Jeannie Azzopardi
OMDE 626
December 19, 2006
Final Paper
The Use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Poverty Alleviation
This paper looks at the question of whether or not information and communication technologies (ICTs) can, in fact, provide alleviation from poverty for the people of developing countries. Using the Millennium Development Goals from the United Nations wrought by 189 countries in 2000 as a starting point, this paper examines how ICTs are incorporated and relate to growth, education, health and employment.
The methodology used are excerpts and information primarily from research literature, World Bank projects and findings, United Nations projects, information and findings and articles from experts in the field. Some statistics are given but the majority of information is derived from anecdotal chronicles. Several case studies of presented in which examples of ICT use has been on-going. They were chosen to spotlight the various innovative uses of technology. These case studies represent a small segment of projects that employ technological resources and are not meant to be all-encompassing.
The use of ICTs is generally considered as necessary for developing countries to penetrate the global market and to optimistically make profound advances in poverty reduction. There are severe consequences that must be recognized including the danger of further division among rich and poor populations; the question of equal access; ‘brain drain’; the taking for granted that growth will necessarily translate to poverty reduction; corruption and misuse of funding; the hazards of opening trade to the global market, and the trickle down theory that many times realizes itself into a trickle away result.
There has been much literature written that asserts the use of ICTs in development and growth – but growth and development are not synonymous with poverty reduction. The assertions that tout development of ICTs also tend to ignore the expense and accessibility in the development of technologies such as Dubey’s (1985) statement, “Third World countries should adopt a comprehensive plan to develop an infrastructure that manufactures, supplies, services and uses computers…and telecommunications.” All of which is easily stated but extremely difficult to achieve.
This paper looks toward what works in the use of ICTs in education, growth, health and employment; where poverty reduction might result as well as what technology is sustainable; where technology can assist to understand needs and how those needs may be addressed.
Poverty and the Millennium Development Goals
The United Nations defines absolute poverty as those living on an income of less than $1.00 per day. The basis of the Millennium Development Goals has been to eradicate this level of poverty through global cooperation. The Millennium Development Goals were developed in 2000 through the participation of 189 countries. The ultimate aim through the eight goals is poverty reduction in the developing countries of the world by the year 2015. The eight goals are as follows:
- Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
- Achieve universal primary education
- Promote gender equality and empower women
- Reduce child mortality
- Improve maternal health
- combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
- ensure environmental stability
- Develop a global partnership for development
(The Millennium Development Goals Report 2000, United Nations)
For the purposes of this examination, we will be looking at how ICTs affect these goals. As we shall see, there have been pitfalls and shortcomings in obtaining these goals, but by and large, there has been progress and there is thoughtful hope in moving forward. Not all applications of ICTs have achieved what the United Nations MDGs have anticipated; many have, in fact, increased division between developed and developing nations and between the haves and have-nots.
Many countries have begun to reduce poverty and hunger, while some have remained stagnant and still others have slipped into more desperate states of poverty. There are many factors affecting these outcomes, certainly not all of them have to do with the projects and program of NGOs but rather conditions outside the control of pro-poor missions.
Growth
The United Nations sees the primary venture of MDGs as growth for the alleviation of poverty but growth and poverty reduction are not always synonymous. Of course, economic growth and development is widely recognized as critical but the social aspect of development is not as often addressed. Social development through ICTs can be as important to poverty reduction as economic growth. On many levels, using ICTs for social development, or the diminishment of social poverty, may be more important for poverty reduction in the lives of the poor than those applications that further economic progress. Daly (2003) defines the social poverty aspect and the use of ICTs in it’s alleviation this way, “These include poor health and early mortality, many forms of physical disability, ignorance, lack of information, lack of voice, political powerlessness, and other forms of cultural deprivation. While there is widespread interest in ICTs to reduce economic poverty, ICTs also have great -- if difficult to quantify -- potential effects on reduction of social poverty.
Education
Primary education for children in developing countries is paramount. Most children not attending schools live in rural areas, are used for labor or do not have access to quality schooling. The discrepancy of girls to boys within the numbers of children in schools is still inordinate with the range at least 5 boys to every 1 girl.
(The Millennium Development Goals Report 2000, United Nations)
Hanna (2003) states, “The transformative role of ICT may be difficult to capture in national statistics due to several kinds of measurement problems.” Indeed, it is extremely difficult to measure the success of many ICT applications and it may be that they are not measurable. Change brought about by applications may not be measurable in any real sense for years – perhaps decades. Current research, taken as a whole, searches for immediate outcomes, funding is based on measurable outcomes, but changes may take a much longer period than what is measured…and those changes may come in unexpected ways.
In Cecchini (2002) we find a discussion of the Committee for Democracy in Information Technology’s training programs. “Graduates of the program,” Cecchini states, “do find well-paying employment, begin their own small businesses, become trainers themselves […] and sometimes continue their education.” What is not stated is how many of the graduates stay in their own communities. Cecchini and Shah go on to share experiences in Uganda where CDs are providing training and information to African women to start entrepreneurial enterprises and, where radio still reins supreme as a source for information and education, Cecchini and Shah (2002) also relate a UNESCO program in Sri Lanka that disseminates educational programming and Internet access through several public libraries.
Higher education is many times seen as the way for developing countries to reach out beyond their borders and to reduce poverty. There are cautions to this train of thought as well. In Eritrea, for example, higher education is treated as the holy grail of collective community redemption (Müller, 2004). Women’s opportunities for higher education here are tremendous…but there are conditions. As part of higher education provided by the government, women are required to enter fields of study dictated by the needs of the government. The government requires a contractual agreement where the graduate enters into a career where the government determines where need is the greatest – usually teaching. For many women, the Eritrea government’s policy leaves them feeling as though they are imprisoned in their careers and their loyalties to their communities. To Eritrea’s credit, the intense commitment to community that the government has developed has decreased what is known as ‘brain drain’; a phenomenon that takes the most educated away from their communities to other countries where graduates can earn more thus depleting the educated base of population in developing countries.
Farnes (1993) describes a pilot program in Glasgow, Scotland that utilized distance education technologies for a distinctly underprivileged group of women. The primary delivery was through tapes and printed materials. The women who followed the program through to its end found extraordinary benefits. Not only were their chances of employment significantly raised – but their husbands (many of whom were unemployed) also rose. Their children’s health, behavior and school performance also improved. Obviously, Glasgow is not a developing country but this program is demonstrative of several resulting outcomes of such programs that utilize ICTs in education. First, there can be social development, as is revealed in the Glasgow program, where health, behavior and indirect benefits of employability are realized. Second, there is an overwhelming issue of sustainability. The Glasgow program did not survive.
This is true of many educational and social programs, especially those using ICTs, in developing countries. Dependent on private funding or NGO funding, many programs not showing an immediate return on investment are dissolved. Telecenters that are under a single entrepreneurial umbrella are staffed with either volunteers or underpaid employees that leave to find better opportunities or, worse yet, staffed with employees who are not trained to operate the equipment. In other words, although much has been said about their popularity, many programs are left to their own devices and end up as unsustainable.
The authors, Murphy, Anzalone, Bosch, Moulton (2002) state, “Despite positive experiences that go back almost a century, distance education and ICTs have not been used in a significant way to reach systemic educational goals in Africa” (p. 44). This is reflected in primary education especially as is the goal of the United Nations but is not necessarily true of vocational training programs which are not a part of the tracking of the MDGs and have had more significant results using ICTs. Here lies the caution of whether or not ICTs and distance education have been appropriately and thoughtfully applied using planning and roll out strategies that are pro-poor.
It is therefore, a greater use of ICTs and governmental efforts to concentrate on literacy and primary schooling. Without basic literacy, the need for ICTs for direct alleviation of poverty for individuals seems a moot point. As the graph shows literacy, above all else as far as education, is the critical issue. ICTs can hardly be of use when the purpose of them is lost.
http://www.uis.unesco.org/ev.php?ID=4927_201&ID2=DO_TOPIC (September, 2006)
There are innovative programs that have been used for decades in the training of teachers through the use of printed materials, audio and video tapes and some computer-based distance education. However, there remains the problem of ‘brain drain’ in many of these programs. Some programs even lose their graduates to the very NGOs that created the training programs to begin with. What is needed are incentives sponsored by governments that can successfully keep their educated at home and at work in their communities.
Some ‘old’ technologies are finding rejuvenation over the more exciting use of computer technology. Recognizing that the majority of rural poor have radio (and about half that number have televisions), and for every one radio, there are conceivably five listeners, China Central Radio and TV University has had great success in broadcasting education to rural poor. One of the largest fields of study is that of agricultural concerns. The cost of development is high but the student population continues to grow exponentially and has enabled costs to become quite affordable in comparison to teacher to student costs.
Health
Vaccination programs and increased education for women have improved the rates of childhood mortality in many countries. In many African regions however, the rates continue to climb. The increase in children not affected by dangerous childhood diseases is attributed to mothers that have been educated – and those who are richer.
Mothers who are more educated also have a lower rate of maternal mortality. In these instances, the mothers know more and have more access to birth control and are more likely to give birth with the aid of a skilled birthing assistant. Unfortunately, the majority of these births take place in urban, rather than rural, areas.
Through education and NGO projects, malaria has decreased considerably and the epidemic of AIDS has leveled off. However, tuberculosis has increased and the levels of HIV/AIDS have stabilized at a tremendous number.
Sanitation and safe drinking water levels have not shown much of an increase and this affects positive increases in health efforts that have been achieved.
Many government and NGO programs that utilize ICTs (primarily radio programs and advertisements) have been successful in lowering rates of infant mortality through community education. Mobile health centers offering free vaccinations and birth control offer assistance in these informational programs. Some programs utilize inexpensive digital satellite devices that can transmit over great distances. Although the cost of these devices is still out of reach for most poor, they are an excellent alternative to the cost of computers; they can reach more than one user at a time and can store information as well as transmit it. Information can be downloaded at telecenters so there is promise of their use in education but the majority of use for these devices is to communicate safe health practices.
Health care providers find assistance through PDA’s in India (World Bank, 2006).
Training for workers have had success as well as tracking patient care through databases and in the use of PDA’s for the training of health care workers in the field. While this is promising in the sharing of information and communication there are dangers in the consideration of the cost of using higher technology in ignorance of a more cost effective solution.
Employment
Many countries taking part in the World Trade Organization have released restrictions but trade barriers still exist and the most widely distributed exports from developing countries remain profoundly taxed.
Deforestation continues to be problematic and defeating to those who make their living from forest land. It is a sad and devastating conundrum that forsakes the forest, the environment and livelihoods for the sake of agriculture.
The world’s jobless now stands at 192 million people and the majority of those
unemployed are youths – nearly three to one (The Millennium Development Goals Report 2000). This is a number that has grown considerably over the last four years.
Information and communication technologies are rising exponentially but the majority of growth is within developed countries with developing countries lagging far behind. In those developing countries that have made major strides in providing access (primarily to mobile phone access), the bulk of progress is seen in urban areas. Internet access has risen as well but, once again, in those areas that are more densely populated and developed already.
Some countries have shown promise in their initiatives to create computer components for export. Costa Rica has seen a tremendous increase in economic return by enticing an Intel facility to build in their country (Daly, 2003). India has seen a similar large increase in economic prosperity in creating micro-chips for export. Although this has not produced an increase in ICT knowledge or use for the poor, ICTs have made the impact indirectly.
The Honey Bee Network (found in Chile and Argentina) uses ICTs in the form of electronic bulletin boards where sharing of innovative ideas is helping to create more efficient farming and dairy production. This type of innovation in the sharing of information is growing. With the advent of telecenters, community radio and so forth, there is an increase in the use of these technologies to assist agricultural enterprises, and other market-based enterprises for the benefit of the farmer. Such use of technology allows for up-to-date market pricing, competition, and the diminishment of the middle-man in marketing goods and services.
In India, milk collectives have successfully integrated ICTs in their marketing and collection processes. Efficiency, through the use of technology and computers at the chilling plants allow for precise measurement and payment to the local farmers. This avoids underpayment, allows for immediate payment to the farmers, shows an appropriate use of technology and saves “…30 thousand man days in a month” (Bhatnagar, 2000).
In India, the use of portable, affordable lightweight computer systems are changing the way the rural poor are doing business. With the great number of women using the system, BASIX, offers affordable loans to entrepreneurial ventures at a reduced rate. BASIX cuts procedural costs and expenses through the use of the computers but also runs campaigns that encourage and assist the poor in the use of technology. The program has shown success and is rolling out to other communities.
In Malaysia, Tropbio Research offers Internet support for expert advice, consultation, marketing, bulletin board discussions and other relevant information. The company assists local farming associations to understand and utilize the technology and disseminates the information in the local language. The system has had more than 5000 members and is expandable but does not have the capacity for sustainability as it stands. There are plans to revise the program in a number of ways that will advance sustainability, including advertisement.
There is not simply one-way traffic in communication for the poor and it would be erroneous to assume that ICTs only offer assistance in one direction rather than considering the contribution that the poor can make in making their voices heard. “Poor entrepreneurs must also have the capacity to generate relevant information about themselves, and to access and use the ICTs.” This means that many times the poor must “…rely on intermediaries. At the other end of the transmission chain, someone must also be listening and able to act on what they hear” (Heeks, 1999). But ICTs can assist in this process, “The rural poor need to be educated and organized to make demands on the administrative system” (Bhatnagar, p.7), if they are applied where they can best make a difference. Literacy, understanding of political rights and operations can increase knowledge that will help in the goal of poorer people’s access to self-help and participation in their own governance and decrease corruption through better communicative and informative technologies.
ICT Realities
Access to information and communication technologies is simply not a reality for the millions of poor. Electricity is non-existent for many and infrastructure is an expensive, timely proposition. Beyond this, as Heeks (1999) states, “…a skills infrastructure to keep all the technology working, money to buy or access the ICTs, usage skills to use the ICTs, and literacy skills to read the content,” are not a reality either. The very distance future holds a tiny glimmer of hope of access to ICTs for those in poverty…and even less than a glimmer for those in very remote areas. The consensus is a monumental amount of money and at least a generation…perhaps more.
But there are ways in which ICTs show a great deal of promise. The wheels of ICTs are set in motion, to be sure, and there is little that will turn them back. It is a matter of proper direction, appropriate use and knowledge management that will bring about the intended results. In the interim, it is best to focus on ICTs where they can be of the utmost application.
Daly, (2003) points out, “…it seems likely that initial, exploratory investments in ICT may have low immediate economic yields.” He warns of fads, bad decision making and even malfeasance and malevolence in the investment of ICTs for developing countries. Perraton (2000) echoes this assertion, “Most developing countries lack the basic infrastructure and training needed for gaining access. This 'digital divide' compounds existing inequalities between people within and between countries…”
Development in one area of ICT use certainly denotes development in others. But there is caveats related to development and especially that of roll out development where corporations and governments chose to cultivate roll out infrastructure only in areas that contain the elites. In such instances, the benefit to the poor is obviously lost.
It’s altogether clear that knowledge management use of ICTs for the purpose of poverty reduction needs to be at the forefront for those in government and NGOs, as Heeks (1999) states unmistakably, “Information supplied via ICTs (or via any other means) has no value unless it informs decision making and action” (p. 8). Poverty mapping is one of the more enthusiastically sought after areas for the increase in knowledge management. “One of the key motivations for poverty mapping is to identify areas where there are concentrations of poor people, or especially high poverty rates, to facilitate the targeting of antipoverty programs geographically (Simpler, 2005). It is not just a matter of understanding where the poorest are but understanding where strides toward infrastructure with be the most effective, as Simpler states, “With only few exceptions, the presence of a good road is associated with lower than average poverty indices” (p.19). Mapping, in conjunction with data that illustrates cultural, agricultural, social, and educational and gender needs is an excellent use of ICTs in knowledge management for economic and social growth.
Flor (2001) reiterates this point, “… the optimum solution that ICT can offer to any undertaking, even poverty alleviation, is knowledge management, a newly emerging discipline that combines organizational dynamics, knowledge engineering and technology to manage the intellectual assets of a system” (p. 1).
Success cannot be wrought by ignoring what is working in favor of what is considered enticing and alluring. This has been the focus of many ICT corporations and NGOs. New and better may, in fact, be detrimental. A new focus needs to be implemented where there is purposeful direction toward building on what already works and away from fixing things that are not broken.
Conclusion
This paper has taken a look at the question of whether or not information and communication technologies (ICTs) can, in fact, provide alleviation from poverty for the people of developing countries and how ICTs can be incorporated and related to growth, education, health and employment.
Can ICTs help in the alleviation of poverty? It has been shown that they can. But what also been shown is that generally these successes are the most simplified approaches, using the most appropriate application of technology in most appropriate areas. Successes that employ the use of higher technology are usually pocket programs with little promise of roll out, sustainability or duplication.
The Millennium Development Goals do have some momentum but more focus should be made on proper management of resources and the appropriate use of technology and far less concentration on the magnetism and allure of technological advancement in the hope of a trickle down affect.
As Daly (2003) implores, “Empowerment of poor people with access to ICT is important, but indirect efforts to utilize the technology for development and poverty reduction may be even more so.” It is undeniable that ICTs will not simply vanish. It is never a certainty that growth and development are synonymous with the reduction of poverty. The use of ICTs will continue but their use as an instrument of poverty reduction cannot be assured without definite, clear and conversant guidelines. There must be the appropriate use of technology – the proper use of technology in the proper arena; consideration of social and economic fallout, both positive and negative; accessibility and equality including gender, disability and language; the use and expansion of what technologies are already working; assurance that technologies can be expanded upon and duplicated when successful; and if ICTs are to be truly successful in the alleviation of poverty, sound knowledge management in administration of technologies that can assist even the very poorest.
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