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World Summit on the Information Society Thematic Meeting on Measuring
the Information Society
Geneva, 7-9 February 2005
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MEASURING INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS
TECHNOLOGY
IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
Paper presented by the Afro-Asian Peoples'
Solidarity Organisation-AAPSO
In a world marked by a borderless networked
societies, developing countries continue to be increasingly marginalised
in terms of information and communications technology (ICT). The promise
of technology remains largely unfulfilled with regard to these
countries. They are handicapped by serious barriers to take-up.
Nonetheless, owing to the particular
characteristics of these countries as of the use and utilization of ICT
and to help them keep pace within the global mainstream of the progress
of science and technology as well as the most-sought and needed positive
effects of globalization, tremendous efforts should be deployed in the
search of appropriate tools aiming at offering clear understanding and
knowing of existing realities related to these barriers. These tools or
indicators, are crucial factors for the determination of policies and
strategies by using ICT in the issue of development.
An approach consisting of choosing the instruments
of ICT ( Personal computer PC (Internet), Television, Radio and
Mobilephones ) as basis of measuring seemed to be approriate. Further
consideration of their comparative performance is crucial in determining
indicators in order to help formulate these strategies and policies in
developing countries. The task will be facilitated in operating
separately with these instruments.
In order to tackle this issue, one will examine it
first on the global (macro) and the national (micro) levels.
A)- Assessing and measuring the degree of
penetration and assimilation of ICT in the developing countries is
essential. This will serve as prior indicator within a global dimension.
This requires more informations about the present situation of ICT in
these developing countries from a given period of time in the past until
the present time. The assessment by comparison of overall situation is
important in measuring the pace with which transactions are conducted in
development process as in terms of exports, transports,
telecommunication, financing system, trade infrastructures.
Taking as an example the Internet which is
exponentially increasing all over the world, it is possible to determine
what proportion of the global number of Internet represents the share
of developing countries. This will give us valuable indicator for
further calculation of future trend.
Equally important is the ratio between the global
spending on Internet and that of the developing countries.
By operating separately with the instruments of
ICT, there should be a clear picture of a global ratio ICT/per capita in
developing countries in order to determine how these instruments
influence the daily life of peoples in these countries. The generation
of technology used in these countries compared to the global ICT
worldwide and used in rich countries should also be taken into
consideration. This includes factors such as inducements to innovation
and creativity, prevalence of old technology compared to new techology.
In this context, the ratio ICT-Developing countries/ ICT-Developed
countries would help in this regard offering global image of the
situation in these countries while giving the possibility to assess the
prospects of development of ICT in the future as well as the possible
cooperation in technology transfer between the two categories of
countries.
It is worth noting that the implementation of ICT
differs from country to another. The comparison of the overall returns
from the resources allocated to the Research and Development (R&D) in
the field of information and communications technology, or to take the
overall ratio of growth of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) depending on
the level of development in each country, should be conducted.
Another fact to be taken into consideration in
measuring the ICT is to aknowledge that between developing countries
themselves exists a growing gap in terms of ICT-induced growth.
Fast-growing countries enjoy reliable infrastructures for the use of
information and communications technology, while the ones lagging
behind suffer from technological backwardness. It is thus important to
determine and compare the "growth rate" of ICT used in each category of
countries according to their share in the implementation of ICT.
Such digital divide among and within the developing
countries themselves is an important indicator. It should be a matter of
priority to take adequate measures aiming at narrowing this gap in order
to further appropriately tackle the divide between them and the
technologically advanced countries. Such measures should be undertaken
through South-South cooperation, exchange of experiences between them
and fight against brain drain which generates huge amount of benefits
foregone at the expense of developing countries.
Since the ICT is unevenly distributed or
disseminated throughout the world, more attention should be given
especially to Africa which is lagging far behind the other continents.
Indicators ( like those provided below) made up from African, Asian and
Latin American continents would make the difference of pictures related
to ICT between them as well as the rest of the world.
B)- By operating separately with the ICT
instruments, attention should be focused on the measuring of the
effectiveness of using ICT as means of information and communication in
developing countries.
The exact knowledge of the situation in the grounds
( sectors of development, geographical distribution of ICT in each
country..) is fundamental owing to the evolutive nature and
characteristics of ICT acquirements. This is true by measuring the
amount of their financing through real and reliable data collected on
the ground.
The gathering and analysis of informations from
different kinds of ICT in each country are critical factors. The
dissemination of tools of mass media like television, radio sets,
mobilephones, PC(Internet) has reached such proportion that allows to
easily measure the state of situation related to the ICT.
With available informations at one's disposal, it
will not be difficult to determine the ratio between the PC(Internet),
TV, radio sets ( if available), mobilephones and the number of
population, done separately with each of these instruments, giving the
possiblity to assess the comparative efficiency, effectiveness or
performance of each of these instruments.
No less important represents the calculation of
ratio between the average income of population of each country and the
possible expenses for acquiring such instruments of ICT (average income/
average prices of ICT used).
These informations are very useful in using ICT in
business (e-business, e-finance...) and schools, depending on the
capacity of business people, governments and even family, to spend for
ICT, meaning the availability of the necessary resources at their
disposal. All this require from the developing countries using ICT an
adequate formulation of national e-strategies and e-policies.
Measuring the costs/benefits factor of using ICT is
crucial in determining the returns from the investments in ICT at the
national level.
For those indicators to be successfully used, the
state of the engine development in all its sectors in every developing
nation should be strictly monitored; every factor of production, major
sectors of development, distribution and services derived from the
utilization of ICT instruments should be subject to thouroughful
sustained analysis. Strong involvement of every actor of socio-economic
development, mainly the civil society, NGOs, business communities, is
needed.
Bearing in mind the necessity to tackle seriously
first and foremost the digital divide within and among the developing
countries as mentioned above, in coping simultaneously with the issue of
digital divide between them and the developed countries (failing to do
so would perpetuate the sorry situation related to the need of ICT in
the development process of developing nations), there should be an
imperative necessity to narrow the latter gap, by measuring the progress
made in successive periods of time based on data taken as reference.
Strong impetus should be put to the relationship
between these developing nations in order to get the opportunity to meet
the challenges of globalization and to make progress over obstacles put
by rich countries in terms of access to their markets, subsidies, debt,
intellectual properties, as well as all discriminatory measures. The ICT
as an engine of progress and prosperity could help developing and
developed countries go side by side on the way to genuine cooperation
in attaining the Millennium Development Goals.
It is necesary to monitor the evolution of the
utilization of the ICT in the society of the developing countries, in
order to know what have been achieved and what is expected to be done in
the future. This underlines the importance of determining the level of
utilization of each of the ICT instruments in these nations, their
scientific and technological level, the indicators of their respective
performance and efficiency in sectors of education, health, employment,
R&D, trade and business. For example:
- To know the number of PC(Internet) in schools,
healthcare units, firms, all centers of activities taking part in the
process of development, indicating the categories of people (male and
female) using them.
- To determine the proportion of the population in
the country ( with gender indicated) who use PC(Internet) in a given
period of time. The future trend can be thus determined.
- To know the percentage change, or growth, of the
number of Television sets in a given period of time, their areas
distribution (rural and urban). The use of TV as means of educational
activities ( i.e. Tele-conference; Tele-school; Tele-training..etc..).
Further determination of the trend would follow.
- It should be admitted that, without highly
sophisticated instruments of measure and due to the large quantity of
mobilesphones in function in each country of developing nations, it will
be difficult to quantify the number of mobilephones in an appropriate
manner.
All data resulting from the operations of measuring
conducted may be considered indicators, being themselves the components
of overall indicators of progress in terms of using ICT for development.
With reliable data from the ICT used in each sector
of development, it is necessary to calculate the need in the future of
these ICT in the sector by calculating the possible increase in number
of instruments used; the expected increase in number of people who might
need them; the expected cost (spending) to cover these needs.
All these indicators are of very important
significance in terms of attaining the Millennium Development Goals in
fighting issues like illiteracy, poverty, famine, illness, backwardness,
lack of appropriate and decent sanitation, gender issue...
Of crucial importance represents the reliability of
collected data; the transparency and accountalibity in conducting the
task; the good governance and the respect of basic human rights. It
should be underlined in this regard the objective of ICT applications
towards improving the economic competitiveness of developing countries,
especially with respect to development, trade, progress and prosperity.
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