Information and communication technologies (ICTs) can empower people but does providing access to technology and skills solve the problem of poverty?

Where people are struggling to access even their most basic needs, it may seem strange to prioritise spending money on information and communication technologies. But information is power, and effective communication can be the key which enables people to become active participants in the development of their communities.

The widening gap between those who have access to information technologies and those who don't (often refered to as the digital divide) is becoming an increasing concern. A common solution to this has been to setup 'telecentres'. A 'telecentre' is basically a localised access point to radios, computers, telephones and other ICTs. But providing access to technology alone, does not enable people to actively challenge and change the power structures which keep them poor and marginalised. For ICTs to enable real change in lives and livelihoods, people must be able to appropriate the technologies, define their uses and integrate them into their lives.

Despite the potential of ICTs for pro-poor development, there are also some important concerns:

• Endangering cultural diversity
  The internet and computer software are generally products of western cultures. The adoption of ICTs may mean that existing cultures e.g. primarily oral communities, are superceded or lost if they are forced to compete against one another.
• Economic empowerment or exploitation
  For many people, particularly in urban areas, IT skills can lead to higher earning potential and more job opportunities. However, while the ability to secure higher wages is undoubtedly important to an individual and their family, but does simply providing basic training for people to operate machines constitute empowerment?
• Information, communication and power
  Poor and marginalised people are most likely to suffer from a lack of timely and reliable information, which further engenders their powerlessness. Information cannot solve the problems of poverty unless it is accompanied by the skills, confidence and knowledge to seek and use it.

The Reflect ict project
ActionAid has set up pilot ICT projects in Burundi, India and Uganda, aimed at building people’s capacity to identify and express their information needs, to consult experts and information providers and to hold people accountable.

The projects use the Reflect approach to adult learning and social change. It is based on groups of people meeting regularly to discuss local issues and devise action plans, using participatory techniques. Through participation in Reflect circles, people have become more aware of their rights. Simply knowing their rights has resulted in effective action in many poor communities around the world.

The Reflect ICT project is concerned with processes rather than direct outcomes. It is the process whereby ICTs are chosen and introduced which determines their impact, much more than the investment itself. In each of the three pilots, poor and marginalised people have thought and spoken about the potential role of ICTs in their lives, and in each case, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. People see the value of good quality, reliable information and want to find ways to improve the documentation of their own knowledge.

Click here to download the full report - 'ict for development: empowerment or exploitation?'