Background

The information revolution has completely bypassed nearly one billion people. They are the rural poor, who constitute 75 percent of the people in the world who live on less than one dollar a day. Most rural communities are dependent on agriculture and related enterprises, and they need constant up-to-date information on everything from new farming methods, equipment and supplies to market prices. These communities have much valuable local agricultural knowledge to contribute as well. However, rural people and institutions cannot effectively use or contribute to the world’s resources of knowledge and information without improvements in their ability to access them. In addition, many technology-oriented approaches to solving these challenges often give insufficient consideration to how and why technologies can improve livelihoods. In many cases, the weaknesses are not in the infrastructure and tools, but in the process of their adoption and use. The Programme is addressing three inter-related issues at the heart of the rural digital divide:

People and Technology: Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are enhancing the existing ways that people communicate, exchange knowledge and access information. It may not be realistic to talk about universal access to ICT in rural areas, but the billions of dollars invested globally in ICT infrastructure should also benefit marginalized rural populations, by integrating ICT as useful tools in rural people’s lives. The Programme is documenting how ICT can be most appropriately harnessed to address the needs of people, communities and organizations.

Information and Communication Systems: ICT infrastructure is only as useful as the systems it enables. The Programme is responding to a rapidly increasing global demand for better methods to exchange information and knowledge and to promote participatory communication. These methods will allow rural stakeholders to take advantage of the technological infrastructure. The approaches taken are based on the strengths and expertise of the major players in Information and Communication for Development (ICD) in support of rural livelihoods. A range of resources is being mobilized to develop the Programme fully in this regard.

Policies: In reality, solutions that simply connect people to each other cannot solve complex institutional and policy issues. In addition, failure to properly address who has and who does not have access to technologies can exacerbate existing inequalities. Therefore, a third important element of the Programme is to address the institutional and policy issues that can help or hinder the development of infrastructure and information systems, and especially the ways in which rural stakeholders can use ICT to develop greater influence in these spheres.