ICTs for Development:
Understanding the Potentials and Pitfalls
Hari Srinivas Concept Note Series E-165. September 2022.
Abstract
The GDRC's ICTs for Development programme explores the transformative role of Information and Communications Technologies in addressing developmental challenges, especially in low-income and developing regions. It focuses on how smart technologies such as big data, the Internet of Things, and mobile applications can improve access to services in health, education, governance, and economic development. The programme also emphasizes the critical role of digital inclusion, literacy, and rights in closing the digital divide and enabling universal access to ICTs.By enabling the exchange of knowledge and fostering innovation, ICTs contribute directly to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 9 and its target of affordable universal internet access. Despite their growing accessibility, ICTs remain unevenly distributed, highlighting the need for policy and programme interventions that ensure equitable digital participation and capacity building. Through a wide range of local and global examples, the programme illustrates ICTs' potential to promote human development and social empowerment.
Keywords
ICTs for Development, Digital Inclusion, Sustainable Development Goals, Digital Divide, Smart Technologies, Information Access, Digital Literacy, Technology-Enabled Empowerment
GDRC's Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) for Development programme focuses on the smart technologies that enable information assimilation, communication and knowledge transfer for broad-based development. It also explores the uptake of internet and ICTs that involve skills and capacities in information management, particularly in developing countries.
So what is it that ICTs can enable in achieving sustainable development goals? And broader developmental objectives? How can access to smart ICTs be increased?
Access to and use of ICTs are important to achieve developmental goals such as improving access to health and education services or creating new sources of income and employment for the poor. ICTs have enabled individuals and communities to access previously "inaccessible" information, resulting in better market access, driving competitiveness and broader economic growth and social development. Free flow of information and ideas, particularly through websites and social media have opened up new ways of doing things, leading to better qualities of life.
Thus ICTs help in improving the human development aspects such as income, education, health, and security particularly in developing countries. They are critical in enhancing the productivity of all sectors of the economy - a tool that can be used for reducing poverty by generate income opportunities for the poor, extending health services, or expanding educational opportunities.
ICTs are more than just mobile devices, and includes technologies such as radio, television, cellular phones, and computers to carry out a wide range of developmental activities - through, for example, accessing information on web-based portals and other electronic devices, video conferencing and distance learning.
Access to ICTs, particularly mobile devices/networks, have also gained importance as a means to closing the disparities between technological haves and have nots, and aiding economic development by ensuring equitable access to up-to-date technologies such as radio, television, cellular phones, and computers, along with appropriate hardware and software, satellite systems and so on, as well as the various services and applications associated with them.
Recent trends in smart technologies have increased the potential of ICTs to contribute to overall development, for example, Big Data has enabled the collection of vast sums of data on the way that the environment and society has been changing, enabling better scenario development; Machine Learning systems have seen considerable improvement to automatically crunch data and develop alternative solutions and predict outcomes; Geographic analysis and visualization tools have enabled better and focused decision-making; "Internet of Things" has provided a means for everyday objects with sensors, processing ability, software, and other technologies to connect and exchange data with other devices and systems over the Internet; and a wide variety of Mobile applications to carry out different activities.
Unfortunately, ICTs access and use are still unequally distributed within and between countries. The digital divide with respect to internet use, innovative capacity and quality access, is particularly pronounced. Therefore, along with developmental priorities such as income/job opportunities, education, health etc. is the need for access to ICTs that will enable communities and countries to overcome these challenges. People now talk of digital inequality to explain the disparities in knowledge and abilities to use ICTS among individuals with different demographic, socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds, or the digital divide that describes the gap between those that have access to ICTs, and those that don't - or have restricted access.
The policy solutions being proposed to overcome digital inequality or digital divide primarily focuses on digital inclusion - ensuring that all individuals and communities, including the most disadvantaged, have access to and use of ICTs, for example, access to internet-connected devices and services, digital skills training, technical support or provision of hardware/software resources.
A key objective of ensuring digital inclusion is that of digital literacy - the ability/capacity to use ICTs to find, evaluate, create, and communicate information, requiring both cognitive and technical skills.
The emergence of ICTs and other digital objects has also given credence to the protection of digital rights that call for providing universal access to ICTs to everyone, protecting intellectual property rights issues, and ensuring online privacy and security.
Ultimately, ICTs remain a tool for development. They are not a replacement for knowledge that does not exist, or food that is not on the table. But ICTs do represent a potential to speed up achieving developmental priorities such as poverty reduction, education or health, and in meeting the SDGs.
APPENDIX:
Examples of ICTs for development:
Kenya
Providing online educational content offline through CDs and computers. India
Promote the positive use of mobile phones to close the digital gender gap. Tanzania
Use geographical information systems and digital maps to determine appropriate soil management techniques better agricultural produce. Kenya
Enabling transfer of money payments using mobile phones. Africa
Use of taxis as ambulances during medical emergencies connected together with mobile networks. Africa
Facilitating use of drones and other unmanned flying devices to deliver essential medicines to remote rural locations. India
Web portals that allow farmers to check both futures prices around the world and local prices before going to market. Africa
Access to the Internet via satellite and solar panels provides information about local weather conditions, soil-testing techniques and other expert knowledge that will increase their productivity. Cambodia
Delivering educational programs with IT tools to educate the children of the rural poor in computer-based technologies Uganda
Use of earth-satellite VSAT technology to connect schools and communities to Internet to access knowledge, educational resources Ghana
Dissemination of medical content by health workers using ICTs to improve the quality of health care delivery in the country Moving Forward
Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) have evolved beyond tools for simple connectivity to become critical enablers of development. Their capacity to collect, process, and disseminate information at scale makes them essential in delivering services, enhancing transparency, and building inclusive knowledge systems.
For developing countries in particular, ICTs offer powerful opportunities to bridge gaps in education, health care, financial services, and governance. When applied strategically, they can accelerate progress across multiple development goals, empower marginalized groups, and foster more participatory and resilient societies.
However, realizing the full potential of ICTs requires more than just hardware and infrastructure. It demands thoughtful policy frameworks, investment in digital literacy, and an unwavering focus on closing the digital divide. As ICTs increasingly shape the development landscape, efforts must ensure equitable access, protect digital rights, and build the human and institutional capacities necessary for meaningful use.
Ultimately, ICTs are not a standalone solution, but a catalytic tool that, when integrated effectively, can support more sustainable, inclusive, and future-ready development pathways.
This work by GDRC is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. You are free to share and adapt this piece of work for your own purposes, as long as it is appropriately cited. More info: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
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Contact: Hari Srinivas - hsrinivas@gdrc.org
