Publication:
Information and Communication Technologies for Rural Development : Issues and Options, Volume 1. Main Report and Annexes

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
Files in English
English PDF (1.89 MB)
4,879 downloads
English Text (540.94 KB)
3,283 downloads
Date
2005-10
ISSN
Published
2005-10
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Abstract
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are a potentially revolutionary means of empowering the poor. Realizing this potential will require investments that increase access to ICTs in remote low productivity areas and the development of innovative applications that cater to the needs of the poor and small firms. The costs of these kinds of investment have been decreasing rapidly, but still yield low short term private returns. The private sector cannot alone be expected to underwrite the costs of these developments. If Government does not support these public investments, economic disparities will rise, undermining social stability and future growth. Effective public sector action is required, to establish a regulatory and legal framework that enables the rise of a vibrant innovative competitive private telecommunications and ICT services sector, and to institute selective efficient and transparent public subsidies with high social payoff but low financial returns. This is needed most urgently precisely in developing country contexts where public institutions are often ineffective, corrupt and unaccountable. The challenge takes added significance in Indonesia, a country still recovering from severe economic and political crisis, hardest hit by the biggest natural disaster in recorded human history, undergoing major changes to a decentralized system of governance, and that has very weak public institutions. The overall objective of the report is to identify the policies, technologies, institutions and investments needed to improve the access of rural communities to information services in Indonesia. Specifically, the report would illustrate the opportunities that ICT offers policy makers and practitioners in agricultural and rural development and the policies and institutions that would be necessary to achieve social and economic progress on a sustainable basis for the benefit of rural populations with a focus on farming communities and women. For the purposes of the report, ICTs are defined as electronic communication technologies with a focus on the internet and telephony. Radio, multi-media, other communication tools are addressed only to a limited extent.
Link to Data Set
Citation
World Bank. 2005. Information and Communication Technologies for Rural Development : Issues and Options, Volume 1. Main Report and Annexes. © World Bank. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/8316 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.
Associated URLs
Associated content
Report Series
Other publications in this report series
Journal
Journal Volume
Journal Issue

Related items

Showing items related by metadata.

  • Publication
    Rural Informatization in China
    (World Bank, 2009-06-01) Zhen-Wei Qiang, Christine; Bhavnani, Asheeta; Hanna, Nagy K.; Kimura, Kaoru; Sudan, Randeep
    China's recent economic growth has expanded industrialization and urbanization, upgraded consumption, increased social mobility, and initiated a shift from an economy based on agriculture to one based on industry and services. Still more than half of China's people still live in rural areas where average income per capita is less than a third of the urban average, a gap that is among the largest in the world. Reducing these differences is critical to building a harmonious, inclusive society. This report draws from background research conducted by the advisory committee for state informatization, and attempts to provide an overview of China's rural information and communications technology (ICT) development primarily in the past 15 years. The report first describes the status of China's rural informatization infrastructure. It then reviews existing rural ICT initiatives in China and summarizes them by organizational models. International examples are included to draw lessons from. Finally, the challenges of rural informatization are examined, and policy recommendations identified to address them.
  • Publication
    ICT as an Enabler of Transformation in Ethiopia
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014-01) Lixi, Marc; Dahan, Mariana
    Over the last two decades, Ethiopia has achieved remarkable progress toward social and economic indicators. Analytical evidence shows that development projects with a significant information and communication technology (ICT) component have a higher potential to achieve greater outcomes on the ground than the ones not supported by ICT. This is why the Government of Ethiopia sees ICT within the broader context of its socioeconomic development objectives and believes that it should take advantage of today's most innovative and reliable technologies to accelerate the rate of economic growth and alleviate poverty in the country. The Government of Ethiopia has requested the ICT sector unit of the World Bank to prepare a comprehensive report on how ICT can be used to achieve a true transformation of the Ethiopian economy and society. Therefore, this report explores how ICT can be leveraged to foster the development of an ICT-enabled industry and the private sector in general, to enhance public sector performance, to develop the agriculture and health sectors, and finally how all these efforts can lead to the emergence of an open innovation ecosystem. This report takes stock of current and recently-launched ICT initiatives in Ethiopia and develops sector-specific recommendations based on international best practices that help leverage the transformative power of ICT to improve the social and economic well-being of citizens and achieve rapid and sustainable socioeconomic development. The report explores following topics: background in chapter one, presents fostering the development of ICT-enabled industry and the private sector in chapter two. Chapter three deals with enhancing the performance of the public sector. Chapter four is developing the health sector. Chapter five deals with agricultural and rural development. Chapter six helps in creating an open innovation ecosystem; and chapter seven presents recommendations for ICT-enabled transformation in Ethiopia.
  • Publication
    Information and Communication Technologies : A World Bank Group Strategy
    (Washington, DC, 2002-04) World Bank
    Information and communication technologies provide the basis for increasing and applying knowledge in the private and public sectors. Countries with strong information infrastructures that employ innovative information technology applications, have many advantages for sustained economic growth and social development. This book is, primarily, a business strategy which explains the World Bank's role in the development of information infrastructure. It details a plan for expanding the institutional development capacity within the World Bank and in the regions in order to successfully implement this strategy. This book also discusses issues relating to information technology quality assurance and improving the World Bank's capacity to ensure such quality.
  • Publication
    Sustainable Telecenters : A Guide for Government Policy
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2003-01) Wellenius, Bjorn
    For at least a decade, governments and non-profit organizations, often supported by bilateral aid, have experimented with tele-centers as means to extend access to computers, the Internet, and other information, and communication services to rural, and low-income urban areas of developing countries. Results have been mixed. This note proposes a guide for government policy on tele-centers conceived as private businesses - though with development functions - that are commercially sustainable beyond initial public support.
  • Publication
    Enhancing the Livelihoods of the Rural Poor through ICT - A Knowledge Map
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2008-06) Economic and Social Research Foundation; McNamara, Kerry
    The major objective of the study was to come up with illustrative success stories as well as failures to give lessons on ICT interventions in the area of rural livelihoods and their impact in Tanzania. The key issues addressed in this study were: 1) common ICTs used by the rural poor in Tanzania; 2) which ICTs are regarded as attractive by different groups and why; 3) the use of ICTs by different age cohorts as part of their livelihoods strategies; 4) the role of ICTs in influencing the livelihoods of the poor; 5) what effects, if any, does use of these resources have on vulnerability, livelihoods and value of assets; and 6) whether or not ICT services can be improved in relation to their usage and effects. The study also made a comparative analysis of the use of ICTs by different groups based on age, location, gender and ethnicity. This study was conducted for a period of four months from October 2006 to January 2007, in three different districts (Bagamoyo, Moshi Rural and Njombe). The findings from this study reveal that ICTs commonly used by the rural poor in the selected districts are radio, mobile phone and TV. Development of ICTs is a result of a number of interventions by government, NGOs, development partners and the private sector, and this has impacted on the livelihoods of the rural poor. Survey results confirmed this by revealing that ICTs contributed to improving rural livelihoods through improved businesses (17%), increased access to education (3%), ease of communications (50%) and increased access to key information (30%). The output of this study is expected to inform policymakers as well as other stakeholders, such as development partners, civil society and the private sector, on how ICTs can be adapted to help improve the livelihoods of poor individuals, families and communities in rural areas and increase their income opportunities and/or livelihood sources, thereby improving their chances of escaping from persistent poverty. It also documents what has already been implemented in Tanzania as far as ICTs and rural livelihoods are concerned, and the pertinent gaps in terms of improving the livelihoods of the rural poor by using ICT tools.

Users also downloaded

Showing related downloaded files

  • Publication
    World Development Report 1984
    (New York: Oxford University Press, 1984) World Bank
    Long-term needs and sustained effort are underlying themes in this year's report. As with most of its predecessors, it is divided into two parts. The first looks at economic performance, past and prospective. The second part is this year devoted to population - the causes and consequences of rapid population growth, its link to development, why it has slowed down in some developing countries. The two parts mirror each other: economic policy and performance in the next decade will matter for population growth in the developing countries for several decades beyond. Population policy and change in the rest of this century will set the terms for the whole of development strategy in the next. In both cases, policy changes will not yield immediate benefits, but delay will reduce the room for maneuver that policy makers will have in years to come.
  • Publication
    World Development Report 2009
    (World Bank, 2009) World Bank
    Places do well when they promote transformations along the dimensions of economic geography: higher densities as cities grow; shorter distances as workers and businesses migrate closer to density; and fewer divisions as nations lower their economic borders and enter world markets to take advantage of scale and trade in specialized products. World Development Report 2009 concludes that the transformations along these three dimensions density, distance, and division are essential for development and should be encouraged. The conclusion is controversial. Slum-dwellers now number a billion, but the rush to cities continues. A billion people live in lagging areas of developing nations, remote from globalizations many benefits. And poverty and high mortality persist among the world’s bottom billion, trapped without access to global markets, even as others grow more prosperous and live ever longer lives. Concern for these three intersecting billions often comes with the prescription that growth must be spatially balanced. This report has a different message: economic growth will be unbalanced. To try to spread it out is to discourage it to fight prosperity, not poverty. But development can still be inclusive, even for people who start their lives distant from dense economic activity. For growth to be rapid and shared, governments must promote economic integration, the pivotal concept, as this report argues, in the policy debates on urbanization, territorial development, and regional integration. Instead, all three debates overemphasize place-based interventions. Reshaping Economic Geography reframes these debates to include all the instruments of integration spatially blind institutions, spatially connective infrastructure, and spatially targeted interventions. By calibrating the blend of these instruments, today’s developers can reshape their economic geography. If they do this well, their growth will still be unbalanced, but their development will be inclusive.
  • Publication
    Boom, Bust and Up Again? Evolution, Drivers and Impact of Commodity Prices: Implications for Indonesia
    (World Bank, Jakarta, 2010-12) World Bank
    Indonesia is one of the largest commodity exporters in the world, and given its mineral potential and expected commodity price trends, it could and should expand its leading position. Commodities accounted for one fourth of Indonesia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and more than one fifth of total government revenue in 2007. The potential for further commodity growth is considerable. Indonesia is the largest producer of palm oil in the world (export earnings totaled almost US$9 billion in 2007 and employment 3.8 million full-time jobs) and the sector has good growth prospects. It is also one of the countries with the largest mining potential in view of its second-largest copper reserves and third-largest coal and nickel reserves in the world. This report consists of seven chapters. The first six chapters present an examination and an analysis of the factors driving increased commodity prices, price forecasts, economic impact of commodity price increases, effective price stabilization policies, and insights from Indonesia's past growth experience. The final chapter draws on the findings of the previous chapters and suggests a development strategy for Indonesia in the context of high commodity prices. This section summarizes the contents of the chapters and their main findings.
  • Publication
    World Development Report 2004
    (World Bank, 2003) World Bank
    Too often, services fail poor people in access, in quality, and in affordability. But the fact that there are striking examples where basic services such as water, sanitation, health, education, and electricity do work for poor people means that governments and citizens can do a better job of providing them. Learning from success and understanding the sources of failure, this year’s World Development Report, argues that services can be improved by putting poor people at the center of service provision. How? By enabling the poor to monitor and discipline service providers, by amplifying their voice in policymaking, and by strengthening the incentives for providers to serve the poor. Freedom from illness and freedom from illiteracy are two of the most important ways poor people can escape from poverty. To achieve these goals, economic growth and financial resources are of course necessary, but they are not enough. The World Development Report provides a practical framework for making the services that contribute to human development work for poor people. With this framework, citizens, governments, and donors can take action and accelerate progress toward the common objective of poverty reduction, as specified in the Millennium Development Goals.
  • Publication
    Impact Evaluation in Practice, Second Edition
    (Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank and World Bank, 2016-09-13) Gertler, Paul J.; Martinez, Sebastian; Premand, Patrick; Rawlings, Laura B.; Vermeersch, Christel M. J.
    The second edition of the Impact Evaluation in Practice handbook is a comprehensive and accessible introduction to impact evaluation for policy makers and development practitioners. First published in 2011, it has been used widely across the development and academic communities. The book incorporates real-world examples to present practical guidelines for designing and implementing impact evaluations. Readers will gain an understanding of impact evaluations and the best ways to use them to design evidence-based policies and programs. The updated version covers the newest techniques for evaluating programs and includes state-of-the-art implementation advice, as well as an expanded set of examples and case studies that draw on recent development challenges. It also includes new material on research ethics and partnerships to conduct impact evaluation. The handbook is divided into four sections: Part One discusses what to evaluate and why; Part Two presents the main impact evaluation methods; Part Three addresses how to manage impact evaluations; Part Four reviews impact evaluation sampling and data collection. Case studies illustrate different applications of impact evaluations. The book links to complementary instructional material available online, including an applied case as well as questions and answers. The updated second edition will be a valuable resource for the international development community, universities, and policy makers looking to build better evidence around what works in development.