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April 2004 La Ond@ Rural: Radio, New ICTs and Rural DevelopmentQuito, Ecuador
New Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have irrevocably altered the world we live in – accelerating the pace and volume of innovation and fundamentally changing the way we transmit, receive, adapt and use knowledge and information and contributing to changes in markets, production methods, governance, and social relations. However, the "information revolution" has not spread to the world's one billion rural poor and while Internet use overall has been growing rapidly in Latin America, there are still virtually no users among disadvantaged rural populations. Even when available, effective use of the Internet is impeded by low literacy rates, low education levels, linguistic barriers and a general lack of relevant and contextualised content for improving rural livelihoods. Information and communication play a central role in rural development initiatives but to be really useful, information must be available in appropriate languages and formats and must communicated through appropriate channels and media that rural people are most familiar with. Rural radio may help in bridging the so called digital divide by providing a powerful tool for information dissemination and access, especially by hard-to-reach rural audiences. (Also available in Spanish)
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