Pro-Poor ICT Access toolkit documents
From ApcAccess
Note - these documents are still in draft form - please do not distribute further at this time
Introduction to Pro-poor ICT access
Lishan Adam
Global experience of poor people using basic communication tools such as mobile phones suggests that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have a vast empowering and development potential with huge impact on their quality of life. Use of mobile phones by the poor has increased their security, created more jobs, provided access to information and enhanced the flow of financial resources there by advancing social wellbeing and economic development1. The knowledge and networking capabilities of interactive and convergent technologies such as the Internet present further opportunities for economic growth and social development by increasing access to education and health services and enhancing decision-making powers of the poor.
To download the full paper, go to: here
Policy and Regulatory Issues Module: Overview
Seán Ó Siochrú
This paper synthesises key issues and emerging options in the area of ICT policy and regulation as they affect access and affordability for poor people and communities. It looks at both policy and regulation, though the two are not always easy separated. In general policy provides the broad thrust of what is to be achieved, and regulation creates the mechanisms to achieve it. This is usually done with the oversight of a government ministry or an independent regulator. Some policies are detailed and prescriptive leaving regulation little room for manoeuvre; others are open, even vague, with ample scope for innovation at regulation level. Effective outcomes require a combination of good policy and good regulation, the one reinforcing the other.
To download the full paper, go to: here
Policy and Regulatory Issues Module Case Study: Providing Universal Access: FITEL, Peru
Roxana Barrantes Caceres
When Peru’s telecommunications companies were privatized in 1994, it was estimated that more than 70,000 rural localities lacked telephone service. However, most of the people living in these localities lived in poverty. Their communication needs were unlikely to be met by private companies since the tariffs agreed during the privatization process were beyond what their means. To address this issue, the privatization model included the creation of the Telecommunications Investment Fund (Fondo de Inversión en Telecomunicaciones), known by its Spanish initials as FITEL. OSIPTEL, the regulatory agency, administered FITEL and assigned a manager to manage the fund and design projects. Companies providing public telecommunications services contributed 1 percent of their gross revenue to FITEL.
To download the full paper, go to: here
Policy and Regulatory Issues Module Case Study: Rural Broadband Backbone: A Case Study of Different Approaches and Potential
Seán Ó Siochrú
The need to roll out fibre backbone to rural areas is a key prerequisite to building a pro-poor ICT policy, and this need is increasingly recognised (Spintrack 2005: Chapter 1; Williams 2008).1 Although the less costly and speedier option of wireless backbone is growing in bandwidth capacity, nothing is likely to approach optical fibre in terms of future-proofing the volume of traffic handled and the range of services carried. Rolling out that backbone and allowing access to it in appropriate ways are necessary conditions for building a huge range of possibilities to use ICT to address poverty.
This case study looks at two examples of fibre backbone that have been, or are being, brought into rural areas. They may not offer a definitive guide for 'best practice' but they do raise the issues that must be addressed if at least 'good practice' is to be reasonably defined.
To download the full paper, go to: here
Policy and Regulatory Module: Web Platforms and Resources
To download the full paper, go to: here
Advocacy Strategies and approaches: Overview
Steve Buckley
Advocacy is the active support of an idea or cause expressed through strategies and methods that influence the opinions and decisions of people and organisations.
In the social and economic development context the aims of advocacy are to create or change policies, laws, regulations, distribution of resources or other decisions that affect people’s lives and to ensure that such decisions lead to implementation.1 Such advocacy is generally directed at policy makers including politicians, government officials and public servants but also private sector leaders whose decisions impact upon peoples lives, as well as those whose opinions and actions influence policy makers, such as journalists and the media, development agencies and large NGOs.
To download the full paper, go to: here
Advocacy strategies and approaches: Case Study - Advocacy strategies and approaches for community radio development in Nigeria
Akin Akingbulu
An advocacy programme called the “Initiative on Building Community radio in Nigeria” was launched in Lagos in November, 2003. Implemented within the framework of a continent-wide programme, “Catalysing Access to ICTs in Africa” (CATIA), it was a collaboration of the World Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC) and Panos Institute West Africa (PIWA) in partnership with a local civil society organization, the Institute for Media and Society (IMS).
The initiative instituted a steering committee which articulated a plan of action and began the implementation of activities within the plan. A large participation base subsequently developed for the advocacy which in November 2008 is five years old.
To download the full paper, go to: here
Advocacy Strategies and Approaches: From a Small beginning to Mass movement
A case study of Grameen Gyan Abhiyan – Rural Knowledge Centre Movement
To download the full paper, go to: here
Advocacy Strategies and Approaches Module: Web platforms and Resources
To download the full paper, go to: here
Community Module: Overview (uploaded soon)
Community Module: Case Study - Using Mobile Networks for Low-Cost Data Exchange: The Mozambique Health Information Network (MHIN)
Henk Boshoff, S-Curve Technologies (South Africa) Victorino Nhabangue, AED-MHIN, (Mozambique) Berhane Gebru, AED-SATELLIFE (USA)
Mozambique is located along the eastern coast of Southern Africa, with a population of over 20 million (National Institute of Statistics, 2007). Until 1992, the country was plagued by sixteen years of civil war, which literally destroyed all rural health infrastructure, worsening an already poor health network. The existing health system is characterized by insufficient health facilities and low numbers of suitably trained health workers and medical personnel, as can be seen from the following 2005 statistical data:
To download the full paper, go to: here
Community Module: Case Study - The Huaral Valley Agrarian Information System, Peru
Juan Fernando Bossio, Centro Peruano de Estudios Sociales1 (CEPES), Peru
This case study documents the experiences and lessons learned during the implementation of an agrarian information system (Sistema de Información Agraria, SIA) in the Huaral Valley, a coastal area in Peru. The project was initiated in 2000 by the Centro Peruano de Estudios Sociales (CEPES) in partnership with the Chancay-Huaral River Basin Irrigation Board, a local community-based organization (CBO) set up and owned by farmers. The Irrigation Board is responsible for maintaining irrigation infrastructure (mainly channels, sluice gates, and water reservoirs) and charges farmers for the use of the irrigation infrastructure. The introduction of affordable internet access and telecommunications services to district Irrigation Commissions and poor farming communities has benefitted farming communities by providing improved water management.
To download the full paper, go to: here
Community Module: Case Study - Nepal Wireless Networking Project
Mahabir Pun, Team Leader, Nepal Wireless Networking Project
The Nepal Wireless Networking Project addresses the ICT access problem from a grassroots perspective. Since 2002, it has been extending ICT access to rural areas through wireless technology.
The Nepal Wireless Networking Project was not started as a result of the policies and decisions made by international organizations or the Government of Nepal. It started with a need for better communication means between villages for implementing community development activities. It then unexpectedly turned into a wireless project in pursuit of finding ways to bring the internet and telephones to the Himanchal Higher Secondary School in Myagdi district, Nepal and to connect it to surrounding villages. It took almost seven years to make the dream come true in adverse working situations in Nepal. Political conflict in the rural areas created a great deal of difficulty in setting up and running the network, while the autocratic rule of the king and restrictive trade regulations made acquiring the necessary technology extremely difficult. Regardless, the project has not only successfully overcome those obstacles and set up a pilot wireless network that brought the benefit of information technology to the mountain people of Nepal but has also influenced changes to national ICT policies.
To download the full paper, go to: here
Community module: Web Platform and resources
To download the full paper, go to: here
