Communication as

an Indicator- Role of
ICT
Introduction
 Digital divide is a significant factor in understanding the
roots of poverty and global inequality
 ICTs enable desired changes- in the performance of
institutions and markets, in the livelihoods of poor
people, in the capacity of individuals and governments
 The proper approach to harnessing ICTs for
development and poverty reduction is to mainstream
them as tools to broader strategies and programmes
 ICT, Economic Growth and
Development
 Growth of global information and comm. networks, burst
of creativity in technologies, applications and business
processes and by advances in computing
 Vast amounts of resources and energy have been invested
in efforts to increase the access to ICTs in developing
countries
 Need for re-examining ICT for development initiatives and
assessing their relative priority to foster sustainable
development, poverty alleviation (the action or process of making
suffering, deficiency, or a problem less severe), eradication of illiteracy
 poor lacking in material and financial resources but this
doesn’t help in developing strategies for combating it. They
lack opportunities to convert the resources they do possess
into value-creating activity. They lack information about
resources, tools, processes, new opportunities, markets and
prices, communication opportunities. Limited access to
education, knowledge on agriculture, disease-prevention,
environmental and resource management, innovations in
products and processes
 ICTs and SMEs- improve access to capital and partnerships
and improve efficiency along with sustained growth. ICTs
can help both provide the tools and mobilise support
Approaches to the use of ICT in
development
 ICT as LEAD- It focuses on ICT as a driver of the
development process. The ICT led approach usually
aims to provide the poor the opportunities to receive up-
to-date information or achieve an enhanced ability to
communicate with others
 ICT plays a supporting role
Media environments have opened up with
widespread liberalization of media in
general and of broadcasting in particular.

The radio medium has been revolutionized.

Television,particularly via satellite, is
becoming increasingly pervasive (spread
throughout) , even among poor
communities.

Print media have mushroomed.

Most people in developing countries now receive
information on issues that affect their lives from
multiple sources.

New communication technologies, particularly the

internet and mobile telephony, have trans-formed
communication patterns.

The middle class, urban consumer, these

innovations are being increasingly applied to a
development context.

We remain increasingly connected horizontally

and vertically.
These changes, especially the growth of
increasingly active, organized and networked civil
society movements, have fundamentally shifted the
way in which people in developing countries
access information and make their voices heard
regarding issues and decisions that affect their
lives.
Theyhave exerted immense influence on social
norms and individual behaviour.

They have provided fresh ways for citizens to hold

their governments to account, and for governments
to provide information that their citizens need.
While many of the effects of more open, democratic
and crowded media environments have been
positive.

Severalconcerns remain - new gaps have emerged

between rural and urban populations, between the
poor and non-poor, consumers and non-consumers.
But also much wider disparities in access to
information and opportunities for expression.

In many societies, the poorest are finding themselves

increasingly, rather than decreasingly, marginalized
from debates on the issues that affect them the most.
Most current development policy rests on the belief
that development interventions work best when they
are rooted in local ownership.

When people have a voice in changes that affect

them, and when citizens can hold governments and
others in power to account.

Communication for development refers to a

strategy communication process that promotes
social changes through dialogue, knowledge-
sharing, and participation.
The applications are:
Exchange of information, knowledge, ideas and
values between individuals and communities.

Promotion of citizens’ participation and

community empowerment.
Advocacy towards policy-makers and opinion leaders
in support of specific plans, programmes, policies
and reforms

A communication process aimed at producing social

changes through participation, knowledge-sharing
and policy dialogue is dependent on a free flow of
communication.