diagnosis of diseases through digital images and expert advice
• Marketing and logistics enhancement – price discovery, bargaining power, and supply
chain efficiency
1) Drip and advanced irrigation systems – this will impact sustainability and reduce water
needs
2) Solutions to match inputs and effort (fertilizer, pesticides, sowing timing, etc.) with soil,
crop, weather and other conditions, which can also be linked to advanced irrigation
systems
3) Determine role and potential for ICT vis-à-vis physical inputs required for productivity
4) Making agriculture related information available and compatible with available hardware
and communications technologies (e.g., cell-phones – as a hardware platform and
communications means)
One major issue with increased use of ICT (common to many aspects of development) is
the asymmetric ability of stakeholders to benefit from ICT. Large buyers or traders of
commodities are more likely to be able to squeeze farmers for lower prices than farmers are
able to bargain for better prices. This was seen in the case of coffee, where retail prices
stayed flat or grew, while the prices paid to farmers declined. One suggestion has been to
develop ICT based auctions, which can mitigate the market power of large buyers.
However, auctions should be distance enabled, as ITC’s e-Choupal system shows.
e-Choupal: ICT for rural agriculture37
e-Choupal38 is the successful initiative developed by ITC Ltd., a major Indian

conglomerate with an agribusiness arm. Within four years, ITC has established
roughly 5,050 e-Choupal kiosks covering 31,000 villages and 3.1 million farmers. This
allows the farmer a choice to sell directly to ITC or the traditional market (mandi) for
produce. The first use was for soybean, but it is now extended to other foods. ITC
pays for installing the system, which is operated by a local village farmer, the
Sanchalak. (who is literate, respected in the community, but typically not e-literate).
The traditional mandi system, which was inefficient, produced high profits for the
middleman, but farmers had to travel with their output to sell their crop. While there
were auctions in place, the sunk cost of travel meant farmers typically took what they
could get. Now, farmers are empowered within the village with free information on
pricing, independent of any transaction they may choose. In addition, the system
provides real-time and other information such as weather, best practices, etc., and
provides e-commerce transactions with better pricing and quality for seeds, fertilizer,
etc., as well as other goods and services that have been quality-controlled.
This has been successful because ITC brings a ready market and transformed supply
chain system for farmers. In addition, they have the farmer’s trust, and the Sanchalak
takes a public oath to serve the villagers. Sanchalaks provide the housing for the
equipment and the operating costs of ~$100/year (power, telecom usage, etc.—the
latter is decreasing with deployment of VSAT systems by ITC), and gain prestige, a
working computer, and a commission from ITC on all completed transactions (but
browsing and the information is free for farmers).
The e-Choupals have been established within walking or cycling distance for a farmer
(one per cluster of 5-6 villages), and the multipurpose warehouses/processing
centers (where the grain is delivered) are within tractor driving distance. The 2003
transactions, without spanning many crops, were $100 million and over the next
decade, ITC aims to extend this system to 100,000 villages (20,000 installations), or
10 million farmers, and transactions of over $2.5B. The system works because the
farmers find upto 20% higher prices for their grain, and also reduced costs overall,
and ITC has reduced their transaction costs by 75% (Table 11). ITC also increases
its quality control and can offer traceability to its customer base, important due to the
small farm sizes in India.
37
This section draws from: Digital Dividends Case Study, “What Works: ITC'S e-Choupal and Profitable Rural Transformation,”
Kuttayan Annamalai and Sachin Rao, August 2003; “Going Direct to the Farmer: ITC’s e-Choupal Initiative,” Ravi Anupindi,
presented at SCTL Roundtable July 2004; information from ITC through personal discussions.
38
Hindi term for a rural meeting place; it is different from a mandi, or market-yard.
Mandi Chain e-Choupal Chain

Processor’s Processor’s
Farmer’s Costs Farmer’s Costs
Costs Costs
Trolley Trolley Commission
Commission 100
Freight to 100 100 Freight to 100 to Agent
to Agent 50
Mandi Mandi Sanchalak
Labor – Cost of Filling & Cost of
Filling & 70 Gunny Bags 75 Weighing 70 Gunny Bags 75
Weighing (net) Labour (net)
Labor – Labor – Labor – Labor –
Khadi Karai 50 Stitching, 35 Khadi Karai 50 Stitching, 35
(holding) Loading (holding) Loading
Labor at Labor at
Handling Handling
50 Factory 35 50 Factory 35
Loss Loss
(Unload) (Unload)
Freight to Freight to 250
250
Factory Factory 100
Transit Transit
10 10
Losses Losses
Totals 270 505 0 185
Source: ITC (2005)
Table 11: Costs for Mandi vs. e-Choupal (Rs../ton, e.g., soybeans)
Some lessons from the system are:

• A local stakeholder is vital to ensuring trust and alignment of incentives – the
Sanchalak.
• Competition and choices for the farmer are key (for e-commerce/suppliers/trade
fulfillment) – ensuring efficiency and that farmers benefit.
• The system must be tailored to the crop at hand and its specific supply chain
needs.
• Telecommunications are a large fraction of the cost, both operating and capital;
one needs to innovate to find less expensive last-mile connectivity solutions.
Power
Printer VSAT PC Total
(Rs.) Related
2003-04 Costs 7,000 15,000 70,000 30,000 122,000
Source: Digital Dividends: “What Works: ITC'S e-Choupal and Profitable Rural
Transformation” (2003)
Table 12: ITC's e-Choupal Capital Costs per Kiosk (2003-04)
[One US$ ~ 45 Rupees]
• e-Literacy is not an issue – a local person can learn this (any) technology as long
as he/she has a stake in it and benefits from it. In fact, Sanchalaks learned to
transliterate Hindi using an English keyboard as the most efficient manner of
communicating (Hindi script can be cumbersome, requiring multiple keystrokes
per character).
• There are synergies for this infrastructure (for agriculture and for general
education, retailing, e-commerce, e-governance, etc.) ITC is extending e-health
and e-education into rural areas through this platform, and partnering with NGOs
for micro-credit facilities, soil and water conservation, etc.
• There are certainly some “losers” – e.g., the mandi middlemen; ITC still pays
mandi taxes to the government, but there may be other regulatory concerns with
growth.
Healthcare
Overview
Three major diseases now take a heavy toll of lives in developing countries, especially
in Africa: HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), and malaria. These add up to almost 6.5 million
deaths a year with AIDS deaths totaling almost 3 million (2.3 million in Africa alone)
closely followed by TB with 2 million deaths (1.5 million in Africa) and malaria with 1.5
million (960,000 in Africa). Deaths from two of these are largely preventable today with
appropriate drugs and precautions, and the ravages caused by AIDS can at least be
minimized. Infant mortality deaths, largely due to water-borne diseases, malnutrition,
and lack of post-natal care, have also reduced the life expectancy in many developing
countries. Diarrhea alone kills an estimated 2.2 million people annually, mostly children.
Indoor air pollution has become a major killer in developing countries (while urban air
pollution has reduced in middle and high income countries). Other major diseases in
developing countries, especially from a growth rate perspective, are cardiovascular,
diabetes, and hepatitis, deaths from which are preventable to varying degrees.
There is a well-established inverse relationship between overall development and

burden of disease. However, even for a given level of income (a proxy for development),
indicators such as malnutrition vary significantly amongst countries. This suggests that
there is more to health than mere economic wellbeing.
Successful healthcare, Globally, healthcare is an enormous sector of the economy, roughly double that of
like other areas of agriculture in size (and relatively much larger in developed countries). Most modern
systems of healthcare focus on government policies and formal healthcare provision.
development, requires
However, if we examine the causes of disease in developing countries, and their
improvements outside associated reduction in life-years, we can immediately recognize the need for increased
the domain, such as in expenditure on determinants outside the modern health system, especially the
39
energy, water and household and community (Figure 10).
sanitation, etc.
Source: World Health Report 2002: Reducing Risks, Promoting Healthy Life, WHO
Note : DALY – disability-adjusted life year
Figure 10: Burden of Disease Attributable to 10 Selected Leading Risk Factors in High Mortality Developing Countries
39
Portions of this section draw from Washington, D.C., Workshop presentation by W. Henry Mosley, 2003.
Most factors that lead to disease in developing countries lie outside the modern
healthcare system. Even their diagnosis is not integral to many systems, and aggressive
prevention is not systematized (the notable exception being vaccination). If we study
some of the causes in greater detail, we clearly see the household is the primary agent
for promoting health (Table 13).
Undernutrition Food production/purchase and storage;

Dietary selection and meal preparation;
Family food allocation;
Dietary practices in pregnancy and postpartum;
Breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices; etc.
Unsafe sex Negotiating gender roles and sexual relationships;
“Protecting” unmarried daughters (and sons), delaying sexual
debut, arranging marriages, secluding women, limiting sexual
partners, utilizing condoms; etc.
Unsafe water, Collection, storage, utilization of water;
sanitation and Bathing, washing clothing, bedding, utensils, use of soap;
hygiene Food preparation (incl. Infant formula) and storage;
Latrine practices and waste disposal; etc.
Indoor smoke Use of biomass for fuel;
from solid fuel Use of (inefficient) open indoor fires;
Lack of windows/ventilation, etc.
Source: W. Henry Mosley, Washington Workshop Presentation (2003)
Table 13: Household Activities and Burden of Disease
Given the prominence of the household in determining health, the female is the de-facto
healthcare provider for most rural underserved communities. She is not only involved or
responsible for the above activities, but is also the first line of defense, providing triage
and rudimentary care. One requirement would thus be to empower her with information
both medical as well as relating to common household activities and how these impact
health. This also relates to overall gender empowerment and related social issues.
A number of developing countries, especially in Latin America, have found visible

success in utilizing social networks to improve healthcare. In some countries, trained
healthcare workers are assigned to small groups of families, visiting them regularly to
provide pre-natal and other basic care. This has had a significant impact in reducing
maternal and early childhood mortality.
Ultimately, as with many aspects of development, outside factors not within the domain
determine the overall level of development; in healthcare there are inherent linkages to
infrastructure such as water/sanitation and to agriculture. Nutritionists now point out that
merely growing enough food (calories) is not the only challenge. Carbohydrates have
grown dramatically in supply and so many of the global poor, though not suffering from
starvation, lack adequate proteins (including dairy), vitamins, micronutrients, etc. for
improved health and productive capability.
Challenges
1) Increase longevity and survival statistics

2) Reach the entire population and educate them in a persuasive manner on health
issues
3) Ensure that malaria and TB are eradicated and the affected cured
4) Make educational information universally available on how to prevent the spread of
AIDS and help the victims from being ostracized
5) Provide health care and health information to people in difficult-to-reach rural areas,
including through outreach programs
6) Make telemedicine systems routinely available in all remote areas
7) Minimize deaths from water-borne diseases and poor sanitation
8) Provide education on pre-natal and post-natal care
9) Improve healthy lifestyles (diet, exercise, etc.)
10) Incorporate traditional and so-called alternative medicine in a scientific manner.
Barriers
1) Lack of available and affordable healthcare

2) Poor governmental investments for healthcare
3) Acute scarcity of hospitals and healthcare facilities, and overcrowding in existing
ones
4) Scarcity of lifesaving drugs and equipment, and their high cost
5) Poor water sanitation and hygiene, and limited availability of infrastructure such as
electricity, telecommunications etc.
6) Lack of information on healthcare options, hygiene, and personal health
7) Lack of clean fuels for cooking and limited enforcement of urban air quality
standards
8) Shortage of well-trained health professionals, especially in rural and economically
depressed areas
9) Spurious medicines and quacks
10) Modern lifestyles with increased stress and pollution, unhealthy diets, and reduced
exercise
11) Increasing tobacco consumption, especially in developing countries
12) Ostracizing people with infectious diseases
13) Gender discrimination and disparities due to income
14) Increased resistance to drugs by pathogens due to indiscriminate usage
15) Lack of insurance options or safety nets
16) Lack of incentives for health care practitioners to move to rural areas
17) Lack of well-defined measures or data on quality of life, especially for the elderly
18) A system that emphasizes cures over prevention, and also sets research priorities
based on “market,” effectively shutting out developing country diseases
1) Increases in life expectancy

2) Reduction in infant mortality and maternal deaths
3) Millennium goals for reducing the spread of TB, Malaria and AIDS
4) Immunization of all children under 5
5) Gender equality in healthcare
6) Sustainability in percentage of GDP devoted to healthcare
Role of ICT
ICT can play an important role in healthcare around the world, both in developing and
developed countries. Healthcare can be 10+% of the GDP in some countries, and
simply using ICT for streamlining logistics and operations alone can lead to significant
returns. Telemedicine can extend the availability of medical specialists to rural and other
underserved areas. ICT can also play a role in societal health issues, including diseases
that are communicable or that affect a segment of the population (especially epidemics).
Some funding and efforts might be directed towards epidemiological detection of
malicious biological incidents (bio-terrorism), but the general principles and systems can
apply. One of the primary roles ICT can play in developing regions is on education: An
ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.40
Questions for stakeholders who aim to integrate ICT into modern healthcare systems
include:41
• Is there a functioning information system that would gain in performance with new
ICT?
• Are there growing operational needs, e.g. logistics, finance, personnel, services, that
ICT systems could more easily manage?
• Are there new data gathering and analytical needs that ICT systems could simplify?
• Are there knowledge and skill building needs that can be efficiently facilitated by
ICT?
• Are there global and local interaction needs that would be best met by ICT systems?
ICT’s impact has been There are many successful examples of ICT for healthcare projects, such as the use of
easier to find within hydrologic sensors, satellite imagery, and forecasting software to help eradicate the
black fly—which causes river blindness—across parts of West Africa. Optimized
modern healthcare
insecticide spraying protects 30,000,000 people, and frees up 100,000 square miles of
systems, which is often land. However, most cases are niche and ICT has yet to become integrated into societal
beyond the reach of a healthcare, especially not to the extent the technologies could allow. Some gaps
large fraction of the include: 42
population
• Lack of stakeholder participation, especially those that are directly afflicted
• Poor integration of local information and locally relevant information
• Overemphasis on top-down decision-making and management
• Limited integration of ICT into existing programs
• Limited integration of various high and low-tech solutions, such as mobile phones,
TV, radio, etc.
• Insufficient thought given to barriers to ICT use (outside the healthcare domain)
• Insufficient attention paid to the role of intermediaries in ICT for healthcare
40
ICT need not be computers and the Internet. In the case of HIV/AIDS, the most common source of information for
laypeople, by far, was radio (HIV/AIDS and Behavior Report, June 2002, United Nations).
41
Presented by W. Henry Mosley at the Washington Workshop.
42
Adapted from The Digital Pulse: The Current and Future Applications of Information and Communication Technologies for
Developmental Health Priorities; Chapter 1: State of Health ICT4D: Issues and Gaps by Communication Initiative (January
5, 2004).
ICT is already being integrated into modern healthcare systems, but ICT needs to be
appropriately scaled for the provider at hand (who might be an semi-literate midwife).
1) Making healthcare information available and compatible with available hardware and
communications technologies (e.g., cell-phones – as a hardware platform and
communications means)
2) ICT solutions that are user-centric and user driven, and don’t require ICT specialists
to operate or maintain
Education
Overview
ICT can enhance Education has two components, basic education (literacy) and advanced (which may or
education at all levels, may not include specialized or ICT training). Education highlights a number of divides,
including gender (Figure 11). Much of the deliberations at the Bangalore Workshop
but there is also a need
were on basic education and eradicating illiteracy.
for improved education
for developing and At present, over 120 million children are not in school. Many governments have statutes
improving ICT skills for universal basic education, but limitations of infrastructure prevent them from fulfilling
this mission. In addition, families themselves face (and impose) constraints on sending
children to school, especially girls (who are put to household and outside work). Efforts
towards complementary development may have a strong “free rider” benefit in
increasing school enrollments. In the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, almost 100% of
appropriate age children are in primary school. This was achieved not just by an
increased budget for education but also by the government improving availability of
piped water into villages and small sized bottled gas cylinders for cooking. This freed
the children up from having to fetch water or cut down firewood for cooking. In the
Indian state of Tamil Nadu, a midday meal scheme at schools drew in the large majority
of children, and has even led to virtually zero population growth rate.43
43
Demographers expected declines in fertility after a generation, as girls would go to school, become empowered, marry later
in life, etc. To their pleasant surprise, families began having less children very soon, as the girls—who went to school in part
for the meals—were no longer available as baby-sitters for the mothers, who have to work in the field.
Source : UNESCO and World Bank staff estimates
Figure 11a (above) and Figure 11b (below): Gender Education and Primary School
Completion Inequalities. MDG 3 is to eliminate gender disparity in primary and
secondary education, preferably by 2005, and to all levels of education no later than
2015.
Percentage of relevant
age group
Less than 50%
50–74%
75–84%
85–94%
95% or more
No data Primary completion rate, 1995-2001
Source: Millennium Development Goals Website
Note: Western Europe, Australia, US and Canada all have nearly universal primary
completion rates, making the map appear much more “green.”
Challenges
1) Universal literacy, including adult literacy

2) Increasing female education levels to parity, beyond just literacy concerns
3) Establishing vocational and technical education programs, with curriculum

relevance for employability
4) Make contents rich, affordable and available at all levels of learning, including a
Universal Digital Library
5) Make contents available in different languages
6) Develop computer simulated experiments in sciences for students to perform and
learn
7) Develop and disseminate programs to help children with learning difficulties or
physical disabilities
8) Assist and empower teachers and provide them with tools for providing quality
education
9) Modernize curricula to be relevant and worthwhile for students
10) Establish standards and certification procedures for education
Barriers
1) Lack of adequate governmental budgetary provision for education and training

2) Lack of governmental support and encouragement for learning; no mandate for
universal literacy supported through action and funding
3) Limited checks on student achievement or capability levels; poor enforcement of
standards
4) Curricula that are outdated and provide limited value to students; inertia or vested
interests preventing change
5) Lack of qualified and motivated teachers; few incentives for choosing teaching as a
profession
6) Overworked and underpaid teachers who have no incentives, resources or time to
devote to learning and then using ICT
7) Competing claims from families to withdraw children from school (e.g., working in
the fields)
8) Mistaken belief that ICT can “fix” education on its own, leading to misallocation of
resources
1) Universal literacy, especially with meaningful measures (“functional literacy”)

2) Increasing employment for women
3) Well-trained workforce with hands-on (learning-by-doing) experience
4) Increase in teachers and funding for education
5) Ability for anyone to access any educational content at very little or no cost
6) Reflection of increased education through overall economic growth
7) Increased patenting and innovation from developing countries
Role of ICT
ICT can help education and literacy, as it has the technological prowess of extensive
reach, and provides options to tailor the output to meet individual needs at anytime of
his or her choosing. More than such conveniences, ICT can overcome some of the
major handicaps inherent in conventional education. For instance, it can provide quality
education with appropriate graphics and experimental presentations that are today
available only in a few select urban schools; it doesn’t discriminate on the basis of
gender or income, and can be made available in any language. These characteristics of
ICT enabled education are available at any level including for courses in practical
training, adult education or continuing education. Government programs are often
required to bring ICT to under-funded schools. Chile’s educational reforms of the 1990s
included integrating ICT, and the Enlaces program of providing computers, connectivity,
and software now reaches over 90% of students in government-assisted schools.44
ICT should enhance or ICT can be used to enhance education and supplement traditional education. ICT for
supplement traditional education need not be real-time interactive or online; television, radio, and post have all
played a major role in education in countries ranging from Australia to China (where
education, not replace
44% of higher education students in the 1980s were using radio or TV based distance
it education (in combination with post)45.
Workshop Participants were unanimous that while ICT can enhance education, it isn’t a
quick-fix for the institutional shortcomings of many current educational systems. These
include the obvious issues such as under-funding, lack of teachers, etc., but also deeper
issues such as lack of specialized or customized education for underrepresented
segments of society. Given resource constraints, it is important for educators and
planners to coordinate efforts and learn from what works and what doesn’t, both within
and across borders.
ICT should not become One of the main issues relates to capacity building for educators. ICT should not become
an additional burden another burden, in fact, another divide, upon teachers. They need hardware, software,
training, and connectivity. One special potential for ICT is to allow easier customization
for teachers
and specialization of content, especially geared towards special classes of underserved or
disadvantaged users (gender, age, disabilities, etc.) In addition, ICT can help reach those
outside formal school systems, such as through TV, radio, and videos. One challenge is
incorporating such non-traditional delivery mechanisms into funded and certified
educational programs.
While education, especially primary education, remains the responsibility of the state,
there is significant evidence that people not only want better education than that often
available in public institutions, they are willing to pay the private sector for such
services. This raises not only equity and class issues, but issues of quality and
standards. Governments should regulate or monitor such private providers, but, at the
same time, support them when they play a complementary role. The NGO developers of
Tarahaat, the pioneering rural consumer online portal and solution, found education to
be one of their most demanded and viable offerings. This provides evidence that rural
consumers are capable of benefiting from ICT enabled education and services.
1) National and international coordination on education, perhaps through an

International Liaison Committee
2) Solutions for easy scalability of ICT, especially teaching the teachers
3) Development of appropriate content, with access and availability (this includes
digital libraries)
4) Efficient feedback systems that make expert teachers and advanced learning
available to all students
44
ICT and MDGs: World Bank Group Perspective, December 2003.
45
ICT and MDGs: World Bank Group Perspective, December 2003.
e-Books and Digital Libraries

Carnegie Mellon, working with partners such as the Indian Institute of Science, is
working on a Universal Digital Library project. The aim is to have online, with free
access, one million books by 2005-06, and by 2020, have a large fraction of the
world’s books online. The global libraries have roughly 70 million unique books
between them, in all languages (excluding journals and magazines), and the cost to
digitize them is modest, ~$25/book—this is the cost to not simply digitize them as a
46
picture but convert them to searchable text, that too in local languages. The biggest
bottleneck remains copyright, which is why the initial thrust has been on classics and
other books out of copyright.
Most publications or media are not profitable (but a few are blockbusters), and many
publications are out of print but still in copyright. One proposed model is for society to
appreciate creative works and compensate authors in return for permitting open
public access to their works. Libraries serve this function, but only a few countries like
the UK have a compensation scheme to pay royalties to authors for lost revenues
from free access to their books in libraries. If a government-funded payment scheme
were to become universally accepted, we can create a global digital library that
contains all out-of-copyright and out-of-print and out-of-money books, music and
movies. This would lead to a win-win situation – the public would have access to
works that would otherwise be inaccessible, and the author would have the pleasure
of (and money from) knowing that his or her work is of value and relevance to society.
A parallel model,47 not mutually exclusive to public access models, would be for
online digital publications to be an additional stage of publishing. Just like hardcover
books are the most expensive (and released first), followed by paperback and then
versions exclusively for sale in developing countries, “digitalback” versions could be
offered at even lower prices, but after an appropriate delay of 6-18 months to prevent
conflict with traditional sales.
Public funding of access to information is not a new idea. 100 years ago there were
few public libraries. Until Andrew Carnegie made it a worldwide mission, a library as a
“public good” was not widely acknowledged or acted upon. Today, it is estimated that
global public spending on libraries is in excess of 40 billion dollars and that the US
alone spends over 12 billion dollars annually in support of libraries. In the 21st
century, since much of the information is likely to be digital and accessed via the
Internet, it seems appropriate that an amount equivalent to the annual library
expenditures should be set aside from public funds (perhaps gradually reaching
parity over 25 years) to enable digital access to information and knowledge. But
unlike physical libraries, where much of the costs are for buildings and people, in a
digital library a significant portion of the funds (say 25%) could be set aside as royalty
payments to authors and artists of creative works to be paid based on number of
accesses rather than number of copies. The savings from not requiring as much
physical space or maintenance might alone justify such a transition.
Basic Human Needs and Development – General Observations
In their daily lives, people recognize the need for information. Today, they mainly seek
information as facts (prices, weather, etc.). From data we can extract information, and
this can be analyzed and synthesized and, ultimately, we can achieve knowledge.
Humans today perform these tasks using various modes of communication. In future
some of these tasks can be done by machines, or at least humans aided by expert
systems.
To foster such collaboration (and archive knowledge for future use) requires
appropriately designed ICT that is available, accessible, and affordable. Across all the
46
While there are several other large projects on digital libraries, CMU has a special focus on international languages and
content.
47
Sustainable ICT for Emerging Economies: Mythology and Reality of the Digital Divide Problem – A Discussion Note (2004).
Raj Reddy, V. S. Arunachalam, Rahul Tongia, Eswaran Subrahmanian, and N. Balakrishnan.
domains for human development, appropriate content (dubbed “Content customization

for cultural context” at the Workshops) requires innovations in ICT to make contents
more inclusive for local stakeholders. Given infrastructural constraints, this might require
solutions such as local caching and distributed storage. Even with governmental
support, these activities would require new business models and creative financing to
help sustain them. In addition to traditional participants (government, business,
individual end-users, and philanthropists), collective ownership models (co-ops) or
community systems were suggested as attractive models. These can also help
empower women if they are targeted as stakeholders, a model used by the Grameen
Bank and Grameen Phone in Bangladesh. Microfinance and affordable credit have been
recognized as vital to helping ICT penetrate into underserved areas.
The Human Development Working Group proposed several activities over varying
timeframes (Table 14).
Timeframe Activities
• Initiate several projects on customization
• Foster courses targeted at ICT facilitators, etc.
• Educate technologists about actual potential users and their
behaviors
2 Years • Educate potential users about the possibilities
• Start to build the database of recent successful and failed case
studies
• Sensitize policymakers to issues
• Initiate several projects on customization
• Reports on existing deployments
• Have graduated several advanced degrees in ICT for SD
5 Years • Have established forum(s) where these issues are dealt with
• Replication to other developing region(s)
• Influence worldwide designs/processes
• Products originate from developing (now developed?)
communities
• Customized content ubiquitous
10 Years
• Access to remote (geo and socially) regions
• Government/private partnerships facilitate equity
• Government seeds new ICT initiatives
Table 14: Action Plan and Activities – ICT for Human Development – Bangalore
Workshop Working Group Recommendations
Economic Growth and Employment
Overview
Economic growth is recognized as one of the key factors to improved quality of life,
though the Human Development Index (HDI) doesn’t perfectly correlate with GDP
(Figure 12). The differences become starker when we compare the variance within a
region, but regions as a whole tend to follow the trend.
Distribution of wealth, captured by the Gini Coefficient,48 provides one view of inequality,
but such data as published rarely incorporate sub-regional granularity, or breakdowns
paralleling other divides (gender, age, community, rural/urban, etc.)
While HDI has become an accepted metric for development, much of the attention of
policy-makers focuses on economic measures, such as GDP. In addition to concerns over
data accuracy and granularity, such measures fail to capture much of the activity in many
developing regions, which occurs in the informal sector. One of the key challenges is to
ensure that economic growth is inclusive and broad-based.49
48
Gini Coefficient – a metric of income inequality based on the distribution of income by households or individuals. Its
computation is based on shape of the Lorenz Curve, which plots the cumulative income by individual or household, from 0
to 100% of the population.
49
One school of thought, captured in Kuznet’s Curve, is that “development” (economic growth) will initially worsen income
inequality, taking many years to stabilize and trickle down.
180
Nigeria Sierra Leone
Yemen
160 Tajikistan
Kenya
Haiti Burkina Faso

140
Sri Lanka Pakistan

Ghana Angola
GDP (PPP) Rank
120
Turkmenistan India
100 Lebanon
China
Ukraine Cape Verde
Cuba
80
Turkey Namibia
Mexico Iran, Islamic Rep. of
Czech Republic Thailand
60 Brazil Botswana OECD (Hi Income)
Poland Russian Federation Latin America & Caribbean
South Africa
Mauritius
Barbados Saudi Arabia S. Asia
40
Korea, Rep. of
Seychelles CIS/E. & Central Europe
20 Sweden Singapore United Arab Emirates Arab States

Japan Hong Kong, China (SAR)
Germany E. Asian and Pacific
Norway Equatorial Guinea Sub-Saharan Africa

0 Luxembourg
United States
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180
HDI Rank
*GDP data is for 2002, PPP

Created from UNDP Human Development Report 2004 Data
**Country groupings are per Human Development Report 2004, except Turkey and Cyprus, which are bundled into CIS/E. & Central Europe
Figure 12: Difference Between HDI Rank and GDP (PPP) Rank. These are rankings only and cannot be compared between GDP and HDI.
Higher numbers indicate poorer performance.
There are numerous studies that show the correlation between economic development and
ICT or networking penetration. However, these do not necessarily show causality. If a group
cannot pay for certain ICT, the facilities either require continuous subsidy, or fall into disuse.
Data from the Sustainable Access for Rural India (SARI) project in Tamil Nadu, India,
showed that with a 1% increase in earning, people increased ICT usage by 1.4%. It is
unclear how much the increased ICT usage led to increase in incomes. Many reports or
figures are only anecdotal or case specific, e.g., using ICT for crop price discovery.
ICT and economic development can be categorized into two categories:

[1] servicing and development of ICT technologies and industries such as call centers, back
office services, hardware, software and process development, and [2] using ICT enabled
processes and services to enhance efficiency, create more opportunities and generate new
avenues for employment.
In terms of ICT Services (Type [1]), there is a backlash from developed countries against
such offshoring—indeed it was an issue in the 2004 US presidential elections. In his
Keynote Address, Joseph Stiglitz argued this fear is overblown, despite the vast labor pool
in developing countries. One reason is the number of developed country jobs (especially
ICT enabled or based) that are “contestable” today is a fraction of a percent of the
employment needs. From a developing country perspective, this is a yet smaller percentage
of the workforce that can find such employment. While India, Philippines, and even Ghana
have had some success in ICT services for global (Western) needs, developing countries
must expand their domestic markets to make ICT growth driven by local needs and
opportunities, as Brazil has done.
The services sector is Even though the fraction of the population servicing the West through ICT may be small,
almost 2/3 of the world the trickle-down and spin-off effects are significant. The developing country ICT
professionals (typically young), whether they work in their native countries or abroad,
economy, and is
interact closely with the West, absorbing part of its culture and some of the business
increasingly dependent practices as well. They, in turn, demand better quality services – from their governments
on ICT and their private sectors. While the brain drain still continues to be relevant, there is a
perceptible change with professionals from China and India returning to their own
50
countries. It remains to be seen whether the reverse brain drain grows not only in China
and India but in other countries as well. This would depend critically on available
opportunities, modernization of the infrastructure and business practices in developing
countries.
An immediate and ultimately greater benefit from ICT may be in traditional industries, in
increasing efficiency and competitiveness. Globalization, recent hiccups aside, is not
slowing down, and developing countries can use ICT to become globally competitive,
instead of becoming only importers of products. In addition to logistics and supply chain
improvements, ICT can enhance transparency; corruption is cited as a major barrier to
increased economic trade and output.
While the late 1990s saw increased hype over Business to Consumer (B2C) e-commerce,
Business to Business (B2B) is roughly 95% of e-commerce.51 While the split is not known
for developing countries, given the lower penetration of computers with consumers, it is
likely that businesses, government, and services (schools, hospitals, etc.) would be the
major users of both computers as well as computer based transactions. In spite of this lack
50
China has had the most success in bringing back its professionals after periods abroad—spanning most segments of the
economy, not just ICT—with hundreds of thousands returning.
51
E-commerce and Development Report 2003, UNCTAD (2003)
of local demand, businesses in developing countries are learning to use e-commerce for
trading in developed country markets. While larger orders are now being executed through
electronic exchanges or portals, some products (such as handicrafts) are being sold in the
West through online marketplaces or auction services (equivalent to Ebay).
In many developed countries, the private sector, especially small and medium enterprises,
are the engine for economic and employment growth. In contrast, most developing
countries continue to have state-centered economies, with Government directly providing
many services that in the West are often in the hands of private, but regulated, companies.
While there is increased pressure for privatization and reforms, externally enforced reforms
have rarely produced expected outcomes. At the Bangalore Workshop, Joseph Stiglitz
summarized the lessons of East Asian and other rapidly developing economies where the
role of government is at its best as an enabler, focusing on services such as infrastructure
and education.
Almost all developing countries have created national Poverty Reduction Strategies under
consultation with the World Bank. These documents have become the primary instrument
for financing development by such agencies, increasingly to the governments directly
instead of to the individual projects. Virtually no Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper by any
country mentions the use of ICT in development or poverty reduction. Some development
professionals feel this imposes limitations on financing ICT based or enhanced
development or poverty reduction projects, at least until there is explicit discussion and
introduction of such wording into these documents.52
Economic Growth and Poverty Reduction through Servicing ICT Industries [1]
Challenges
1) Develop human resources with appropriate skill sets for technology needs
2) Targeted training to use ICT to meet different cultural and social needs
3) Create appropriate organizational structures and business processes to benefit from
ICT created opportunities
4) Develop appropriate governmental policies for transparent commercial practices and for
creating fiscal incentives to enhance ICT opportunities
Barriers
1) Poor literacy levels, lack of opportunities and environment for universal secondary and
affordable tertiary education in many regions of developing countries; poor quality of
education and training, even which is unaffordable to a large population; lack of
opportunities for continuing education and life-long training
2) Lack of institutions to train people for addressing local/regional needs, coupled with
neglect of local needs by industry
3) Brain drain of talented people to urban areas and developed countries
4) Absence of business intelligence units to inform of opportunities and provide linkages
5) Lack of tradition/experience in running businesses that interact globally
6) Lack of governmental experience in nurturing ICT industries with appropriate fiscal
incentives
7) Concerns in developed countries over loss of jobs to developing countries (outsourcing)
52
UN ICT Task Force Global Forum deliberations, Dublin, Ireland, April 13-14, 2005.
1) Increase in the share and growth of ICT and related services in the economy
2) Creation of governmental programs and incentives for ICT education and other relevant
areas for ICT enabled growth such as e-commerce
3) Increased use of appropriate standards for ICT enabled services
4) Establishing a number of training as well as collaborative programs in ICT both within
the country and abroad (developing and developed countries)
5) Bottom-up demand for ICT based services for local and domestic needs
ICT Enabled or Enhanced Employment Generation and Poverty Reduction [2]

Challenges
1) Identify areas to utilize if not substitute IC technologies in business and government

processes to improve the reach, volume and quality of services, and minimize
transactions costs. This especially applies to agriculture, which employs the largest
fraction of the world’s population
2) Develop new opportunities for meeting local needs
3) Identify new avenues for ICT that substitute mass production by catering to individually
customized needs (mass customization)
4) Develop new business models and processes to harness the opportunities in the global
market place
5) Identify opportunities that substitute labor-intensive production by computer
controlled/technology based processes, taking note of the local genius of the people.
This extends to reduced use of natural resources
6) Provide appropriate financial services and tax incentives to promote entrepreneurs
focused on the local/regional/domestic economy
7) Eliminate gender and other disparities in training, employment, and opportunities
8) Improve transparency in economic transactions and culture of awareness for the need
for transparency
Barriers
1) Ignorance of new ICT opportunities in various areas of the economy

2) Scarcity of people trained in ICT and business opportunities
3) Lack of affordable and adequate infrastructure; poor planning for its growth
4) Governmental lethargy to change existing structures and rules of business to quickly
respond to innovators needs
5) Fear of unemployment and objections by vested interests
6) Absence of incentives for change
7) Absence of independent investor community and regulated financial institutions
8) Geographically and otherwise uneven development and opportunities
9) Barriers to free and equitable global trade
10) Globalization that is asymmetric, leading to “winners take all” economies
1) Increase in number of areas and organizations using ICT enabled services in all areas
of human development and economy
2) Greater global competitiveness of developing countries and improved economic and

human development
3) Scalability and transferability of ICT enabled sustainable development projects
4) Increased number of people in the formal sector of the economy
5) Improving the quality of education at all levels from primary to tertiary with attention paid
to local contexts and needs
6) Increased capital generation for development and infrastructure from the economy
7) Increased level of credit availability across socio-economic classes, extending to foreign
direct investment as required
8) Increased access of modern amenities and infrastructure
9) Increased use of transparent services and increase in level of use and types of
transparent transactions
10) Increase in IPR filing from developing economies
11) Economic intelligence sharing in developing countries, with reliable data
Role of ICT [1&2]
• Creation of new hitherto new industries and sources of employment

• Increasing the competitiveness of existing and traditional industries
• Providing an equitable balance to globalization
• Reduce transaction costs and related burdens on the population, freeing them to
undertake productive activities
Examples of Needed Research [1&2]
1) Training packages for ICT education, for all levels of users

2) Increasing interconnectivity to and within developing countries (through new
technologies such as wireless) – to allow ICT and ICT enabled/enhanced services to
flourish
3) Improving software, hardware, and their integration so that solutions are robust, easy to
use and maintain, and have low total costs of ownership.
4) Solutions for low-cost and secure money transfer; corresponding systems for financial
credit and risk management
Alienation, Empowerment, and Governance
Alienation Issues and Empowerment [1]
Overview
The 20th century saw dramatic changes in social institutions and hierarchies, and
technologies that shrank distances were cited as a major factor. While in the past this was
transportation, it is now instantaneous communications technologies driving such changes.
ICT has been described ICT can be a powerful means for empowerment, especially for women and minorities.
as a great equalizer, if Earlier technologies for information dissemination, such as the radio, were extensions of
traditional information networks, with a centralized “authority” spreading information. The
not a democratizer
Internet can fundamentally alter this balance of power, allowing new and multiple layers of
interactions between individuals and groups. Giving stakeholders a voice is more than a
manifestation of empowerment. It also relates to participation and efficiency – many people
are outside modern service delivery systems, and they often don’t know their rights or what
is meant to be available from public and private providers.
Lack of empowerment and opportunities can be a driver for alienation, which might result in
increased anti-social tendencies. This is a particular challenge considering most developing
countries have a population pyramid with a very large number of youths, who can learn of
and perceive greater disparity than ever before due to ICT and the media.
However, the more chronic issue than extreme alienation is the subtle alienation of many
segments of the population, especially as relates to issues of identity and diversity. There
are many cultural divides, such as gender, rural/urban, religion, age, etc. Exacerbating this
is the very large increase in migration, both within and across countries, especially from
developing countries to developed. International migration and changes in population
makeup themselves are driven by underlying demographic changes. Not only is the
population growth rate of many OECD countries very low, within these the immigrant
communities often have high birth rates, at least for one generation. If we consider the
various dimensions of disempowerment and alienation, the exclusion is often not explicit,
but places one group at a social, economic, religious and political disadvantage. One
example is the unavoidable integration faced by many communities (Table 15).
Population with
Number of access to
Total population
Region or Group spoken education in
(millions)
languages mother tongue
in 2000
Sub-Saharan Africa 2,632 13% 641
East Asia and the
2,815 62% 1,918
Pacific
South Asia* 811 66% 1,480
Central and Eastern
625 74% 409
Europe and the CIS
High-Income OECD 1,299 87% 912
Latin America and the
1,086 91% 530
Caribbean
Source: “Human Development Report 2004 – Comments and Contributions from SIL”
(2004)
* Editors’ note: South Asia has many more languages and dialects than indicated—India
alone cites some 2,000—but many might be geographically limited or considered similar
enough to be amalgamated.
Table 15: Population Lacking Access to Primary Education in their Mother Tongue
The UNDP Human Development Report 2004 extensively deals with the issue of cultural
liberty, laying to rest several myths regarding cultural identity, peace and development:
• Myth 1. People’s ethnic identities compete with their attachment to the state, so there is
a trade-off between recognizing diversity and unifying the state.
• Myth 2. Ethnic groups are prone to violent conflict with each other in clashes of values,
so there is a trade-off between respecting diversity and sustaining peace.
• Myth 3. Cultural liberty requires defending traditional practices, so there could be a
trade-off between recognizing cultural diversity and other human development priorities
such as progress in development, democracy and human rights.
• Myth 4. Ethnically diverse countries are less able to develop, so there is a trade-off
between respecting diversity and promoting development.
• Myth 5. Some cultures are more likely to make developmental progress than others, and
some cultures have inherent democratic values while others do not, so there is a trade-
off between accommodating certain cultures and promoting development and
democracy.
Governance and e-Governance [2]
Overview
Governance occurs within a framework that is both formal (legislated/statutory) and implicit
(socio-cultural norms). In addition to “good governance” citizens require complementary
support from an independent judiciary, a free press, land reforms, etc., and also seek a
greater say in their future (democracy).
E-governance is a much talked about application of ICT, and it holds great promise. One
aspect of e-governance is the computerization of government activities, both for internal
efficiency and for increasing the ability of citizens to receive information, especially under a
“single window.” Computerized land records in parts of India, e.g., the Bhoomi project, have
reduced the costs of transactions down to cents, instead of the many dollars (and days)
citizens used to spend before. A second and related aspect is the establishment of linkages
and connections between citizen-government as well as citizen-citizen. This means not only
can they receive a particular form or document with ease, they can also participate in
decision-making and provide feedback to the government.
E-governance faces many difficulties, and, though project success rates might have
improved over time (and there is enormous variance between countries), as per one study
53
as low as only 15% of e-government for development projects succeed, with little post-
project analysis or contribution to the state of knowledge. At the Washington Workshop,
several developing country participants spoke about their lack of infrastructure—even as
senior government officials, they lacked appropriate hardware or a government intranet.
Even if there were hardware, the data (content) is not computerized. Implementing such
changes requires not only resources, but also a willingness to share information and accept
transparency as an essential element of good governance.
Governments should As is the case with e-commerce, e-governance is also limited by infrastructure, especially
continue with amongst end-users. It is interesting to compare what the Government’s e-governance
appropriate e- efforts are, independent of end-user facilities (Table 16). We can note that several Latin
governance programs American countries (especially Chile and Mexico) score highly in e-governance ratings.
One takeaway would be for governments worldwide to continue their e-governance
even if their citizens
programs, without waiting for citizens to become wired and ready to demand such services.
have limited ICT access
53
“Most eGovernment-for-Development Projects Fail: How Can Risks be Reduced?” John Heeks (2003). Institute for
Development Policy and Management, University of Manchester, Working Paper 14.
In fact, the desire of citizens to avail of improved government and social services can
become the so-called “killer app” driving demand for ICT. However, ICT-based efforts must
not come at the expense of traditional service delivery mechanisms, considering the
majority of citizens still lack ICT access.
E-Government Readiness Indexa Web Measure Indexb E-participation Indexc

1 United States 0.9132 1 United States 1.0000 1 United Kingdom 1.000
2 Denmark 0.9047 2 United Kingdom 0.9730 2 United States 0.934
3 United Kingdom 0.8852 3 Singapore 0.9691 3 Canada 0.902
Republic of
4 Sweden 0.8741 4 0.9459 4 Singapore 0.836
Korea
5 Republic of Korea 0.8575 5 Denmark 0.9344 5 Netherlands 0.803
6 Australia 0.8377 6 Chile 0.8842 6 Mexico 0.770
7 Canada 0.8369 7 Canada 0.8726 7 New Zealand 0.770
8 Singapore 0.8340 8 Australia 0.8301 8 Republic of Korea 0.770
9 Finland 0.8239 9 Finland 0.8069 9 Denmark 0.738
10 Norway 0.8178 10 Germany 0.7954 10 Australia 0.672
11 Netherlands 0.8026 11 Mexico 0.7838 11 Estonia 0.639
12 Germany 0.7873 12 Sweden 0.7722 12 Colombia 0.623
13 New Zealand 0.7811 13 Belgium 0.7722 13 Belgium 0.607
14 Iceland 0.7699 14 New Zealand 0.7413 14 Chile 0.607
15 Switzerland 0.7538 15 Malta 0.7375 15 Germany 0.590
16 Belgium 0.7525 16 Netherlands 0.7181 16 Finland 0.574
17 Austria 0.7487 17 Estonia 0.6988 17 Sweden 0.574
18 Japan 0.7260 18 Austria 0.6988 18 France 0.459
19 Ireland 0.7058 19 Israel 0.6911 19 Malta 0.459
20 Estonia 0.7029 20 Norway 0.6873 20 Austria 0.443
21 Malta 0.6877 21 Ireland 0.6564
22 Chile 0.6835 22 Argentina 0.6429
23 Israel 0.6805 23 Columbia 0.6409
24 France 0.6687 24 Brazil 0.6371
25 Luxembourg 0.6600 25 Japan 0.6293
Average 0.7798
World Average 0.4127
North America 0.8751
Europe 0.5866
South and Eastern Asia 0.4603
South and Central
0.4558
America
Caribbean 0.4106
Oceania 0.3006
Africa 0.2528
Source: UN Global E-Government Readiness Report 2004: Towards Access for Opportunity
a
Measure of e-governance readiness spanning users, infrastructure, and government’s on-line activity
b
Similar to a but excludes access measures (thus more a function of government actions)
c
Measure of “usefulness” of e-government services and how frequently they are available
Table 16: E-government Readiness Indices 2004. The Chilean Government does well in offering e-governance,
independent of relatively lower connectivity, and Mexico’s citizens find value from the available e-government services.
Challenges [1&2]
1) Increase transparency in governance; reduce transaction costs

2) Enhance citizen participation (local and national policy making, Elections and polls), reducing
vagaries of the process and opportunities for manipulation or biasing
3) Reduce the Digital Divide (geographic, socio-economic status, age and gender)
4) Allow for open discussion of governmental goals, strategies, targets and processes
5) Foster free, fair, and enlightened media
6) Increase co-ordination among local/regional/national government agencies
7) Develop appropriate legal systems to legitimize ICT enabled services
8) Allow migration paths and hybrid systems that maintain consistency between electronic
and physical information (such as records)
9) Ensure security and privacy of information
Barriers [1&2]
1) Governmental inertia against innovation, modernization, or adapting

2) Presence of vested interests interfering with government and other institutions effecting
changes
3) Lack of infrastructure and support systems within the Government and for access by
end-users
4) Lack of access to relevant information in local and regional languages
5) Rapid obsolescence of hardware and software products resulting in high costs and
continual retraining; incompatible and non-integrated ICT platforms
6) Deployment of technology or other changes without an integrated assessment of the
relevant issues and opportunities
7) Lack of transparency in governmental transactions
8) Lack of a legal framework for ICT based commerce and governance
9) Lack of communications or common base between bureaucrats, technologists and
customers of ICT services that hinders collaboration
10) Limited democratization of information dissemination
Measures for Success and Failure [1&2]
1) Democratization of information dissemination

2) Increased voter registration/participation in polls and reduction in voter fraud
3) Increased participation of women in all sectors of human and economic development
4) Inclusiveness of persons with disabilities and functional illiterates
5) Increased involvement of young people in education and services
6) Increased delivery of Government services online (local, regional, and national services)
7) Increased efficiency (time and quality) of government services
8) Greater availability and use of ombudsmen to all sectors of society to ensure good and
fair governance
9) Increased level of IT education among bureaucrats
10) Enhanced number of communities connected by knowledge networks for economic and
human development
Role of ICT [1&2]
• Increasing connections between citizens and citizens to institutions (including the

government)
• Improving governance through streamlined, hassle-free interactions, with transparency
in decision-making
• Providing a voice for the underrepresented and alienated
ICT can be an equalizer, making more people producers of content and information than
mere consumers. With a little effort, this can include minorities and other underrepresented
segments of society. This fundamental shift in terms of who can impart information requires
building awareness among the population, who in many regions today receive their
information from limited sources (because of media consolidation and/or governmental
control).
ICT can also help in rapid dissemination of information (warnings) under emergency or
disaster conditions, such as probable earthquakes, storms, or floods. While some of this is
done today through television and radio, purpose-built systems have been proposed,
especially for location-specific scenarios, such as Tsunamis.
Examples of Needed Research [1&2]
1) IT solutions that can facilitate and integrate all levels of data collection, storage,
analysis, and dissemination – ranging from large (governmental) to micro (grassroots)
systems
2) Technologies to maintain and enhance privacy and control over personal information
ICT for SD – Linking Needs to Solutions
The integration of ICT into all aspects of human activity is inexorable. Governments, service
providers, and companies are adopting such technologies, often unbeknownst to their end-
users or clients. What was decades ago the wondrous act of listening to voices from miles
away (radio) has become replaced by even children accepting (and demanding)
instantaneous interaction at almost any location (mobile telephony). The challenge for
professionals is to link ICT to specific human and economic development needs, as was
attempted in the Workshops. Table 17 summarizes the Workshop findings and
recommendations for ICT research as linked to development needs.
Primary ICT Mapping:

Sensors (S)
Communication (C)
Group/Sub- Key Recommended Databases/Information
Thematic Area Development Need Systems (DB/IS)
Group Research
Controllers/Actuators/
Effectors (CTRL)
Human-Computer
Interaction (HCI)
Infrastructure Water Better models and Low-cost sensors; S, C, DB/IS, HCI
assessment of GIS models, data
supply and quality dissemination solutions, and
integration into user
frameworks
Energy Improved Tamper-proof digital S, C, DB/IS, CTRL
measurement, theft- electricity meters with control
control, and control and communications, with
(including demand- integration into efficient end-
side management) use appliances for load
control
Transportation Optimization of Integration of sensors, GIS, S, C, DB/IS, HCI
public and private GPS, and other technologies
transport along with
enhanced safety
(e.g., trains)
Basic Human Food and Optimize inputs to Sensors and Information S, C, DB/IS, CTRL, HCI
Development Agriculture the soil and improve Systems for optimizing
productivity; irrigation [e.g., drip irrigation],
Improve farmers’ fertilizers, pesticides, etc.;
stake in the supply- developing accessible and
chain affordable solutions for
access to market, weather,
and other information
Healthcare Improve delivery of ICT solutions integrated with C, DB/IS, HCI
healthcare services; existing systems; develop
make systems more easy-to-use and robust
participatory interfaces and platforms
Education Improve literacy and Easy-to-use and scalable C, DB/IS, HCI
student skills; meet solutions for education;
varying needs of customized content and
different levels of delivery systems, with
students (age, feedback
gender,
specialization, etc.)
Economic ICT-based and Improve awareness Easy-to-use and scalable C, DB/IS, HCI
Growth and ICT-enabled and skills in ICT; solutions for education;
Employment job creation integrate ICT into (open) easy-to-implement
and poverty economic activity; standards for ICT integration;
reduction create solutions for secure, flexible and
low-cost money inexpensive systems to
transfer, manage and move money
(micro)credit, and
risk management
Alienation, Alienation Easier sharing of Solutions that make it easy C, DB/IS, HCI
Empowerment, issues and information (within to create, monitor, search,
and e- empowerment; norms of privacy and apply information, while
Governance e-Governance and individual maintaining end-user privacy
control) and control
Table 17: Mapping of Development Needs to R&D Requirements in ICT, Based on Bangalore Workshop Deliberations
85
4 Where do we go from here?
Meeting the Millennium Development Goals is a daunting task, even with the benefits of
ICT. In fact, ICT as it stands today is not well engineered for sustainable development.
Making it appropriately scaled, budgeted, and usable will require extensive research and
development. In this chapter, we make the case that to meet the MDGs, ICT for SD
requires a serious commitment as a globally supported enterprise. In order to define the
scope of this enterprise, we discuss research ideas and suggestions for testbed
demonstrations, the need for metrics for ICT for SD, the role of stakeholders, and a new
R&D model that adds feedback and stakeholder participation.
ICT for SD R&D – Projects and Testbeds
Table 17 summarizes a number of specific examples of suggested research and

development. Workshop participants recognized that undertaking such research would
require extensive time, effort, and funding. At a macro-level, these R&D tasks can be can
be broken into:
• Short-term agenda – ICT exists and needs to be applied

• Medium-term agenda – ICT needs modification to be applicable
• Long-term agenda – Appropriate ICT needs to be developed
Some of these tasks are discussed below in more detail.
1. Make ICT universally available, accessible, and affordable. Ending the digital divide
should be a policy imperative. At the very least, basic information, primary educational
programs and government services should be accessible to all citizens within
convenient distance, at zero or near zero cost.
In addition to connectivity, research is required to make ICT accessible for those who do
not use the major languages (esp. English) and/or have limited literacy. In addition to
innovations based on language translation and speech recognition technologies,
creation of localized content will help spur the user demand for ICT.
a. Village Connectivity Networks. The combination of wireless access with optical fibers
can be cost-effective for improving connectivity. Detailed studies at Carnegie Mellon
suggest that such leapfrog design options could provide broadband connectivity for
the majority of Africans within walking or cycling distance for roughly $1 billion one-
time capital costs.54 Several clusters of villages can be targeted for such connectivity
experiments to prove the concept, but wireless innovations (including modified WiFi,
WiMax, etc.) need to be deployed in the field to assess their technical and business
viability.
54
This excludes end-user equipment such as computers or receivers (modems). Further details available online at
http://www.contrib.andrew.cmu.edu/~tongia/FiberAfrica--ending_a_digital_divide.pdf
b. Advanced Wireless Technologies. Regulatory hurdles often limit the potential of new
wireless technologies. There is a need to develop software defined radios, which
can operate in any frequency, or even “cognitive radios.” 55 This versatility would
help produce the global volume required for dramatically lower costs as all countries
could use the same equipment. Additional research is also required into mesh
networking, which can reduce uplinking costs significantly, and smart array antennas
(called Multiple Input, Multiple Output – MIMO – systems) that can improve the
performance manifold.
2. Make ICT usable and applicable. Complex systems like trucks and cars demand very
little advanced skills from their users. On the other hand, end-user ICT is complex, user-
unfriendly and difficult to operate and maintain. Considering even professionals struggle
to use and maintain computer systems, how can we expect the archetypal village
grandmother to use a computer? It needs to be made simpler and more robust, akin to a
television or mobile phone.
A way to judge the level and success of computer penetration in society is by assessing
how ubiquitous it has become. Television has crossed this threshold; as have mobile
phones, and computers must follow this trajectory to make an impact.
One unanswered question is whether ICT solutions should be as powerful and general-
purpose as possible, allowing vast economies of scale, utilizing shared components
such as cheap memory, open software, etc., or should ICT solutions be as purpose-built
and application–specific as possible, allowing lower production costs and easier
interfaces. The growth of ICT ensures that even a “simple” PC is capable of immense
processing power. However, most people only use a fraction of this capability, as is the
case with many electronic devices. An intriguing possibility is for ICT developers to
design distributed computing systems that can tap into such power when required, but
remain simple and easy-to-use most of the time. There are a few examples of such
usage from the science world where parallel processing is done using a large number of
computers that have spare processing power. Specific development tasks and fields
amenable for such distributed computing include healthcare/bioinformatics, supply-chain
and logistical management, language translation, and multimedia processing.
3. Integrate ICT into development issues and economic growth. Research is needed to
identify how much of a difference ICT can make in a particular field, and how much
investment and other inputs are required for the field itself. For instance, Sub-Saharan
agricultural productivity is tens of times lower than that of the Netherlands or Belgium.
Much of that is due to the poor physical condition of the soil, which demands nutrients and
water. ICT can help in choosing the appropriate crops and helping to time and optimize
the inputs. It can also help the farmer receive greater value for his/her output. But, ICT
alone will not improve the yield or the farmer’s earnings.
a. Knowledge Networks. Many information networks, though meant to benefit the end-
user, are designed only to be used by professionals. This is in part due to difficulties
at the end-user’s end, his or her illiteracy combined with lack of connectivity.
Advances in connectivity and creation of specialized knowledge networks that reach
up to end-users are therefore necessary. A practical option would be through the
use of intermediaries that translate information into useable formats and levels. The
e-Choupal initiative by the Indian firm ITC provides such an example. It is essential
55
In addition to being frequency variable and agile, cognitive radios sense their operating environment and choose the optimal
band, modulation, power level, etc.
Where do we go from here? 87
to build educational knowledge networks for anyone, anywhere, to access

information in any language. Digital libraries must be expanded, with language
translation capabilities.
b. Remote and field diagnosis, leading to “Lab on a chip”. Given the endemic nature of
a number of diseases (HIV, malaria, etc.) and health conditions (anemia,
malnutrition, etc.), it is important to inexpensively diagnose and monitor the
vulnerable population. This is the first step to improved healthcare.
Medical diagnostic tests are generally quite expensive. Even when diagnosed, many
health conditions require regular follow-ups during treatment, notably HIV/AIDS. The
only treatment, Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART), requires regular
screenings to determine the efficacy of the medicines and to check against side
effects. There is a scarcity of healthcare professionals in developing countries,
especially in rural areas. Here, ICT can be an invaluable tool through the
development of appropriate and robust diagnostic and monitoring solutions.
c. Micro irrigation for agriculture. Agriculture is the primary consumer of fresh water
that is in short supply in many developing countries. Learning from the experience of
farmers in Australia and Israel, it is possible to optimize delivery of water and
fertilizers through drip irrigation systems. This can reduce water consumption by
almost 50% and improve the yield. The challenge is to make such systems robust
for developing country deployment and cost-effective.
d. Smart meters for energy and electricity. Energy is a critical input for economic
growth, especially in the form of electricity. Unfortunately, most developing countries
(with some exceptions like in E. Asia) face very high transmission and distribution
losses and theft, affecting the economic viability of the utilities. ICT can help reduce
theft significantly with smart meters that can communicate and be controlled
remotely. Such systems will also help improve the overall efficiency through options
such as load control and demand side management. Given their limited deployment
of metering in some regions, this represents a leap-frog opportunity for developing
countries.
e. Sensor Networks. This catch-all term spans the range of sensors covering
environmental monitoring to equipment operating conditions. The latter are widely
used in industrial settings, but not so in the field because of size and robustness
limitations, power requirements, connectivity shortcomings, and cost. There is a
clearly defined need to make sensors relevant for sustainable development.
In addition to basic research, it is also necessary to design “test-bed” experiments that

mimic field conditions to validate the scalability and viability of the solutions.
Defining the Scope of the ICT for Sustainable Development

Enterprise
If one mentions ICT for Sustainable Development, there is a general tendency to associate
this with digital divide issues, especially on how to make the Internet available to more
people. ICT for SD is about more than mere connectivity. It is the special intersection of
diverse fields of enquiry and application, spanning technology, economics, sociology, and
policy, amongst others. Research in ICT for SD therefore needs legitimacy and promoters
within the academic, research, and development communities. We believe that now is an
appropriate time to structure and build ICT for SD as a distinct enterprise drawing
participation from technologists, social scientists, and development professionals.
ICT for SD requires Such interdisciplinary collaboration requires interaction between existing research and
development institutions, as well as the creation of a network of collaborating academic
global collaboration,
institutions, national labs, development organizations, etc. Just like the Consultative Group
specialized research, for International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) was established by multilateral support as
and testbeds, perhaps “a strategic alliance of members, partners and international agricultural centers that
using a network of mobilizes science to benefit the poor,”56 ICT for SD requires similar collaboration, funding,
and effort. In fact, given the requirement for localization of information and feedback from
centers and institutions
end-users, it requires even deeper penetration into global societies and greater interaction
amongst stakeholders.
A focused endeavor brings its own advantages such as a better stratification and synthesis
of information and knowledge. This will diffuse the individual anecdotes that today clog
information channels on ICT for SD, and often do not stand up to critical scrutiny or
emulation.
Metrics and Rigorous Analysis
There are as many success stories in ICT for SD as there are failed projects, and we often
don’t know the details of the latter. Even some successes do not come up to the original
expectations or they continue to depend on subsidies. At the Bangalore Workshop, Tom
Kalil referred to this field as being full of “Potemkin Villages.”57 ICT for SD requires
formalization of measures for success, standardization of evaluation, and rigorous critical
analysis.
Analysis of ICT for SD must extend beyond single projects. The global scale of challenges
requires replicability, scalability and economic sustainability. Analysis must also cover the
cost-effectiveness of the solutions, including opportunity costs and alternative solutions.
Related to the issue of metrics is standardization of information and its quality. The World
Wide Web has exacerbated information overload, and insufficient attention is paid to the
accuracy, assumptions behind, or timeliness of the information.
Role of Stakeholders
The pantheon of stakeholders in the ICT for SD network is vast, and their linkages are
many. We highlight the role of the stakeholders in the ICT and the sustainable development
processes.
End-users need to integrate ICT into their personal and professional life to harness its
capabilities for human development. Their needs should ultimately drive the entire
development process. Of course, integration and demand is critically dependant on ICT’s
usability and affordability. However, all other things being equal, an informed consumer is
better able to articulate his or her needs, to use ICT as given, and also apply ICT to new
uses.
ICT Companies must continue to invest and innovate in ICT development for it to be
applicable to SD. The challenge is one of matching investments and efforts along a
56
CGIAR website: http://www.cigar.org
57
Refers to a facade covering up undesirable facts or conditions.
sustainable path, avoiding booms and busts. Another difficulty is that the scale of
investments varies with projects and technologies; some developments necessarily require
large expenditure, especially where more basic R&D is required, such as for language
translation solutions.
Companies, Corporations and Industry are natural consumers of ICT, and their use
provides the volume for spreading ICT further into the market supply chain. If large
companies demand electronic transactions from their suppliers/distributors/etc., even
smaller companies will have to adopt ICT. In turn, they may then use ICT as an interface to
their clients.
Entrepreneurs are a special case of commercial entities. In developing countries, they often
focus on service delivery instead of R&D. Cable TV in India grew rapidly not merely
because of the affordability of the services for consumers (initially a few dollars per month)
but also because of thousands of franchisee or small-scale operators who found providing
services a profitable venture. The same has been the case for many ICT kiosks worldwide
and the GrameenPhone in Bangladesh.
Development Service Providers (water, electricity, etc.) are often part of the government (or
private companies), but they form a distinct set of stakeholders. This group is likely to
require greater assistance in using ICT than private companies or even many governments.
Better provision of services will require specialized ICT solutions that are easy to implement
and also politically acceptable.
Governments have an enormous role in ICT for SD, just as they have an overarching
presence in most facets of development and commerce in developing countries. They not
only provide many development services, including ICT services, they also set the policies
that lay the ground rules for deployments. The government is also the regulator of ICT and
other services, and shapes innovation and R&D in a country.
National ICT policies have often taken two somewhat distinct tracks, focusing on ICT as a
sector in and of itself or focusing on ICT as an enabler. The former splits into a domestic
focus (like Brazil) or an export focus (like India in the 1990s), while the latter splits into a
global position focus (like Ireland) or a development goals focus (like Estonia or South
Africa in the 1990s).58
Some professionals argue for minimal intervention from the government, especially in the
software sector. However, as Joseph Stiglitz highlighted in his Keynote Address at
Bangalore, the role of the government is important, covering education, infrastructure, and
directed support (such as creating “islands” for export promotion, appropriate tax incentives,
etc.) Public funding is typically the norm for significant “basic research” whose benefits may
not be appropriable by a single firm. After all, the Internet itself came from ARPA (US
Government) funding. In addition, the government should intervene where markets fail, are
inefficient, or where it is socially important to intervene.
58
“The Role of Information and Communication Technologies In Global Development: Analyses and Policy Recommendations”
(2003), UN ICT Task Force Series 3, edited and with introduction by Abdul Basit Haqqani.
One important government role (which requires research determining optimal strategies) is
universal service provision (of both ICT services and other development services). Some
countries choose general tax funds, others establish industry-specific taxes, and some rely
on extensive cross-subsidies. One promising model has been the Chilean “reverse auction”
where auctions were held amongst private providers for bids for the lowest subsidy required
to serve rural areas (including through pay telephones). Through this program, started in
the mid-1990s, Chile went from 85% telephony access (at a community level) to 99% by
2002.59
Funding agencies have a vital role to play in ICT for SD research, but this is complicated by
their current boundaries (i.e., basic science vs. applied research, science/engineering vs.
social sciences, etc.) Linkages between different development themes further complicate
funding availability (e.g, is ICT for agriculture a technical, social, or economic issue?), but
this might also make it easier to secure funding from different kinds of agencies. As ICT for
SD becomes a recognized discipline, different entities should fund work in this area, ideally
in concert with complementary groups. It would be beneficial to have the equivalent of a
DARPA for this field, an agency that funds long-term and even exploratory research. This is
necessary given the inherent risks and uncertainty in basic research, and the long
timeframes these would entail.
Academic Institutions can provide a steadying force given the uncertainties and unknowns
in this emerging discipline. In addition to the research they specialize in, they can provide
unbiased and public analyses of various technologies. Unlike companies, academic
research results are generally shared openly. They can also help steer the directions of the
field, and crystallize challenges and opportunities in the field. Often universities establish
exclusive research and development centers or institutes to explore new and emerging
areas of enquiry. ICT for SD is now a fertile discipline for such initiatives. These would
provide the scale and critical mass required for long-term analysis and wide-scale testbeds
and demonstrations. Such centers would also enhance the training of multidisciplinary
professionals, with programs integrating facets such as technology, policy, finance, regulation,
and ethics.
New ICT-SD Model: Need for Research, Development, & Demonstration

(RD&D)
Business as usual models, with their attendant trickle-down approach, may not help meet
the MDGs, especially in the proposed timeframes. New models of research and sharing
research findings (intellectual property) are required to spur R&D and also prevent people
from reinventing the wheel. Suggestions include clearinghouses and portals, which should
do more than store information or allow simple searches.
At a business end, new models, with appropriate regulatory clearances, will be required for
innovators and entrepreneurs. Flexible (micro) financing and micro-franchising models will
also be important for achieving scalability. Presently, there are no accepted best practice
models for either human development or for ICT for sustainable development, and there are
wide variances in local social and cultural norms and requirements. Based on sharing
experiences, researchers, development specialists, and practitioners can build solutions
that are contextually relevant.
The research challenges in ICT for SD can be overwhelming, given the large human
development needs these are trying to address. There have been multiple studies and
recommendations on how to do IT research to make it more societally relevant. For
59
“ICT and MDGs: World Bank Group Perspective,” December 2003
example, in the US National Academies report Making IT Better: Expanding Information

Technology Research to Meet Society's Needs (2000), the authors highlighted the need for
new specialization, collaboration, and scaling. However, these recommendations have not yet
been adopted. In particular, the issue of funding remains a challenge, made worse by the
bursting of the IT “bubble” in the early part of this decade.
Who will pay for the research? This is not merely the age-old question associated with all
research (and heightened by the target – developing countries). This question relates to the
different stages of research required for successful ICT for sustainable development. ICT-
SD is not simply an issue of making ICT cheaper and faster, and then letting its effects
trickle down until there is widespread usage. Rather, ICT that is available, accessible, and
affordable requires interaction between the stakeholders, with feedback loops that are
largely missing today (Figure 13).
Expert Recommendations
Elicitation and from UN, WB,
Discussions NGOs, and
(e.g., Bangalore Governments
Workshop)
Sustainable Bangalore
Development Workshop:
Needs Identification
of Case
Exemplars
Identification
of Enabling IT
ITSD Needs
NO
IT R&D Availability
YES
Engineered
Application NO
Customization
NOT YES
VIABLE
Re-evaluation Accessibility
of P olicies, Institutions, Affordability
FEEDBACK
and Incentives NO Acceptability
VIABLE YES
Deployment
ICT for SD RD&D Diffusion
Figure 13: Process Flow Diagram for ICT for Sustainable Development. Issues of appropriateness, affordability, and impact
are central to ICT research and design, instead of merely affecting penetration and deployment.
Successful ICT for SD Technical bodies and funding agencies such as Science Foundations concern themselves
requires feedback largely with technology issues. Development Agencies focus mainly on development, and
ICT is not fully internalized into their planning, projections, and policies for development.
loops between
We propose that traditional “linear” R&D needs to be superceded by RD&D – Research,
stakeholders at all
stages of development
Development, and Demonstration. Demonstration as we propose is not simply a pilot

project, but deployment in the field, demonstrating scalability and viability. This last step
would ensure human, social, and economic factors (such as cultural acceptability, business
models, etc.) are part of the entire development process. Otherwise, the outputs of ICT face
major hurdles in their deployment.
Challenges and Lessons Learned
At the Washington and Bangalore Workshops, Carlos Braga presented some cautionary
advice to technologists, who often are “techno-optimists”: expect the unexpected, and move
beyond lab or pilot projects.
Other key challenges and issues discussed at the Workshops include:
• Scalability/replicability, combined with viability, is a key metric for success.

Extrapolation, even from real-world deployments, can be misleading or erroneous.
• ICT is good for enhancing development programs, but frequently solutions are geared to
supercede existing programs. The focus has often remained exclusively on ICT instead
of enhanced delivery of services.60 ICT is a means, and not an end.
• Capacity building and education are keys to inclusiveness and sustainable demand.
• ICT for development programs cannot be established as charity; while subsidies may be
required, long-term viability is key to replicability, and thus, global penetration.
• The market will not necessarily provide societally optimal price and incentive signals,
and one should not wait for trickle down growth.
• The elite and upwardly mobile have exit strategies around poor services, through
options such as private healthcare and education, diesel generation, bottled water, etc.
These further remove market demand for improved services. Even the poor, in spite of
the high costs, opt for such options demonstrating their willingness to pay for services
they consider important.
• ICT solutions must be shared – we don’t want to reinvent the wheel. Often, different
countries, industries, or funding agencies expend resources testing the same underlying
technology.
• Will ICT create new divides, or exacerbate existing ones?
The workshops have raised more questions than answers. The intersection between ICT
and development is indeed complex. The stakeholders are many and diverse, the metrics
for assessment are unavailable, and the seamless integration of ICT with other tools for
development has not yet taken place.
We see the contribution of the Workshops at two levels. At the first level, we have identified
specific research areas based on the intersection of technologies and development needs,
bringing together experts in all the appropriate disciplines and domains. At another level,
we have created a framework for ICT to help address the Millennium Development Goals
by identifying the relationship between technologies, example applications and potential
research areas. We propose a new paradigm for research (which we term Research,
60
“Rethinking the European ICT Agenda: Ten ICT-breakthroughs for reaching Lisbon goals” (August 2004), prepared by
PriceWaterhouseCoopers for the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, highlights this issue, as well as a number of policy
breakthroughs required to reaching the Lisbon goals. The Lisbon goals were formulated in March 2000 by the European
Council, stating their ambition to become ‘the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010.’
Similar cooperative targets and agreements are required for ICT for SD.
Development, and Demonstration – RD&D) that is sensitive to the goals of the stakeholders
and the efficacy of development.
A knowledge-based economy requires transparency and easy exchange of ideas in a public

or semi-public space. The goal is making technology ubiquitous enough for it to become
integral to people’s daily lives. The Workshops are, we hope, a step in making information
and communication technologies an integral part of sustainable development.
95
Appendices
Appendix 1: Targets of the Millennium Development Goals

Target 1 Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a
day.
Target 2 Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger.
Target 3 Ensure that, by 2015, children everywhere, boys and girls alike, will be able to complete a full
course of primary schooling.
Target 4 Eliminate gender disparity in primary and secondary education, preferably by 2005, and to all levels
of education no later than 2015.
Target 5 Reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate.
Target 6 Reduce by three quarters, between 1990 and 2015, the maternal mortality ratio.
Target 7 Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Target 8 Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the incidence of malaria and other major diseases.
Target 9 Integrate the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programs and reverse
the losses of environmental resources.
Target 10 Halve by 2015 the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and basic
sanitation.
Target 11 Have achieved by 2020 a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers.
Target 12 Develop further an open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system. It
includes a commitment to good governance, development, and poverty reduction – both nationally and
internationally.
Target 13 Address the special needs of the least developed countries. Includes: tariff and quota-free access
for least-developed countries' exports; enhanced program of debt relief for HIPCs (Heavily Indebted Poor
Countries) and cancellation of official bilateral debt; and more generous ODA (Official Development Assistance)
for countries committed to poverty reduction.
Target 14 Address the special needs of landlocked countries and small island developing States (through the
Program of Action for the Sustainable Development of Small Island Developing States and the outcome of the
twenty-second special session of the General Assembly).
Target 15 Deal comprehensively with the debt problems of developing countries through national and
international measures in order to make debt sustainable in the long term.
Target 16 In cooperation with developing countries, develop and implement strategies for decent and
productive work for youth.
Target 17 In cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, provide access to affordable essential drugs in
developing countries.
Target 18 In cooperation with the private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies, especially
information and communications.
Appendix 2: ICT statistics – Digital Access Indicator (DAI) Metric [ITU – Dec. 2003]
Broad
Sub Mobile Internet Int'l Internet Internet
Adult School band
lines p. sub. p. tariff as bandwidth users INFRA- AFFORD- KNOW-
Liter- enroll- subscribers QUALITY USAGE DAI
100 100 % of p. 100 p. 100 STRUCTURE ABILITY LEDGE
acy ment p. 100
inhab. inhab. GNI inhab. inhab.
inhab.
HIGH
1 Sweden 65.2 88.9 1.1 98.5 113.0 10,611.2 8.0 57.3 0.94 0.99 0.99 0.64 0.67 0.85
2 Denmark 57.4 83.2 0.7 99.5 98.0 20,284.9 8.2 51.2 0.89 0.99 0.99 0.66 0.60 0.83
3 Iceland 51.9 90.7 0.9 98.5 91.0 236.5 8.2 64.9 0.89 0.99 0.96 0.50 0.76 0.82
4 Korea (Rep.) 48.6 67.9 1.2 97.9 91.0 361.5 21.9 55.2 0.74 0.99 0.96 0.74 0.65 0.82
5 Norway 50.4 84.3 0.8 99.5 98.0 4,981.6 4.5 50.2 0.84 0.99 0.99 0.55 0.59 0.79
6 Netherlands 48.5 74.5 1.2 99.0 99.0 10,327.5 6.6 50.6 0.78 0.99 0.99 0.61 0.60 0.79
7 Hong Kong, 56.6 91.6 0.2 93.5 63.0 1,866.8 14.6 43.0 0.93 1.00 0.83 0.68 0.51 0.79
China
8 Finland 46.3 84.5 1.1 98.5 103.0 3,185.5 5.3 50.9 0.81 0.99 0.99 0.55 0.60 0.79
9 Taiwan, China 57.4 106.4 0.7 96.0 93.0 658.6 9.4 38.3 0.98 0.99 0.95 0.56 0.45 0.79
10 Canada 61.3 37.7 0.7 98.5 94.0 2,841.8 11.1 51.3 0.69 0.99 0.97 0.64 0.60 0.78
11 United States 65.0 47.3 0.5 98.5 94.0 1,323.6 6.9 55.1 0.74 0.99 0.97 0.54 0.65 0.78
12 United Kingdom 53.4 83.9 1.1 98.5 112.0 5,402.8 3.1 42.2 0.86 0.99 0.99 0.53 0.50 0.77
13 Switzerland 55.7 78.4 0.7 98.5 88.0 8,991.7 6.2 34.9 0.86 0.99 0.95 0.60 0.41 0.76
14 Singapore 46.2 79.4 0.6 92.5 75.0 1,414.0 6.5 50.3 0.78 0.99 0.87 0.54 0.59 0.75
15 Japan 47.7 63.7 0.8 99.5 83.0 237.7 6.2 54.5 0.72 0.99 0.94 0.47 0.64 0.75
16 Luxembourg 53.4 105.3 0.9 98.5 73.0 3,271.7 1.3 36.7 0.94 0.99 0.90 0.48 0.43 0.75
17 Austria 40.4 80.9 1.7 99.5 92.0 4,421.6 5.5 40.9 0.74 0.98 0.97 0.56 0.48 0.75
18 Germany 48.2 72.7 0.7 99.5 89.0 3,155.8 3.9 41.2 0.76 0.99 0.96 0.52 0.48 0.74
19 Australia 51.7 64.0 1.1 98.5 114.0 533.9 1.8 48.2 0.75 0.99 0.99 0.42 0.57 0.74
20 Belgium 42.4 78.6 1.5 98.5 107.0 8,121.4 8.4 30.9 0.75 0.99 0.99 0.63 0.36 0.74
21 New Zealand 45.3 62.2 1.1 99.0 99.0 584.7 1.4 45.7 0.69 0.99 0.99 0.42 0.54 0.72
22 Italy 41.5 92.5 1.0 98.5 82.0 1,179.8 1.9 34.7 0.81 0.99 0.93 0.45 0.41 0.72
23 France 52.0 64.7 0.8 98.5 91.0 3,269.8 2.8 31.4 0.76 0.99 0.96 0.51 0.37 0.72
24 Slovenia 44.0 83.5 3.1 99.6 83.0 539.7 2.8 37.6 0.78 0.97 0.94 0.44 0.44 0.72
25 Israel 43.5 95.5 2.1 95.1 90.0 213.7 2.0 30.1 0.84 0.98 0.93 0.39 0.35 0.70
UPPER
26 Ireland 40.1 76.3 1.4 98.5 91.0 3,434.5 0.3 27.1 0.72 0.99 0.96 0.47 0.32 0.69
27 Cyprus 62.4 58.5 1.7 97.2 74.0 236.4 0.8 29.4 0.79 0.98 0.89 0.38 0.35 0.68
28 Estonia 35.1 65.0 3.9 99.8 89.0 409.6 3.4 32.8 0.62 0.96 0.96 0.44 0.39 0.67
29 Spain 44.6 80.1 1.7 97.7 92.0 1,112.7 3.0 15.2 0.77 0.98 0.96 0.47 0.18 0.67
30 Malta 52.3 69.9 2.3 92.3 76.0 391.4 4.5 20.9 0.79 0.98 0.87 0.46 0.25 0.67
31 Czech Republic 33.4 84.9 4.5 98.5 76.0 2,189.1 0.2 25.6 0.70 0.96 0.91 0.45 0.30 0.66
32 Greece 52.4 84.5 2.4 97.3 81.0 222.0 0.0 15.5 0.86 0.98 0.92 0.36 0.18 0.66
33 Portugal 35.4 81.9 2.3 92.5 93.0 386.2 2.5 19.2 0.71 0.98 0.93 0.42 0.23 0.65
34 United Arab 34.2 75.9 0.8 76.7 67.0 339.1 0.5 36.7 0.66 0.99 0.73 0.39 0.43 0.64
Emirates
35 Macao, China 39.8 62.5 1.0 91.3 55.0 489.1 3.8 26.0 0.64 0.99 0.79 0.45 0.31 0.64
36 Hungary 32.6 67.6 4.1 99.3 82.0 1,048.3 1.1 15.8 0.61 0.96 0.94 0.44 0.19 0.63
37 Bahamas 40.6 39.0 2.0 95.5 74.0 464.7 6.3 19.2 0.53 0.98 0.88 0.49 0.23 0.62
38 Bahrain 26.3 58.3 4.1 87.9 81.0 292.4 0.7 24.7 0.51 0.96 0.86 0.38 0.29 0.60
39 St. Kitts and 50.0 31.9 4.2 97.8 70.0 42.2 1.1 21.3 0.58 0.96 0.89 0.32 0.25 0.60
Nevis
40 Poland 29.5 36.3 4.1 99.7 88.0 163.6 0.0 23.0 0.43 0.96 0.96 0.35 0.27 0.59
41 Slovak Republic 26.8 54.4 6.3 100.0 73.0 1,516.0 0.0 16.0 0.50 0.94 0.91 0.43 0.19 0.59
42 Croatia 39.0 53.5 4.4 98.4 68.0 41.2 0.3 18.0 0.59 0.96 0.88 0.31 0.21 0.59
43 Chile 23.0 42.8 6.1 95.9 76.0 131.6 1.3 23.8 0.41 0.94 0.89 0.36 0.28 0.58
44 Antigua & 47.8 32.1 2.8 86.6 69.0 359.0 0.0 12.8 0.56 0.97 0.81 0.38 0.15 0.57
Barbuda
45 Barbados 47.9 19.7 3.2 99.7 89.0 24.2 0.0 11.2 0.50 0.97 0.96 0.28 0.13 0.57
46 Malaysia 19.3 37.7 2.9 87.9 72.0 53.8 0.1 32.0 0.35 0.97 0.83 0.31 0.38 0.57
47 Lithuania 26.4 47.6 11.2 99.6 85.0 94.8 0.6 14.5 0.46 0.89 0.95 0.34 0.17 0.56
48 Qatar 28.9 43.8 0.9 81.7 81.0 254.1 0.0 11.5 0.46 0.99 0.81 0.37 0.14 0.55
49 Brunei Darussalam 25.1 38.9 1.4 91.6 83.0 170.5 0.0 9.9 0.40 0.99 0.89 0.35 0.12 0.55
50 Latvia 30.1 39.4 20.0 99.8 86.0 181.6 0.4 13.3 0.45 0.80 0.95 0.36 0.16 0.54
51 Uruguay 28.0 19.3 7.3 97.6 84.0 128.9 0.0 13.6 0.33 0.93 0.93 0.34 0.16 0.54
52 Seychelles 26.2 53.9 16.9 91.0 79.0 72.3 0.1 14.1 0.49 0.83 0.87 0.32 0.17 0.54
53 Dominica 33.3 13.1 6.3 96.4 65.0 70.2 0.8 17.5 0.34 0.94 0.86 0.33 0.21 0.54
54 Argentina 21.9 17.8 3.9 96.9 89.0 149.6 0.3 11.2 0.27 0.96 0.94 0.35 0.13 0.53
55 Trinidad & 25.0 27.8 2.5 98.4 67.0 73.8 0.0 10.6 0.35 0.98 0.88 0.32 0.12 0.53
Tobago
56 Bulgaria 36.8 33.3 8.3 98.5 77.0 10.1 0.0 8.1 0.47 0.92 0.91 0.25 0.10 0.53
57 Jamaica 17.2 53.5 16.9 87.3 74.0 28.0 1.0 22.9 0.41 0.83 0.83 0.30 0.27 0.53
58 Costa Rica 25.1 11.1 7.6 95.7 66.0 114.7 0.0 19.3 0.26 0.92 0.86 0.34 0.23 0.52
Appendices 97
Broad
Adult School band
acy ment p. 100
inhab.
59 St. Lucia 32.0 8.9 6.9 90.2 82.0 93.8 0.0 11.3 0.31 0.93 0.87 0.33 0.13 0.52
60 Kuwait 20.4 51.9 2.0 82.4 54.0 25.0 0.0 10.6 0.43 0.98 0.73 0.28 0.12 0.51
61 Grenada 31.6 7.1 7.6 94.4 63.0 37.7 0.5 14.2 0.30 0.92 0.84 0.31 0.17 0.51
62 Mauritius 27.0 28.9 4.7 84.8 69.0 28.1 0.0 9.9 0.37 0.95 0.80 0.29 0.12 0.50
63 Russia 23.9 12.0 5.6 99.6 82.0 61.2 0.0 4.1 0.26 0.94 0.94 0.32 0.05 0.50
64 Mexico 14.6 25.3 4.6 91.4 74.0 56.9 0.2 9.8 0.25 0.95 0.86 0.32 0.12 0.50
65 Brazil 22.3 20.1 11.8 87.3 95.0 53.7 0.4 8.2 0.29 0.88 0.90 0.32 0.10 0.50
MEDIUM
66 Belarus 29.9 4.7 11.3 99.7 86.0 4.4 0.0 8.2 0.27 0.89 0.95 0.22 0.10 0.49
67 Lebanon 19.9 22.7 11.1 86.5 76.0 17.6 1.0 11.7 0.28 0.89 0.83 0.29 0.14 0.48
68 Thailand 10.4 26.0 4.2 95.7 72.0 16.3 0.0 7.8 0.22 0.96 0.88 0.27 0.09 0.48
69 Romania 18.7 22.9 16.4 98.2 68.0 87.2 0.1 8.1 0.27 0.84 0.88 0.33 0.09 0.48
70 Turkey 26.9 33.6 9.5 85.5 60.0 10.6 0.0 7.0 0.39 0.90 0.77 0.25 0.08 0.48
71 TFYR Macedonia 27.1 17.7 13.3 94.0 70.0 24.2 0.0 4.8 0.31 0.87 0.86 0.28 0.06 0.48
72 Panama 12.4 19.2 10.7 92.1 75.0 210.1 0.0 4.1 0.20 0.89 0.86 0.36 0.05 0.47
73 Venezuela 11.2 25.5 5.7 92.8 68.0 27.3 0.3 5.0 0.22 0.94 0.85 0.29 0.06 0.47
74 Belize 12.4 20.4 23.1 93.4 76.0 181.8 0.0 11.9 0.21 0.77 0.88 0.36 0.14 0.47
75 St. Vincent 23.4 8.5 9.5 88.9 58.0 34.2 0.9 6.0 0.24 0.91 0.79 0.31 0.07 0.46
76 Bosnia 22.0 18.3 6.9 93.0 64.0 6.1 0.0 2.4 0.27 0.93 0.83 0.23 0.03 0.46
77 Suriname 16.5 22.8 18.5 94.0 77.0 25.2 0.0 4.2 0.25 0.82 0.88 0.28 0.05 0.46
78 South Africa 9.5 30.4 15.4 85.6 78.0 12.4 0.0 6.8 0.23 0.85 0.83 0.26 0.08 0.45
79 Colombia 17.4 10.6 12.2 91.9 71.0 12.7 0.1 4.6 0.20 0.88 0.85 0.26 0.05 0.45
80 Jordan 12.7 22.9 18.0 90.3 77.0 16.9 0.0 5.8 0.22 0.82 0.86 0.27 0.07 0.45
81 Serbia & 23.1 25.7 11.3 91.7 52.0 0.9 0.0 6.0 0.32 0.89 0.78 0.16 0.07 0.45
Montenegro
82 Saudi Arabia 14.4 21.7 4.9 77.1 58.0 12.9 0.0 6.2 0.23 0.95 0.71 0.26 0.07 0.44
83 Peru 7.6 8.6 19.2 90.2 83.0 45.6 0.1 9.3 0.11 0.81 0.88 0.31 0.11 0.44
84 China 16.7 16.1 12.9 85.8 64.0 7.3 0.2 4.6 0.22 0.87 0.79 0.24 0.05 0.43
85 Fiji 11.7 10.8 17.6 93.2 76.0 9.6 0.0 6.0 0.15 0.82 0.87 0.25 0.07 0.43
86 Botswana 8.3 24.1 10.9 78.1 80.0 15.1 0.0 2.9 0.19 0.89 0.79 0.26 0.03 0.43
87 Iran (I.R.) 18.7 3.3 4.2 77.1 64.0 8.4 0.0 4.8 0.17 0.96 0.73 0.24 0.06 0.43
88 Ukraine 21.6 8.4 26.0 99.6 81.0 6.3 0.0 1.8 0.22 0.74 0.93 0.23 0.02 0.43
89 Guyana 9.2 9.9 29.8 98.6 84.0 3.5 0.0 14.2 0.13 0.70 0.94 0.21 0.17 0.43
90 Philippines 4.2 19.4 20.1 95.1 80.0 11.2 0.1 4.4 0.13 0.80 0.90 0.26 0.05 0.43
91 Oman 8.4 17.1 3.8 73.0 58.0 14.0 0.0 6.6 0.16 0.96 0.68 0.26 0.08 0.43
92 Maldives 10.2 14.9 29.6 97.0 79.0 32.0 0.1 5.3 0.16 0.70 0.91 0.29 0.06 0.43
93 Libya 11.9 1.3 3.8 80.8 89.0 1.1 0.0 2.3 0.11 0.96 0.84 0.17 0.03 0.42
94 Dominican Rep. 10.4 19.5 17.1 84.0 74.0 5.9 0.0 3.4 0.18 0.83 0.81 0.23 0.04 0.42
95 Tunisia 11.7 5.1 10.4 72.1 76.0 7.6 0.0 5.2 0.12 0.90 0.73 0.24 0.06 0.41
96 Ecuador 11.4 12.6 26.3 91.8 72.0 6.1 0.1 4.3 0.16 0.74 0.85 0.23 0.05 0.41
97 Kazakhstan 13.0 6.4 27.4 99.4 78.0 4.3 0.0 1.6 0.14 0.73 0.92 0.22 0.02 0.41
98 Egypt 11.5 6.7 4.5 56.1 76.0 10.9 0.0 2.8 0.13 0.96 0.63 0.25 0.03 0.40
99 Cape Verde 15.6 9.5 28.4 74.9 80.0 17.8 0.0 3.6 0.18 0.72 0.77 0.27 0.04 0.39
100 Albania 7.1 25.9 24.8 85.3 69.0 3.9 0.0 0.4 0.19 0.75 0.80 0.22 0.00 0.39
101 Paraguay 4.7 28.8 37.3 93.5 64.0 17.3 0.0 1.7 0.18 0.63 0.84 0.27 0.02 0.39
102 Namibia 6.5 10.7 22.5 82.7 74.0 4.5 0.0 2.7 0.11 0.77 0.80 0.22 0.03 0.39
103 Guatemala 7.1 13.1 21.4 69.2 57.0 72.9 0.0 3.3 0.12 0.79 0.65 0.32 0.04 0.38
104 El Salvador 10.3 13.8 27.8 79.2 64.0 6.7 0.0 4.6 0.15 0.72 0.74 0.24 0.05 0.38
105 Palestine 8.7 9.3 32.8 89.2 77.0 5.8 0.0 3.0 0.12 0.67 0.85 0.23 0.04 0.38
106 Sri Lanka 4.7 4.9 21.5 91.9 63.0 4.8 0.0 1.1 0.06 0.79 0.82 0.22 0.01 0.38
107 Bolivia 6.8 10.5 29.8 86.0 84.0 2.2 0.0 3.2 0.11 0.70 0.85 0.19 0.04 0.38
108 Cuba 5.1 0.2 29.8 96.8 76.0 4.6 0.0 1.1 0.04 0.70 0.90 0.22 0.01 0.38
109 Samoa 5.7 1.5 36.3 98.7 71.0 11.1 0.0 2.2 0.06 0.64 0.89 0.25 0.03 0.37
110 Algeria 6.1 1.3 12.4 67.8 71.0 5.0 0.0 1.6 0.06 0.88 0.69 0.22 0.02 0.37
111 Turkmenistan 7.7 0.2 20.0 98.0 81.0 0.1 0.0 0.2 0.07 0.80 0.92 0.06 0.00 0.37
112 Georgia 13.1 10.2 46.4 100.0 69.0 6.1 0.0 1.5 0.16 0.54 0.90 0.23 0.02 0.37
113 Swaziland 3.3 6.1 21.0 80.3 77.0 1.0 0.0 1.9 0.06 0.79 0.79 0.17 0.02 0.37
114 Moldova 17.0 7.7 49.6 99.0 61.0 7.7 0.0 3.4 0.18 0.50 0.86 0.24 0.04 0.37
115 Mongolia 5.3 8.9 48.6 98.5 64.0 7.0 0.0 2.1 0.09 0.51 0.87 0.24 0.02 0.35
116 Indonesia 3.7 5.5 37.6 87.3 64.0 2.7 0.0 3.8 0.06 0.62 0.80 0.20 0.04 0.34
117 Gabon 2.5 21.6 46.9 71.0 83.0 12.6 0.0 1.9 0.13 0.53 0.75 0.26 0.02 0.34
118 Morocco 3.8 20.9 25.5 49.8 51.0 10.5 0.0 2.4 0.14 0.74 0.50 0.25 0.03 0.33
119 India 4.0 1.2 21.9 58.0 56.0 1.6 0.0 1.6 0.04 0.78 0.57 0.18 0.02 0.32
120 Kyrgyzstan 7.9 1.1 54.0 97.0 79.0 0.2 0.0 3.0 0.07 0.46 0.91 0.10 0.04 0.32
121 Uzbekistan 6.6 0.7 53.8 99.2 76.0 0.2 0.0 1.1 0.06 0.46 0.91 0.11 0.01 0.31
122 Viet Nam 4.8 2.3 55.4 92.7 64.0 1.8 0.0 1.8 0.05 0.45 0.83 0.19 0.02 0.31
123 Armenia 14.3 1.9 68.0 98.5 60.0 2.1 0.0 1.6 0.13 0.32 0.86 0.19 0.02 0.30
Broad
Adult School band
acy ment p. 100
inhab.
LOW
124 Zimbabwe 2.5 3.0 58.3 89.3 59.0 0.9 0.0 4.3 0.04 0.42 0.79 0.16 0.05 0.29
125 Honduras 4.8 4.9 52.9 75.6 62.0 1.5 0.0 2.5 0.06 0.47 0.71 0.18 0.03 0.29
126 Syria 12.3 2.3 58.6 75.3 59.0 0.9 0.0 1.3 0.11 0.41 0.70 0.16 0.02 0.28
127 Papua New 1.1 0.2 45.3 64.6 41.0 1.1 0.0 1.4 0.01 0.55 0.57 0.17 0.02 0.26
Guinea
128 Vanuatu 3.2 2.4 51.9 34.0 54.0 9.8 0.0 3.4 0.04 0.48 0.41 0.25 0.04 0.24
129 Pakistan 2.5 0.8 45.7 44.0 36.0 2.8 0.0 1.0 0.03 0.54 0.41 0.20 0.01 0.24
130 Azerbaijan 12.2 10.7 183.0 97.0 69.0 0.3 0.0 3.7 0.15 0.00 0.88 0.12 0.04 0.24
131 S. Tomé & 4.1 1.3 287.7 83.1 58.0 13.2 0.0 7.3 0.04 0.00 0.75 0.26 0.09 0.23
Principe
132 Tajikistan 3.7 0.2 362.3 99.3 71.0 0.3 0.0 0.1 0.03 0.00 0.90 0.12 0.00 0.21
133 Equatorial Guinea 1.8 6.4 177.1 84.2 58.0 2.0 0.0 0.4 0.05 0.00 0.75 0.19 0.00 0.20
134 Kenya 1.0 4.2 152.4 83.3 52.0 1.8 0.0 1.3 0.03 0.00 0.73 0.19 0.01 0.19
135 Nicaragua 3.2 3.8 138.6 66.8 65.0 6.0 0.0 1.7 0.05 0.00 0.66 0.23 0.02 0.19
136 Lesotho 1.6 4.2 110.7 83.9 63.0 0.5 0.0 1.0 0.03 0.00 0.77 0.14 0.01 0.19
137 Nepal 1.4 0.1 70.3 42.9 64.0 0.4 0.0 0.3 0.01 0.30 0.50 0.14 0.00 0.19
138 Bangladesh 0.5 0.8 66.8 40.6 54.0 0.3 0.0 0.2 0.01 0.33 0.45 0.12 0.00 0.18
139 Yemen 2.8 2.1 75.3 47.7 52.0 0.3 0.0 0.5 0.03 0.25 0.49 0.12 0.01 0.18
140 Togo 1.1 3.6 134.9 58.4 67.0 2.6 0.0 4.3 0.03 0.00 0.61 0.20 0.05 0.18
141 Solomon Islands 1.5 0.2 191.9 76.6 50.0 1.2 0.1 0.5 0.01 0.00 0.68 0.17 0.01 0.17
142 Cambodia 0.3 2.8 212.8 68.7 55.0 1.5 0.0 0.2 0.02 0.00 0.64 0.18 0.00 0.17
143 Uganda 0.2 2.0 464.4 68.0 71.0 0.4 0.0 0.4 0.01 0.00 0.69 0.13 0.00 0.17
144 Zambia 0.8 1.3 118.7 79.0 45.0 0.5 0.0 0.5 0.01 0.00 0.68 0.14 0.01 0.17
145 Myanmar 0.7 0.1 180.9 85.0 47.0 0.2 0.0 0.1 0.01 0.00 0.72 0.11 0.00 0.17
146 Congo 0.7 6.7 207.8 81.8 57.0 0.0 0.0 0.2 0.04 0.00 0.74 0.05 0.00 0.17
147 Cameroon 0.7 4.3 110.7 72.4 48.0 0.6 0.0 0.4 0.03 0.00 0.64 0.15 0.00 0.16
148 Ghana 1.3 2.4 177.8 72.7 46.0 0.6 0.0 0.8 0.02 0.00 0.64 0.15 0.01 0.16
149 Lao P.D.R. 1.1 1.0 123.4 65.6 57.0 0.3 0.0 0.3 0.01 0.00 0.63 0.12 0.00 0.15
150 Malawi 0.7 0.8 465.0 61.0 72.0 0.2 0.0 0.3 0.01 0.00 0.65 0.11 0.00 0.15
151 Tanzania 0.5 1.9 501.4 76.0 31.0 0.5 0.0 0.2 0.01 0.00 0.61 0.14 0.00 0.15
152 Haiti 1.6 1.7 354.5 50.8 52.0 4.2 0.0 1.0 0.02 0.00 0.51 0.22 0.01 0.15
153 Nigeria 0.6 1.3 353.7 65.4 45.0 0.6 0.0 0.3 0.01 0.00 0.59 0.15 0.00 0.15
154 Djibouti 1.5 2.3 153.2 65.5 21.0 3.1 0.0 0.7 0.02 0.00 0.51 0.21 0.01 0.15
155 Rwanda 0.3 1.4 348.3 68.0 52.0 0.2 0.0 0.3 0.01 0.00 0.63 0.10 0.00 0.15
156 Madagascar 0.4 1.0 336.7 67.3 41.0 0.4 0.0 0.3 0.01 0.00 0.59 0.13 0.00 0.15
157 Mauritania 1.2 9.2 113.1 40.7 43.0 3.5 0.0 0.4 0.06 0.00 0.41 0.21 0.00 0.14
158 Senegal 2.3 5.6 103.7 38.3 38.0 8.1 0.0 1.1 0.05 0.00 0.38 0.24 0.01 0.14
159 Gambia 2.8 7.3 116.2 37.8 47.0 1.5 0.0 1.8 0.06 0.00 0.41 0.18 0.02 0.13
160 Bhutan 2.8 0.0 148.5 47.0 33.0 2.9 0.0 1.4 0.02 0.00 0.42 0.21 0.02 0.13
161 Sudan 2.1 0.6 550.8 58.8 34.0 0.3 0.0 0.3 0.02 0.00 0.51 0.12 0.00 0.13
162 Comoros 1.4 0.0 206.0 56.0 40.0 0.3 0.0 0.4 0.01 0.00 0.51 0.13 0.00 0.13
163 Côte d,Ivoire 2.0 6.2 132.1 49.7 39.0 0.4 0.0 0.5 0.05 0.00 0.46 0.13 0.01 0.13
164 Eritrea 0.9 0.0 200.9 56.7 33.0 0.5 0.0 0.2 0.01 0.00 0.49 0.14 0.00 0.13
165 D.R. Congo 0.0 1.1 986.7 62.7 27.0 0.2 0.0 0.1 0.01 0.00 0.51 0.11 0.00 0.12
166 Benin 1.0 3.3 146.5 38.6 49.0 0.3 0.0 0.8 0.02 0.00 0.42 0.13 0.01 0.12
167 Mozambique 0.5 1.4 233.1 45.2 37.0 0.5 0.0 0.2 0.01 0.00 0.42 0.14 0.00 0.12
168 Angola 0.6 0.9 143.3 42.0 29.0 0.5 0.0 0.3 0.01 0.00 0.38 0.14 0.00 0.11
169 Burundi 0.3 0.7 703.2 49.2 31.0 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.01 0.00 0.43 0.08 0.00 0.10
170 Guinea 0.3 1.2 185.2 41.0 34.0 0.2 0.0 0.5 0.01 0.00 0.39 0.11 0.01 0.10
171 Sierra Leone 0.5 1.3 857.1 36.0 51.0 0.1 0.0 0.2 0.01 0.00 0.41 0.08 0.00 0.10
172 Central African 0.2 0.3 807.9 48.2 24.0 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.00 0.00 0.40 0.09 0.00 0.10
Rep.
173 Ethiopia 0.5 0.1 329.0 40.3 34.0 0.1 0.0 0.1 0.00 0.00 0.38 0.10 0.00 0.10
174 Guinea-Bissau 0.9 0.0 840.0 39.6 43.0 0.1 0.0 0.4 0.01 0.00 0.41 0.06 0.00 0.10
175 Chad 0.2 0.4 375.7 44.2 33.0 0.1 0.0 0.2 0.00 0.00 0.40 0.07 0.00 0.10
176 Mali 0.5 0.5 289.8 26.4 29.0 0.6 0.0 0.2 0.01 0.00 0.27 0.15 0.00 0.09
177 Burkina Faso 0.5 0.8 247.5 24.8 22.0 0.7 0.0 0.2 0.01 0.00 0.24 0.15 0.00 0.08
178 Niger 0.2 0.1 683.6 16.5 17.0 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.00 0.00 0.17 0.05 0.00 0.04
Source: ITU (2003): World Telecommunication Development Report 2003, Table 5.4
[Reproduced with the kind permission of ITU]
The Report discusses how raw numbers are translated into scores that are weighted for the overall DAI score.
Appendices 99
Appendix 3: Washington, D.C., Workshop Details

Agenda – Washington Workshop on IT and Sustainable Development
June 26-27, 2003
June 26th (Day 1)

8:30-9:00 am: Continental breakfast
First Session
9:00-9:15 am: Setting the Stage – Prof. Raj Reddy, Carnegie Mellon University
Chair: 9:15-9:30 am: Keynote Address by Dr. Rita Colwell, Director, NSF
Dr. Gary 9:30-9:45 am: Plenary Address by Ms. Jocelyne Albert, The World Bank
Strong (DHS)
9:45-10:15 am: Inaugural Address – Mr. Nitin Desai, Under-Secretary General, UN
Development and Deprivation – Prof. V. S. Arunachalam, Carnegie
10:15-10:35 am:
Mellon University
10:35-10:55 am: Discussion
10:55-11:25 am: Refreshment Break
Second Session Agriculture, Land-use, and Sustainability – Prof. Rattan Lal, Ohio
11:25-11:45 am:
State University
Chair: 11:45-12:05 am: Discussion
Prof. Richard 12:05-1:20 pm: Lunch
Newton (UC-
Berkeley) Drinking water and sanitation – Prof. Peter Rogers, Harvard
1:20-1:40 pm:
University
1:40- 2:00 pm: Discussion
Human health and development – Prof. W. Henry Mosley, Johns
2:00-2:20 pm:
Hopkins University
2:20-2:40 pm: Discussion
2:40-3:10 pm: Refreshment Break
Development and e-development – Dr. Nagy Hanna, The World
3:10-3:30 pm:
Bank
Economic growth in developing countries – Prof. T. N. Srinivasan,
3:50-4:10 pm:
Yale University
Third Session
Chair: Is research relevant to developing countries? – Dr. David Jhirad,
4:30-4:50 pm:
Dr. Carlos Braga World Resources Institute
(World Bank)
Break, head to Wyndham City Center Hotel, New Hampshire
5:10-6:00 pm:
Avenue
6:00 pm
Reception and Dinner – Wyndham City Center – Potomac Room
onwards:
June 27th (Day 2)

8:30-9:00 am: Continental Breakfast
IT, the World Bank, and Development – Dr. Carlos A. Braga, The
9:00-9:20 am:
World Bank
Transportation and Urban Planning – Dr. Nancy Kete, World
Fourth Session 9:40-10:00 am:
Resources Institute/EMBARQ
Chair:
Prof. Eric 10:20-10:50 am: Refreshment Break
Brewer (UC- Energy and Electricity Issues in developing countries – Dr. David
Berkeley) 10:50-11:10 am:
Victor, Stanford University
Relationship between IT and Sustainable Development – Mr. Tom
11:30-11:50 am:
Kalil, UC-Berkeley
Lunch
12:10-1:10 pm: Talk by Mohamed Muhsin, World Bank, “The World Bank, IT, and
Sustainable Development”
1:10-2:10 pm: Observations from the frontlines – International Participants
Fifth Session 2:10-2:30 pm: Discussion
Chair: Prof.
T.N. Srinivasan 2:30-3:00 pm: Summing up
(Yale University) Setting the theme for the Next Stage of the IT for Sustainability
Workshop
Appendices 101
Washington, D.C. Workshop Select Highlights
Opening Session (L to R):

Rita Colwell (NSF),
Nitin Desai (UN), and
V. S. Arunachalam (CMU)
Making a Statement: Carlos Braga (World Bank)
Developing Countries
Perspectives Discussion (L to R):
Walter Alhassan (Ghana),
Chrissie Mwiyeriwa (Malawi),
T. N. Srinivasan (Yale Univ.),
Dirk Pilari (UN), and
Ambika Sharma (India)
Participants – Washington Workshop on IT and Sustainable Development
June 26-27, 2003

Jocelyne Albert Fernando Chaparro
Senior Regional Coordinator Executive Director
World Bank Columbian Digital Corporation
USA Columbia
Walter Alhassan Vivek Chaudhry

Director-General (retd.) Program Administrator
CSIR Secretariat World Bank
Ghana USA
V. S. Arunachalam Rita Colwell

Professor Director
Dept. of Engineering & Public Policy/Materials Science & National Science Foundation
Engineering/Robotics Inst. (School of Computer USA
Science)
Carnegie Mellon Anita Connelly
USA Administrator
Carnegie Mellon
N. Balakrishnan USA
Professor
Indian Institute of Science/Carnegie Mellon Ruth Connolly
India Organization of American States
USA
Anshu Bharadwaj
Research Fellow Anthony Cresswell
Dept. of Engineering & Public Policy Professor
Carnegie Mellon SUNY-Albany
USA USA
R. Bhaskar Khadisha Dairova

Professor Embassy of Kazakhstan
Harvard Business School Kazakhasthan
USA
Cliff Davidson
Carlos Braga Professor
Senior Manager Carnegie Mellon
Informatics Program USA
World Bank
USA Nitin Desai
Under-Secretary General (Economic and Social Affairs)
Eric Brewer United Nations
Professor USA
UC-Berkeley
USA
M. Bernardine Dias
Researcher
Moira Burns Carnegie Mellon
National Science Foundation Sri Lanka
USA
Nafeeza Fazal
Liz Casman Minister of State for Science & Technology
Research Engineer Dept. of Science & Technology
Carnegie Mellon Govt. of Karnataka, India
USA India
Appendices 103
Patrice Flynn Richard Lempert

President Division Director
Flynn Research Social and Economic Sciences
USA National Science Foundation
USA
Ed Fredkin
Professor Stephen Meacham
Carnegie Mellon National Science Foundation
USA USA
Valerie Gregg Mari Maeda

Program Manager Program Director
Digital Government Research Program CISE
National Science Foundation National Science Foundation
USA USA
Nagy Hanna Kui-Nang Mak

Senior Advisor, e-Development Chief
World Bank Energy & Transport Branch
USA United Nations
USA
Miriam Heller
Program Manager Sujata Millick
Engineering Directorate Technology Policy Analyst
National Science Foundation Office of Technology Policy
USA US Dept. of Commerce
USA
David Jhirad
Vice-President Henry Mosley
VP-Research Professor
World Resources Institute Bloomberg School of Public Health
USA Johns Hopkins University
USA
Dan Johnson
National Science Foundation Mohamed Muhsin
USA Vice-President and CIO
World Bank
Tom Kalil USA
Special Assistant to the Chancellor for Science &
Technology Chrissie Mwiyeriwa
UC-Berkeley Secretary
USA National Research Council of Malawi
Malawi
Nancy Kete
Senior Fellow Richard Newton
World Resources Institute/EMBARQ Dean
USA College of Engineering
UC-Berkeley
Robin King USA
Professor
Communications, Culture, and Technology Leisa Perch
Georgetown University Organization of American States
USA USA
Pat Koshel Dirk Pilari

Senior Program Officer Senior Economic Affairs Officer
National Academy of Sciences United Nations
USA USA
Rattan Lal
Professor
Ohio State University
USA
Ramji Raghavan Sue Stendebach

Chairman Program Manager
Agastya Foundation Digital Government Research Program
India National Science Foundation
USA
Raj Reddy
Professor Jan Stout
School of Computer Science National Science Foundation
Carnegie Mellon USA
USA
Gary Strong
Peter Rogers Director
Professor Behavioral Research, S&T Directorate
Harvard University US Dept. of Homeland Security
USA USA
Ambuj Sagar Stanley Su

Fellow Distinguished Professor & Director
Harvard University Database Systems R&D Center
USA University of Florida
USA
Roald Sagdev
Professor Eswaran Subrahmanian
University of Maryland Senior Research Faculty
USA Institute for Complex Engineered Systems
Carnegie Mellon
Bill Scherlis USA
Principal Research Scientist
Carnegie Mellon Frederick Tipson
USA Executive Director
Global Digital Opportunity Initiative
Michael Shamos Markle Foundation
Professor USA
Carnegie Mellon
USA Rahul Tongia
Systems Scientist
Ambika Sharma ISRI-School of Computer Science/Dept. of Engineering &
Program Officer Public Policy
Development Alternatives Carnegie Mellon
India USA
Mel Siegel Kung Tun

Senior Research Scientist Chief
Robotics Institute Project Review Office
Carnegie Mellon Ministry of Environment, Cambodia
USA Cambodia
William Sonntag Shalini Vajjhala

Chief of Staff Graduate Research Assistant
CIO's Ofice Carnegie Mellon
EPA USA
USA
David Victor
T. N. Srinivasan Director
Professor Program on Energy and Sustainable Development
Yale University Stanford University
USA USA
Appendices 105
Peter Wiesner
Manager
Business Development, Educational Activities
IEEE
USA
Juwang Zhu
Sustainable Development Officer
United Nations
USA
While all attempts have been made in the list above, we

cannot guarantee its accuracy or completeness.
Appendix 4: Bangalore Workshop Details

Agenda – Bangalore Workshop on IT and Sustainable Development
January 14-16, 2004
January 14, 2004 (Day 1)

10:00-10:30 am: Registration and Tea
Welcome Remarks – Prof. N. Balakrishnan, IISc.
Plenary
10:30-10:45 am: Opening Remarks – Ms. JoAnne DiSano, UN; Dr. Carlos Braga,
Session
World Bank; and Dr. Peter Freeman, NSF
10:45-11:00 am: ICT for SD: A resume – Prof. V. S. Arunachalam, CMU
Chair:
(1) Dr. A.
Ramachandran Keynote Address on WSIS and ICT:
(UN, retd.) 11:00-12:20 am: (1) Mr. Nitin Desai, UN (retd.)
(2) Mr. K.K. (2) Prof. Richard Newton, UC-Berkeley
Jaswal (MCIT,
India)
12:20-12:35 pm: Developing Country Needs and Perspectives in ICT – Prof.

Susana Finquelievich, University of Buenos Aires
12:35-2:00 pm: Lunch
2:00-5:30 pm: Working Groups
7:30-9:30 pm: Dinner
Plan of Action/Announcements
Chair:
Keynote Address on Development and Economics
Dr. Carlos Braga 9:30-10:10 am:
Prof. Joseph Stiglitz, Columbia University
(World Bank)
10:10-12:30 pm: Working Groups
12:30-1:30 pm: Lunch
Development and Security – Dr. Ronald Lehman, Lawrence
1:30-2:00 pm:
Livermore Natl. Lab
ICT & Development: Who Pays, How Much? – Prof. Raj Reddy,
2:00-2:15 pm:
CMU
Chair:
Ms. JoAnne
DiSano (UN)
Co-Chairs:
Dr. S. 2:15-5:15 pm: Presentations by Working Groups and Joint Discussions
Varadarajan
(INSA), Prof.
Bill Scherlis
(CMU)
7:30-9:30 pm: Dinner
Appendices 107

Remarks by – (Late) Dr. Raja Ramanna, NIAS; Ms. JoAnne
Disano, UN; Dr. Carlos Braga, World Bank; Dr. Peter Freeman,
Valedictory
9:30-10:45 am: NSF; Prof. Raj Reddy, CMU; and Prof. V. S. Arunachalam, CMU
Session
Address by H.E. Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, President of India
Vote of Thanks – Prof. N. Balakrishnan, IISc
10:45-11:15 am: Tea with the President of India
Research Agenda Prioritization and Discussions
11:15-12:00 pm:
Tom Kalil, UC-Berkeley
Linkages, Partnerships, and Mechanisms for Implementation
12:00-12:45 pm:
Dr. Kui-Nang Mak, UN
12:45-1:00 pm: Where Do We Go From Here? – Dr. V. S. Arunachalam, CMU
1:00-1:15 pm: Closing Remarks – Dr. Peter Freeman, NSF
1:15 pm Workshop Concludes; Lunch
(Optional)
Industry/Site Visits
Bangalore Workshop Select Highlights
Inaugural Session (L to R): Carlos Braga (World Bank), Keynote Address: Joseph Stiglitz (Columbia Univ.) being introduced by
V. S. Arunachalam (CMU), Peter Freeman (NSF), Carlos Braga (World Bank)
JoAnne DiSano (UN), A. Ramachandran (NIAS), Raj
Reddy (CMU)
Breakout Group Sessions: Working Group on Human Development Valedictory Session (L to R podium and onstage): (late)
Raja Ramanna (NIAS), Carlos Braga (WorldBank), Peter
Freeman (NSF), JoAnne DiSano (UN), Raj Reddy (CMU),
H.E. President APJ Abdul Kalam, H.E. Governor T. N.
Chaturvedi, V. S. Arunachalam (CMU), N. Balakrishnan
(IISc)
Appendices 109
Participants – Bangalore Workshop on IT and Sustainable Development
January 14-16, 2004

V. K. Aatre Vivek Balaraman
Secretary Scientist
DRDO Research Dev. & Design Center
Govt. of India Tata Consultancy Services
India India
Hoda Baraka
Talal Aboud National Project Director (MCIT)
Scientific Studies and Research Centre Ministry of Communications and IT
Syria Egypt
Dulcy Abraham Yashwant Bhave

Assoc. Professor Joint-Secretary
Civil Engineering Ministry of Communications and Information Technology
Purdue India
USA
Carlos Braga
Bruce Alberts Senior Advisor
President Intl. Trade
National Academy of Sciences World Bank
USA Switzerland
Yahya M. Al-Sharafi Lawrence Brandt

National Water Resources Authority Program Manager
Yemen CISE
National Science Foundation
P. Anandan USA
Microsoft
India Eric Brewer
Assoc. Professor
James Arputharaj EECS
Executive Director University of California, Berkeley
South Asia Partnership International USA
Sri Lanka
Rudolfo Castillo-Lopez
V. S. Arunachalam Director
Professor Agency for the Development of the Inform. Soc. of Bolivia
Engineering & Public Policy/School of Computer Bolivia
Science/Materials Science & Engineering
Carnegie Mellon R Chandrashekhar
USA Joint Secretary
e-Governance
V. Balaji MCIT
Head India
Information Resource Management
ICRISAT Vijay Chandru
India Professor
Comp. Sc. & Automation
N. Balakrishnan Indian Inst. Of Science
Chairman India
Information Sciences
Indian Inst. Of Science Fernando Chaparro
India Director
Digital Columbia
Columbia
T. N. Chaturvedi Jose Fortes

H. E. Governor of Karnataka Professor
India U. of Florida
USA
Tony Crewsswell
Associate Professor Peter Freeman
SUNY-Albany Asst. Director for CISE
USA
Joseph Davis
Professor Stuart Gannes
Computer Science Director
Univ. of Sydney Digital Vision Fellowship
Australia Stanford
USA
Nitin Desai
Under-Secretary General (retd.) Atma Ram Ghimire
United Nations Nat. Information Technology Centre
USA Nepal
Parag Deshpande S Ghosal

Coordinator Head
Software/User Interface Design Bangalore Centre
National Institute of Design National Institute of Design
India India
M. Bernardine Dias Gita Gopal

Special Faculty Asst. Director
School of Computer Science HP Labs India
Carnegie Mellon USA
USA
Valerie Gregg
JoAnne DiSano Program Manager
Director CISE
Division For Sustainable Development National Science Foundation
United Nations USA
USA
J. Gururaja
Kunzang Dorji Advisor
Deputy Director United Nations
Information Communication and Outreach Section USA
National Environment Commission
Bhutan K. N. Hari Kumar
Managing Director
Rupa Sriyani Eknayake e-tapaal
Director India
Human Resources Department
Ministry of Environment & Natural Resources Vishaka Hidellage
Sri Lanka Country Director
ITDG South Asia
Kevin Fall Sri Lanka
Fellow
Intel Keiichi Ishihara
USA Professor
Kyoto University
Susana Finquelievich Japan
Director
Research Program on Information Society Ashok Jain
University of Buenos Aires Delhi University
Argentina India
Appendices 111
A P J Abdul Kalam Ronald Lehman

H.E. The President of India Director
Center for Global Security Research
Tom Kalil Lawrence Livermore Natl. Lab
Special Assistant to the Chancellor for Science and USA
Technology
University of California, Berkeley Richard Lempert
USA
Ken Keniston
Professor Kui-Nang Mak
MIT Chief
USA Energy and Transport Branch
United Nations
P. C. Kesavan USA
Professor
M.S.Swaminathan Res.Foundation Swamy Manohar
India Professor
Comp. Sc. & Automation
Ashok Khosla Indian Inst. of Science
President India
Development Alternatives
India Ramona Miranda
ITDG South Asia
Beth Kolko Sri Lanka
Assoc. Professor
Department of Technical Communication M. D. Mohsin
U. of Washington Senior Assistant Secretary
USA Ministry of Environment & Forests
Bangladesh
Darlie O. Koshy
Director Benoit Morel
National Institute of Design Professor
India Dept. of Engineering & Public Policy
Carnegie Mellon
Gopi Krishna USA
India
M. Granger Morgan
M Krishnamurthi Professor
Trustee Carnegie Mellon
M. Venkatarangiyah Foundation USA
India
Nandan Nilekani
Alfonso Lafuente CEO
President Infosys
National Center for IT (CNTI) India
Venezuela
M. K. Narayanan
Sunil Lal Director (retd.)
Senior Research Scientist Intelligence Bureau
Intl. Ctre for Gen. Engg. & Tech. India
India
Ravi Narayanan
Emmanuel C Lallana Director
Executive Director WaterAid
e-ASEAN Task Force UK
Philippines
Ramamurthy Natarajan
Chairman
AICTE
India
Indira Nath Bui Duc Quang

Professor Head of Group for Computer and Electronics Industries
AIIMS, New Delhi Department of Information Technology Industry
India Ministry of Posts and Telematics
Vietnam
Abdoulaye Ndiaye
Technical Adviser on IT to the Prime Minister Ramji Raghavan
Govt. of Senegal Chairman
Senegal Agastya Foundation
India
Richard Newton
Dean Hakikur Rahman
University of California, Berkeley Project Coordinator
USA Sustainable Development Networking Programme
(SDNP)
Zerubabel M. Nyiiria Bangladesh
Executive Secretary and National ACACIA Programme
Coordinator Y. S. Rajan
Uganda National Council for Science and Technology Vice Chancellor
Uganda Punjab Technical University
India
John Onyatta
Principal Research Officer A. Ramachandran
Department of Research Development Chairman
Kenya The Energy Research Institute (TERI)
India
Joyojeet Pal
Researcher A. Ramakrishna
University of California, Berkeley President (Op.) & Dy MD
USA Larsen & Toubro Ltd.
India
D. B. Pathak
Professor & Head Krithi Ramamritham
KReSIT Professor
IIT, Mumbai Comp. Sc. & Engg.
India IIT, Mumbai
India
Rabin Patra
Researcher Bhaskaran Raman
University of California, Berkeley Asst. Professor
USA Comp. Sc. & Engg.
IIT, Kanpur
Anand Patwardhan India
Professor and Head
S J Mehta School of Management Late Raja Ramanna
IIT, Mumbai Director (Emeritus)
India National Institute of Advanced Studies
India
Feniosky Peña-Mora
Assoc. Professor Raj Reddy
U. of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Professor
USA School of Computer Science
Carnegie Mellon
Vishweshwaraiah Prakash USA
Director
CFTRI Justus Roux
India Professor
University of Stellenbosch
South Africa
Appendices 113
Roald Sagdev Uma Srinivasan

Professor Research Group Leader
U. of Maryland Health Data Integration
USA CSIRO
Australia
Varun Sahni
Project Shakti Srinivasan Ramani
Hindustan Lever Ltd Director
India HP Labs India
India
Walt Schearer
Business Manager Joseph Stiglitz
ISRI, School of Computer Science Professor
Carnegie Mellon Columbia University
USA USA
Bill Scherlis Eswaran Subrahmanian

Principal Research Scientist Research Professor
School of Computer Science Carnegie Mellon/NIST
Carnegie Mellon USA
USA
P. V. Subrahmanyam
Angus Scrimgeour Member
Scrimgeour Inc. Byrraju Foundation
USA/India India
Michael Shamos Aruna Sunderarajan

Director, e-Commerce Inst. Secretary, IT
School of Computer Science Govt of Kerala
Carnegie Mellon India
USA
Subrahmanian Suresh
R. K. Shukla Professor
Principal Statistician MIT
Sample Survey and Gen. Econ. USA
NCAER, India
Ngurah Swajaya
Mel Siegel Senior Expert on Economic and Environmental Affairs
Assoc. Research Professor Dept. of Foreign Affairs
School of Computer Science Indonesia
Carnegie Mellon
USA William Thompson
State Representative
UNICEF
Shanta Sinha
India
Professor
Political Science
University of Hyderabad Rahul Tongia
India Systems Scientist
School of Computer Science/Engineering & Public Policy
Carnegie Mellon
Friedrich Soltau USA
Sustainable Development Officer
United Nations
Srinivasan Varadarajan
USA
Past President
Indian National Science Academy
Kong Kim Sreng India
Technical Officer
Department of Nature Conservation K. I. Vasu
Ministry of Environment National President
Cambodia Vijnana Bharati
India
David Victor
Director
Program on Energy and Sustainable Development
Stanford
USA
T. Vijay Kumar
CEO
Velugu Project
India
Ernest Wilson
Professor
U. of Maryland
USA
David Zoellner
Nexant
Philippines
Xiang Fu Zong
Founding President and Professor
Shanghai Int. Institute of Information Science & Tech
China
While all attempts have been made in the list above, we

cannot guarantee its accuracy or completeness
Appendices 115
Appendix 5: Bangalore Workshop Questionnaires

Questionnaires were distributed to workshop participants and other select professionals in advance of the
Bangalore Workshop to aid in structuring discussions and creating a Discussion Note (which was also
circulated in advance of the Workshop). Dozens of responses were received, and these helped form many of
the thematic group challenges and barriers presented in the Thematic Groups chapter of the Report.
Questionnaire for Infrastructure and Human Development

(Energy, Water & Sanitation, Transportation, Education, Healthcare)
Note: The workshop website (http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rtongia/itsd.htm) gives information on the Workshop

agenda and on ICT status and development. We give below a template to receive your advice on what you see
as the challenges in your sector, and how ICT can respond to these.
Please copy this template if you are interested in responding to more than one sector.
(The tables below will expand as you type.)
Name: Affiliation:
Contact Information email: fax:
Sector of Interest: ___________________________
1. What do you find are the six developmental challenges relevant to this sector (in decreasing order
of importance)?
It would help if your response addresses the following dimensions pertinent to the sector: availability,
access, affordability and, quality.
Areas Challenges
1
2
3
4
5
6
2. What do you see as the barriers in solving the challenges mentioned above (such as political,
institutional, financial, technological, social and behavioral barriers)?
Challenges Barriers How they affect the issues?

1
2
3
4
5
6
3. Based on the description of the IC technologies provided (and others that you are aware of), are
appropriate ICT available for these tasks? If not, what developments you think are needed in IC
technologies for this sector?
Developmental needs in
Barriers ICT availability
ICT
1
2
3
4
5
6
Appendices 117
4. Do you know of any ongoing ICT-enabled programs in this sector and what are your observations?
ICT enabled
Area Organization Comments/Observations
program
1
2
3
4
5
6
5. What supporting infrastructure, institutions, or user-skills do you feel are required or need to be
improved? Please prioritize the changes required (such as institutional, social, financial, technological
etc.) to ensure rapid deployment of ICTs in this sector.
Changes or improvements required

1
2
3
4
5
6
6. Do you have other suggestions on what you want from ICT?
1
2
3
4
Many thanks. Please email your response to vsa@cmu.edu and with a copy to tongia@cmu.edu by
December 10, 2003. If you wish to fax, please send this to: +1(435) 518 9710 (email is preferred).
Questionnaire for Information Communication Technologies for Agriculture

(Food, Fiber and Fisheries)

as the challenges in agriculture, and how ICT can respond to these.
Name: Affiliation:
1. What six major challenges do you see in the agricultural sector in developing countries (in
decreasing order of importance)?
It would help if your response addresses the following dimensions: environmental, resource (land,
water, other inputs), consumption patterns and demand, trade and market.
Areas Challenges
1
2
3
4
5
6
2. What do you see as the barriers in solving the challenges mentioned above (such as political,
institutional, financial, technological, social and behavioral barriers)?
Challenges Barriers How they affect the issues?

1
2
3
4
5
6
3. Based on the description of the IC technologies provided (and others that you are aware of), are
appropriate IC technologies available for these tasks? If not, what developments are needed in IC
technologies for agriculture?
Developmental needs in
ICT availability (ref. Q1) Barriers
ICT
1
2
3
4
5
6
Appendices 119
4. Do you know of any ongoing ICT-enabled programs in agriculture, and what are your
observations?
ICT enabled
program
1
2
3
4
5
6
5. What supporting infrastructure, institutions, or user-skills do you feel are required or need to be
improved? Please prioritize the changes required (such as institutional, social, financial, technological
etc.) to ensure rapid deployment of ICTs in this sector.
Changes or improvements required

1
2
3
4
5
6
1
2
3
4
Questionnaire for Employment Generation and Poverty Reduction

as the challenges in employment generation and poverty reduction, and how ICT can respond to these.
Name: Affiliation:
(I) Employment Opportunities in ICT
1. What skillsets do you consider necessary for ICT employment (in decreasing order of
importance)?
Skillset
1
2
3
4
5
2. What skillsets are available in your country for ICT employment and what are missing?
Availability
Skillset
Urban Rural
1
2
3
4
5
3. What are the barriers to acquiring these skillsets?
Barriers to acquiring (Ref. Q1)

1
2
3
4
5
4. What are your suggestions to overcome these barriers?
Overcoming skillset barriers (Ref. Q3)

1
2
3
4
5
5. What resources are required to develop these skillsets? Do you have any suggestions for for
country developing these skillsets (e.g., bilateral agreements including south-south, technology
transfer, specialized academies, etc.)?
Appendices 121
Skillset Resources Required

1
2
3
4
5
Skillset Method of Developing

1
2
3
4
5
(II) Employment Opportunities enabled by ICT
1. What sectors of your economy can benefit in the short term from ICT applications?
1
2
3
4
5
2. What sectors of the economy are currently benefiting from ICT? What organizations use ICT, and
what types of ICT are being used? Do you have any further details or insights into any specific
projects?
ICT enabled
program
1
2
3
4
5
3. What sectors do you see opportunities to expand and develop markets through ICT?
1
2
3
4
5
4. What are the barriers to the use of ICT in these sectors (Ref. Q3 above)?
1
2
3
4
5
5. What are your suggestions to overcome these barriers in these sectors?
1
2
3
4
5
6. What suggestions do you have for making ICT more relevant for employment addressing national
needs?
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
Appendices 123
Questionnaire on the Role of ICT in Governance and Empowerment

as the challenges in the area of governance and empowerment, and how ICT can respond to these.
Name: Affiliation:
1. Where do you think ICT can play a positive role in governance? Are you aware of any specific IC
Technology that can enhance citizen empowerment?
IC Technology Governance / Empowerment Role

1
2
3
4
5
2. What are the barriers to implementing IC Technologies in governance?
1
2
3
4
5
3. What are your suggestions to overcome these barriers?
1
2
3
4
5
4. How do you see the role of ICT in empowering women? What initiatives do you recommend for
such empowerment?
ICT Role Initiatives

1
2
3
4
5
5. How can we bridge the divide between ICT haves and have-nots? Do you have any specific
suggestions for ensuring the “first-movers” do not increase their advantage?
Bridging the Divide Suggestions and Comments (incl. 1st mover)
1
2
3
4
5
6. Can you suggest ways ICT can help improve transparency and reduce transaction costs/corruption
(in decreasing order of importance)?
1
2
3
4
5
7. Please list (in decreasing order of importance) the areas where ICT can most help (e.g., voter
registration, health records, land records, taxes, driver licensing, etc.)
1
2
3
4
5
1
2
3
4
5
Appendices 125
Appendix 6: Acronyms
3G 3rd Generation (of Mobile Telephony – capable of high-speed data)
AICTE All India Council for Technical Education
AIDS Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome
ARPA Advanced Research Projects Agency (USA)
ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange
B2B Business to Business
B2C Business to Consumer
BOP Bottom of the Pyramid
CAIDA Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis
CDAC Center for Development of Advanced Computing (India)
CDMA Code Division Multiple Access
CEE Central and Eastern Europe
CERTs Computer Emergency Response Teams
CGIAR Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research
CIS Commonwealth of Independent States (formerly the USSR)
CMU Carnegie Mellon University
CO2 Carbon Dioxide
CRT Cathode Ray Tube
CSIR Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (India)
CSTEP Center for Study of Science Technology and Policy (India)
DAI Digital Access Index (ITU Metric for data connectivity)
DARPA Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (US government entity that funds
extensive R&D; its predecessor funded what became the Internet)
DHS (US) Dept. of Homeland Security
DNS Domain Name Service
DSL Digital Subscriber Line
DST Dept. of Science and Technology (Govt. of India)
e-commerce Electronic commerce
ENUM Electronic Numbers (New mechanism for linking Internet addresses to telephone
numbers)
ESTI European Telecommunications Standards Institute
FAO Food and Agricultural Organization
FCC Federal Communications Commission (USA)
FOSS Free and Open Source Software
GDP Gross Domestic Product
GIS Geographic Information System
GNI Gross National Income
GNP Gross National Product
GPRS General Packet Radio Service (considered 2.5 Generation mobile technology)
GPS Global Positioning System
GSM Global System for Mobile Communications (cellular phone technology)
ha Hectare
HAART Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy
HCI Human-Computer Interface
HDI Human Development Index
HDR Human Development Report
HIPC Heavily Indebted Poor Country
HIV Human Immunodeficiency Virus
HP Hewlett Packard
HW/SW Hardware/Software
IBM International Business Machines
ICANN Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
ICT Information and Communications Technology
ICT-SD Information and Communications Technology – Sustainable Development
IDNs Internationalized Domain Names
IETF Internet Engineering Task Force
IISc Indian Institute of Science
IP Internet Protocol
IPR Intellectual Property Rights
IPv4 Internet Protocol Version 4
IPv6 Internet Protocol Version 6
ISPs Internet Service Providers
IT Information Technology
ITU International Telecommunication Union
kbps Kilobits per second
LAN Local Area Network
LCD Liquid Crystal Display
Mbps Megabits Per Second
MCIT Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (India)
MDG Millennium Development Goal
MEMS Micro-Electromechanical Systems
MIMO Multi-Input Multi-Output
n.a. Not Available
NGO Non-Governmental Organization
NIAS National Institute for Advanced Studies
NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology (USA)
NSF National Science Foundation
ODA Official Development Assistance
Appendices 127
OECD Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development

PC Personal Computer
PPP Purchasing Power Parity (mechanism for adjusting exchange rates based on local costs
of living)
PTT Post, Telephone, and Telegraph (Governmental telecommunications provider)
R&D Research and Development
RFID Radio Frequency Identification Device
ROI Return on Investment
SCADA Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition
SD Sustainable Development
SMS Short Message Service
T&D Transmission and Distribution (e.g., of electricity)
TB Tuberculosis
TCO Total Costs of Ownership
TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
TV Television
UK United Kingdom
UN United Nations
UNCTAD United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
UNDP United Nations Development Program
UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund (formerly United Nations International Children’s
Emergency Fund)
US United States
USO Universal Service Obligation
VCR Video Cassette Recorder
VoIP Voice over Internet Protocol
VSAT Very Small Aperture Terminal (satellite communications)
WB World Bank
WEHAB Water, Energy, Health, Agriculture, and Biodiversity (UN Framework)
WHO World Health Organization
WiFi Wireless Fidelity (standard for wireless LANs – based on IEEE 802.11)
WiMax Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (standard for broadband wireless access
– based on IEEE 802.16)
WSIS World Summit on the Information Society
129
About the Authors

Dr. Rahul Tongia is a research faculty member of the School of Computer Science (ISRI) and the
Dept. of Engineering and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University. His interests are
interdisciplinary covering technology and policy, especially for infrastructure development. He holds
a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and a Ph.D. in Engineering and Public Policy.
Dr. Eswaran Subrahmanian is a Research Professor at Carnegie Mellon University and Scientist at
the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). His interests are in design, innovation,
information systems, and knowledge management. He holds a Bachelor of Engineering in Chemical
Engineering, a Masters in Computer Science, and a Ph.D. in Urban and Public Affairs (Information
Systems).
Dr. V. S. Arunachalam, a Distinguished Service Professor at Carnegie Mellon University, is Vice-

Chairman of the Planning Commission, Tamil Nadu State, India, and Founder, Center for the Study of
Science, Technology, and Policy (CSTEP), a Bangalore-based not for profit Think Tank.

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Information and Communications

Technology for Sustainable Development

Defining a Global Research Agenda

A Report based on two workshops organized by:

Washington, DC, 2003, and Bangalore, 2004

Defining a Global Research Agenda

ICT-SD Project Investigators:

ISBN : 81 - 7764 - 839 - X

Allied Publishers Pvt. Ltd.

Herbert Simon, 1916 – 2001

Raj Reddy V. S. Arunachalam

Acknowledgements and Disclaimers

Support for the Workshops came from the following agencies/organizations:

• US National Science Foundation (NSF) – Grant Number IIS-0303541

1. INTRODUCTION - SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND ICT ..................................................... 15

2. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY (ICT)................................................. 19

3. THEMATIC GROUPS – ICT AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ............................................. 43

ICT for SD - Linking Needs to Solutions .......................................................................................... 82

About the Authors ................................................................................................................................. 129

1) Improve ICT across the 4C dimensions:

2) Success of ICT for SD requires Integration, Scalability, and Sustainability:

3) ICT for SD must become a recognized and funded enterprise:

Numerous organizations, governmental and non-governmental, public and private, global

Development – Global Targets and Statistics

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs):

Source: UNDP Human Development Report 2004

Drivers for the ICT-SD Workshops

A few technologies can be classified as all-purpose technologies as their innovations

Structure of the Workshops

2 Information and Communications

ICT and Development

Allocation of resources Allocation of resources

Goal/Target Role of ICTs

6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and Increase monitoring and information-

Reduce infant and child mortality Increase access of rural caregivers to

Provide access to all who need

Have achieved, by 2020, a Greater transparency and monitoring of

Source: Table 4.2, World Telecommunication Development Report 2003 (ITU)

Table 1: How ICTs can help the MDGs

Interestingly, these targets deal primarily with ICT infrastructure.

Phase I • Use of Open Source Software

WSIS Targets – Can they be met?

ICT and Developing Countries

Source: CAIDA (2003)

Continual March of ICT

Cost Per Node ($)*

Compiled from various sources

Technology Mapping to Development Needs

Source: Bangalore Workshop Keynote, Newton (2004)

Figure 4: Components of Societal-Scale Information Systems. Innovation is required in

Sensors (S) Acquire and convert observations into information in

Infrastructure Basic Human Needs Economic

S S Disaster / DB/IS DB/IS

Sensors, Communication, Databases/Information Systems (DB/IS),

Digital Divides – Awareness, Availability, Accessibility, and Affordability

The digital divide is actually a manifestation of other underlying divides, spanning

Access → Information → Knowledge ↔ Opportunity

Hardware and Software Cost

What Is and Why Broadband?