Stories about The Future of ICT for Development

East Timor: Connecting Civil Society

Providing internet access to civil society has been a key priority of the few information and communication technology (ICT) initiatives that exist in East Timor so far.

29 April 2010

ICT4D: Past mistakes, future wisdom

What makes an ICT4D project fizzle out? What are the common mistakes that donors, planners and implementers make when trying to run an ICT4D project? Practitioners discuss in a public Twitter chat.

14 December 2009

ICT4D for Women: Opportunities and Risks

Mobile phones present opportunities for development as well as risks for further abuse and marginalization of women. Gender awareness is crucial when it comes to using ICT for development.

7 December 2009

M-banking: Going where no bank has gone before

Millions and millions of low-income, unbanked people stand to benefit (and maybe prosper?) from the development of mobile financial services in the next years, but there are several technological, logistical, and security challenges that must be addressed first.

3 December 2009

Can ICTs aid small-scale farmers?

The world's small-scale farmers grow a large amount of food and provide many important jobs in rural areas. However, they do their work at great economic and environmental risk. How can ICTs make the jobs and lives easier for the world's farmers?

24 November 2009

Uganda & Kenya: In Search of e-Governance

Good governance has been linked to gains in economic and human development. Governments have begun using technologies to offer more citizen services, expand transparency and make information more accessible. We look at how Kenya and Uganda use ICTs to create better governance.

9 November 2009

Disaster Management and the role of ICTs

In a first post of the series, we explore the role of ICTs in Disaster Management and the paradigm shift in Disaster Management strategies that came about post the aftermath of the Indian Ocean Tsunami in 2004.

27 October 2009

What future for ICT4D?

We know the capacity of mobile phones to affect human development. But that is last year's news. Some thinkers argue that we are on the verge of another round of technological changes that will force ICTs to evolve. What will ICTs for development look like in the next few years?

12 October 2009

Harvard Forum – Faith and focus

Ethan's final live-blog post from the Harvard Forum about internet and communications technology ICT for development with concluding thoughts from several participants.

24 September 2009

Harvard Forum: ICT4D and, and, and

Ethan brings the live-blog from day one to a close after questions and lively discussion with conclusion from Mike Best who suggests there's no way to summarize these discussions… with anything but an observation that the field is filled with “ands”.

24 September 2009