Human Rights Movements and the Internet

This chapter looks at the impact of the Internet on the worldwide human rights movement, and examines the opportunities and pitfalls of the technology and its applications for human rights organisations. It argues that the technology is a useful tool in nongovernmental efforts toward worldwide compliance with human rights norms despite the new challenges it presents for human rights defenders and activists, particularly in the South. Conceptualising the movement as a collection of issue-based social submovements, it draws on social movement literature and examples from Africa to describe how the technology and its applications benefit the movement in six key areas of activity. The promises, pitfalls, and difficulties of Internet usage are discussed, with particular emphasis on censorship, surveillance and privacy, and the challenges they pose for human rights activists operating in a digital environment.

Poverty Reduction through Community-Compatible ICTs

ICTs are an integral part of both scientific and lay cultures. However, scientific know-how, whose significant features are high expertise and highly trained personnel, is dominant while traditional cultures are gradually receding. The use of ICTs shows great potential for creating access boundaries between the rich and poor. Out of this awareness, this chapter invites readers to rethink basic questions: What are ICTs? What have been their benefits for the rich and poor? While these questions cannot be answered in detail here, few important points are presented emphasizing that ICTs do not function in a societal vacuum. The type of access to ICTs that the poor need is not that which only enables them to be like others in using ICTs. They, much more than other sectors of society, have an increasing need to effectively manage their lives, and community-compatible ICTs can be employed for this purpose.

Digital Divide

In this chapter the authors introduce the digital-divide concept to the reader, bring its different definitions, and describe the short history of the problem. The basic figures and facts, which characterize the information and communication technologies’ usage in different countries and regions, are given as well. Also, basic indicators that allow the monitoring of the country’s advancement on the way to bridging the digital divide are stated. The main purpose for the authors was to show that the digital divide is not only (and not as much) a technical problem, but rather a social and political one. Hence, the approaches to this problem decision, both in the world community as a whole and in separate countries, are described.

Digital Opportunities, Equity, and Poverty in Latin America

This chapter examines the digital divide that exists within Latin American countries. It argues that information and communication technology is creating new opportunities that can be seized to support human development and poverty-reduction strategies. However, it also clarifies that ICT on its own cannot leapfrog the old institutional and organizational weaknesses of Latin American economies and societies. The author hopes that understanding the deep-rooted inequalities that underlie ICT access in Latin America will not only inform researchers on the challenges for the development of the information society in the region, but also assist policy makers in the preparation and implementation of appropriate public policies.

Computer-Based Health Information Systems

Large investments are being made to reform the health sector in developing countries as the various reports that indicate this potential of ICT is not being fully realized on the ground in particular settings. In this chapter, an empirical investigation of the introduction of health information systems in the primary health-care sector in India is reported. Three cases—the India Health Care Project, Family Health Information Management System, and Integrated Health Information Management Systems—are presented. The authors argue against adopting a technocentric approach during the development of the HIS and suggest that these efforts should be sensitive to the sociotechnical context. Furthermore, a variety of constraints are identified. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the potentials of integration to address some of the identified constraints.

ICT-Enabled Education in Africa

This essay prompts critical thinking on the way ICT-enabled education programs in Africa have been conceptualized and implemented. It reflects mainly on the experiences of the African SchoolNet movement over the past decade. It highlights important lessons and demonstrates the beneficial effects of technology-enhanced learning programs on African learners and teachers who have had the privilege of being included in SchoolNet initiatives. However, it also shows that the accumulated interventions and programs to date remain insignificant in scale to catalyze a resounding shift toward resolving the crisis in Africa’s education systems; it makes the case for integrated system-wide, locally led approaches that soberly takes account of the challenges imposed by globalization. The chapter traces the historical evolution of frameworks to promote African inclusion in the information society, and allusions are specifically made to the emergence of the NEPAD eSchools, and the Global eSchools and Communities Initiative of the UN ICT Task Force, which hold the potential for advancing the frontiers of learning in Africa. Here, the author emphasizes, however, that these new initiatives need to draw on the accumulated learning and experience of the SchoolNet movement over the past 10 years in Africa to succeed. Finally, the chapter raises the dearth of evidence-based research made in Africa by Africans who would verify or refute the case for stronger investment in ICTs for education. It then proffers suggestions on areas for further research.

Digital Divide

In this chapter, we want to state shortly the basic components and manifestations of the digital-divide problem, as well as the ways of its solution in a specific country with its specific regional, social, historical, and political features. Moldova is taken as such a country. The problem is interesting to consider in the example of such a country because it is especially manifested in countries of such type: those that are waking up to development and are limited in means.

Integrating ICTs in African Development

This chapter reviews the role of information and communication technologies in socioeconomic development and poverty-reduction programs in sub-Saharan countries. To this end, the author first provides an overview of the status of ICTs and national ICT strategies in sub-Saharan Africa. He then analyzes the treatment of ICTs in three major policy documents that provide the framework for economic growth and poverty reduction efforts in most developing countries. These are (a) national poverty-reduction strategies, (b) country assistance strategies of the World Bank, and (c) poverty-reduction support credits. The analysis reveals that while a majority of national ICT policies strongly promote the use of ICTs for socioeconomic development, the poverty-reduction and country assistance strategies focus primarily on the use of ICTs in public-sector management. Hence, there is a persistent disconnection between the ICT policies and the poverty-reduction strategies. The author identifies some of the main challenges and the substantial opportunities that would arise from the mainstreaming of ICTs in national development initiatives.

An Explanatory Approach to the Political Uses of ICT Initiatives for Participation

Political actors use ICTs in a different manner and in different degrees when it comes to achieving a closer relationship between the public and politicians. Usually, political parties develop ICT strategies only for electoral campaigning and therefore restrain ICT usages to providing information and establishing a few channels of communication. By contrast, local governments make much more use of ICT tools for participatory and deliberative purposes. These differences in usages have not been well explained in the literature because of a lack of a comprehensive explanatory model. This chapter seeks to build the basis for this model, that is, to establish which factors affect and condition different political uses of ICTs and which principles underlie that behaviour. We consider that political actors are intentional and their behaviour is mediated by the political institutions and the socioeconomic context of the country. Also, though, the actor’s own characteristics, such as the type and size of the organization or the model of e-democracy that the actor upholds, can have an influence in launching ICT initiatives for approaching the public.

Enabling the Expansion of Microfinance using Information and Communication Technologies

This chapter looks at the origins and evolution of microfinance and explores some of the challenges faced by microfinance institutions (MFIs). It examines the costs and benefits of using ICTs as a means of increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of MFIs enabling expansion and outreach to remote populations. Specific technologies such as smart cards, PDAs, and MISs are explored in detail and case studies are provided. MFIs can also use ICTs to facilitate income-generating opportunities for borrowers, and the case of Village Phone will highlight this potential. It is hoped that this chapter will advance the case for the continued use and research into the synergistic combining of microfinance and ICTs.