What is ICT4D?
Information and Communications Technologies for Development (ICT4D) is the use of digital solutions to magnify the intent of communities to accelerate their social and economic development.
Information and communication technologies (ICT) include hardware, software, content, and the design and implementation methodologies required for their successful adoption. ICT4D employs all technology interventions that can assist poor and marginalized people. Radio, television, mobile phones, artificial intelligence, blockchain, UAV drones, and geographic information systems are common digital tools.
Who Uses ICT4D Solutions?
ICT4D advisors use digital development approaches to deploy cutting-edge innovations in the world’s more difficult environments. They work to reduce the digital divide in education, healthcare, agriculture, and civil society. Advisors ensure equitable access to information and communication technologies around the world, minimizing disparities in gender, geography, and wealth.
Experts in ICT4D solutions work for major donors, like USAID, DFID, and the Gates Foundation, their implementing partner organizations, and humanitarian aid organizations. They also work in national and local governments, and the private sector.
What Are ICT4D Solutions?
ICTs are deploying in multiple sectors to improve international development outcomes. Here are the three most popular ICT4D solution areas:
- Healthcare: Mobile phone applications can help patients self-diagnose their ailments using the camera, microphone, or other sensor. Front line health workers can use electronic medical records to track patients, and healthcare managers employ big data and algorithms to see disease patterns at national scale.
- Education: Students read eBooks to improve their reading ability while teachers employ computer-assisted adaptive testing to understand learner needs. School headmasters leverage educational management information systems to predict learning solutions.
- Agriculture: Farmers work with drones and GIS to modernize farming practices taught by extension agents trained in online learning programs. Ministries estimate crop yields with real-time satellite data.
Examples of ICT4D Solutions
ICTworks is constantly researching emerging ICT4D programs to identify successful interventions and share lessons learned with our growing readership. You can learn more about impactful projects in the expanding list below:
4 Reasons Why Desktop Computers Are Better Than Mobile Devices in ICT4D
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Try a Day Without ICT4D – I Dare You!
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How can ICT improve the lives of children and youth living in cities?
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On Financial and Other Types of Sustainability in ICT4D Initiatives
I’ve been thinking quite a bit about the sustainability of ICT4D initiatives over the past couple months in preparation for a panel I participated in at ICTD...
What are your favorite M4D interventions? Tell us so they can get funded!
Recently, I had an interesting conversation with a major retailer of technology in the USA. It is looking to grow its corporate social responsibility to focus on...
The Top 5 Countries for ICT4D in Africa are Kenya, Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania, and…?
At a recent Technology Salon, we were discussing the countries that have the best environment for ICT innovation that will accelerate economic and social development....
Celebrating Failure with a FailFaire at ICTD2012
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I am Mustafa Naseem and I am attending ICTD 2012, the premier conference for the field of Information and Communication Technology for Development. ICTD opened...
A Simple Email Address Can Be a Major ICT4D Barrier
When did you get your first email account? Can you remember? Or was it just too long ago? I think my first email address was in college in 1992, but it could’ve...
4 Reasons Why Short-Term Volunteers Are Bad for ICT4D Projects
Those of us working in ICT4D often get offers of short-term volunteer support from well-meaning folks who want to help expand the use of technology in Africa. People...
The Reality of Electrical Power Variability in African ICT4D Projects
Looking at the wavy line above, you could be forgiven if you think that’s a pure sine wave electrical power graph. It is not. It is the electrical power grid...
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