Information Technology in International Development

Question

You know the story … teach a man to fish …, yes that’s the one. Quite famous in the world of international development. But what does it mean when dealing with information and communication technologies (ICT)?

Does it mean that we send money and consultants to teach other so called developing nations how to use a particular product? Does it mean donating our used equipment? Or does it mean that we share our information with them without royalties and let them sort themselves out?

In either case it creates and maintains a dependency much like the economic dependencies we see in the world today. But this dependency is a knowledge based dependency. The developing world is still dependent on the handouts of the developed world … their willingness to share information and know-how. Granted, that much of this information can be obtained over the internet, but wait, how in the first place do you get an internet infrastructure up and running in a stable and affordable fashion? As a developing nation, where do you get the resources to do so? … remember nothing is for free.

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