Phone and Internet Access

This means that governments and the private sector should make sure that everyone has access to a minimum level of communications technology to get online information and participate in social networks

The only MDG target related to communications infrastructure is found under Goal 8 that called for the development ofa Global Partnership for Development and in cooperation with the private sector, the expansion of the benefits of new technologies, especially information and communications.  The limited specific mention of technology, in the current MDGs is partly a consequence of technology being seen as an enabler of economic growth and human development, but is also a reflection of how much the world has changed since year 2000. 

There are a billion more people today, with the world population at seven billion, and another billion expected by 2030.  More than half of us now live in cities.  Private investment in developing countries now dwarfs aid flows. The number of mobile phone subscriptions has risen from fewer than one billion to more than six billion.  Thanks to the Internet, seeking business or information on the other side of the world is now routine for many. Yet, inequality remains and opportunity is not open to all.  The 1.2 billion poorest people account for only 1 percent of world consumption while the billion richest consume 72 percent.

In their report, the High Level Panel called for a quantum leap forward in economic opportunities and a profound economic transformation to end extreme poverty and improve livelihoods.  This means a rapid shift to sustainable patterns of consumption and production–harnessing innovation, technology, and the potential of private business to create more value and drive sustainable and inclusive growth.  Diversified economies, with equal opportunities for all, can unleash the dynamism that creates jobs and livelihoods, especially for young people and women. Yet, sustained, broad-based, equitable growth requires more than raising GDP.  For the new agenda to tackle the causes of poverty, exclusion and inequality, it must ensure that everyone has what they need to grow and prosper, including access to quality education and skills, healthcare, clean water, electricity, and technology.  This is a challenge for every country on earth.

 

 

  1. 1.     THE DIGITAL DIVIDE

By 2010, 90 percent of the worlds population had access to mobile cellular signal and 76percentwere mobile phone users.  Many developing counties have seen significant growth in mobile cellular subscriptions reaching penetration levels as high as 116 percent.   In Least Developed Countries (LDCs) mobile cellular connection is 30 percent as compared to landline connections that are now only 1 percent. 

However, information and communication technology (ICT) adoption remains uneven between and within countries, and between different technologies.  Mobile phones have seen substantial uptake in developing countries, but Internet use and broadband connections less so.  Overall the number of Internet users has been expanding but penetration levels in developing countries and LDCs remain low, at 21 percent and 3 percent respectively as compared to 72 percent in developed countries. 

Penetration levels are even lower in the case of fixed broadband connections, which are limited to a few developing countries. In 2010 the fixed broadband penetration in developed countries reached 24.6 percent as compared to only 4.4 percent in the case of developing countries. These figures dip even lower in the case of LDCs due to low availability and high costs. On the other hand, mobile broadband connections have made significant progress since 2005, with 143 countries providing mobile services in 2010 up from 50 in 2005. However, two thirds of mobile broadband subscriptions still lie within developed countries.

Reasons for the lack of access and non-adoption of ICTs include questions of cost and affordability, education levels and language (which limit access), limited capacity within the ICT sector to provide efficient services, and the inappropriateness of some communications services and products to the needs of low-income households.

Central to scaling up ICTs for the poorer sections of society are simplicity of the technology, the scope for high penetration rates (i.e. low cost, ease of installation), and a low human capacity requirement. Several African and Asian countries have adopted universal access programs to scale up communication technologies to the poor populations. Others are adopting open access principles to create strong regional and national ICT infrastructure.

The experience of ICTs has given rise to the suggestion that ICT policies should go beyond reducing the digital divide to pro-poor ICT policies.  This could entail mainstreaming ICTs into poverty reduction strategies, and ensuring a pro-poor window is provided in regulations for the frequency spectrum, tariffs, and communications market.

Should the new framework include a call for open access to ICT infrastructures?  Is this a function of the market place or an area where there should be government regulation?

 

 

 

  1. 2.     TECHNOLOGY AS AN ENABLER

Advancements in technology have radically changed how people communicate, organize, learn and participate.  Technology is a change driver and is in demand for what it enables people to do; therefore as an enabler of growth, connectivity, and achievement of health, education and other economic and social objectives.  This reinforces the view that a sustainable development agenda cannot be achieved through a single sector approach and that technology, as well as access to technology, has wide impact across sectors. There is broad consensus that ICTs can be used to accelerate political empowerment, increase security, productivity and economic opportunities, and numerous examples demonstrate links between ICTs and advances in both access to and quality of health and education services.

Economic Growth

Connectivity is an ingredient for economic growth: it allows rural dwellers to reach cities and markets; ensures functioning of day-to-day business; and provides access to markets, government services, and information and knowledge.  The worldwide infrastructure of computers, digital systems and the Internet that has been put in place is multiplying productivity and playing a central role in economies. Innovations such as smart mobile telephones are opening up pathways out of poverty, and widespread connectivity is hastening new forms of collaborative, bottom-up organization. Cellular penetration into rural areas cannot only provide basic voice services, but can also open up possibilities for innovative new information and financial services.  Over the next 15 years, these innovations should be rolled out to reach and benefit all.

Education

ICT is linked to several aspects of education, but especially in relation to the global spread and reach of technologies, as well as, ensuring that learners are equipped with relevant skills for the twenty-first century.  The consultations emphasized the need to mainstream ICTs skills into national education and employment strategies.  ICT skills are and will continue to be essential requirements for all people entering the workforce.  ICT skills are not only required for jobs in the IT sector, but the demand for them cuts across sectors — from agriculture and construction to education and service industries.

Contributors also highlighted the possible use of technology to support teacher’s professional development and provide students with expanded sources of information.  In cases where geographic distances create barriers for education, particularly in rural regions, open and distance learning technology can be used to reach remote communities.  In addition, ICT can strengthen teacher motivation, enhance capacity for educational assessment and monitoring and provide accommodations, such as talking computers – to assist people with disabilities. However, effective utilization relies on bridging the digital divide, training teachers in ICT skills and securing adequate financing, among other factors.

 

Governance

Vulnerable communities often lack access to the necessary information and access to be involved in decision-making processes that directly affect their wellbeing, natural resources etc.  ICT provides and an opportunity for the creation, transmission and dissemination of information and thus provides a crucial opportunity to improve governance and empower people. 

New technologies have changed the way people communicate with each other and how information is shared.  The use of mobile technology can provide a channel for local stakeholders to meaningfully participate, including reporting violence, human rights abuses, electoral fraud, or other violations of rights.  This can be a powerful incentive for people to participate in such processes and have their voices heard, and is facilitated by the affordability, accessibility and networking outreach of ICTs.ICTs can also support greater transparency through the wide dissemination of information.

ICTs can also help governments become better listeners and more agile partners in sustainable development efforts.  Analyzing key development themes in social media enables better responses to the needs of people.  Participatory budgeting, mobile voting, data mining and interaction on social media allow public managers and policy-makers to take the pulse of a constituency and shape public services to more closely address the needs and aspirations of people.  Newer methods of outreach, such as crowd sourcing, can be effective methods of communication at the local level. 

Health

New ways are emerging to improve health: new technologies and opportunities for connectivity.  The linkages and relationships between health and education, climate change and other environmental threats, financial and natural resource constraints, less poverty but greater inequities, population growth and rapidly ageing populations, unplanned urbanization, and new diseases will all affect progress on health and well-being.  ITC can help improve access to health services and national health systems and will be critical to strengthening national health information systems, civil registration, and vital statistics – critical for successful implementation, down to the district level and below.  ITC can also be used to share learning and experiences of best practices.

Food

The effective use of technology is essential to ensuring affordable and nutritious food for the growing population.  There is a large upside potential for increases in scale and improvements in technology to reduce the environmental impacts of farming.  For example, drip irrigation improves yields, conserves water and aids in adaptation to climate change challenges.  Better transport and storage techniques and infrastructure will reduce the wastage of fresh food and more timely information on weather and market conditions will improve productivity.

Scientist warn that public spending on agricultural research must double in the next decade if the world is to successfully move to sustainable methods of food production.  This funding must be coupled with long-term investment in the training of agricultural professionals to fill the skill gaps in many developing countries.  Increasing yields while minimizing environmental harm is one of the greatest challenges facing agriculture and will require the use of a more tailored, knowledge-intensive system.  ICT can play a role in the development of adaptable, site-specific farming methods, research into the size and location of gaps in yield and efficiency – where resources such as fertilizers are not being used efficiently – for crop and livestock production.

Energy

The transition to low carbon energy sources will need energy efficient technologies.  Participants in the energy consultation highlighted the need for technological innovations in energy efficiency, green energy development, and renewables.  They suggested a global subsidized fund for energy technology, grant rewards forinnovative ideas, and stressed the need for additional private funding.The consultations also highlighted the importance of technology transfer and capacity building and noted that technology serves as an excellent platform for knowledge sharing on every level.

How can the new framework reflect a need for or encourage the development of ICT technologies (or other technologies) to help drive progress in other sectors?  How should this be reflected in the framework?  Who are the stakeholders and/or main actors to drive this type of innovation?

 

 

  1. 3.     SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT & THE EXCHANGE OF KNOWLEDGE AND TECHNOLOGY

ICTs, as well as other technologies spawn innovative development solutions and efficient and affordable products to address the needs of sustainable development.  Examples include: the use of text messaging for disaster preparedness and early warning systems, energy-efficient buildings and turning waste into energy (proving that it is possible to generate revenues while reducing pollution.)  Among other proven new technologies are smart grids, low-carbon cities, mass transit, efficient transport and zoning policies, integrated storm-water management, mini-grids for rural electrification, and solar cookers and lanterns. 

Other technologies need to be developed with regard to the environment and sustainable natural resource efficiency and management; including forestry and protection against de-forestation, oceans and fisheries, and other ecosystem reserves.  There is huge potential from international research collaborations and voluntary open innovation platforms driven through ICT technology.The consultations emphasize the need to create a favorable environment for technology transfer and knowledge exchange among countries.

Participants contended that innovation and technology transfer should not be limited to large-scale, industrial technologies. One participant shared examples from Nepal, where public funding (both domestic resources and foreign aid) is helping to spread the technology of biofuel stoves and micro-hydropower plants in the market. Other participants argue that technology transfer should not only flow from more developed to less developed countries; traditional and indigenous knowledge and technologies could be as effective but require stronger protection and institutional support.

How can the new framework support and encourage the exchange of technology?

Some suggest that intellectual property protection should be reviewed to enable a freer exchange of technology across countries, in particular of technologies that generate or use renewable or less polluting sources of energy.  Do you agree?  Is innovation driven, at least in part, by economic rewards? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. 4.     A DATA REVOLUTION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The report of the Secretary-General, “A Life of Dignity for All…” includes a call for a strong monitoring and accountability framework to support the implementation of the post-2015 development agenda.  The report suggested that the monitoring and accountability framework could be strengthened through the direct engagement of citizens and responsible businesses making use of new technologies to expand coverage, to disaggregate data and to reduce costs.  Likewise, the results of the consultations revealed a demand for stronger traditional public statistics, complemented by social networking and new forms of data and recommended investing in generating reliable, timely and comparable data and statistics at national and subnational levels.

In this context, the advances in information technology over the past decade provide an opportunity for a “data revolution”, which should enable countries to strengthen existing data sources and develop new and participatory sources of information.  There have been innovative initiatives to use mobile technology and other advances to enable real-time monitoring of development results.  Data must also enable us to reach the neediest, and find out whether they are receiving essential services. This means that data gathered will need to be disaggregated by gender, geography, income, disability, and other categories, to make sure that no group is being left behind.Many developing countries will require technical and financial support to build solid statistical systems and capacity so as to take advantage of these new opportunities.

The High Level panel also called for a data revolution for sustainable development, with a new international initiative to improve the quality of statistics and information available to people and governments.  The panel asserted,  “We should actively take advantage of new technology, crowd sourcing, and improved connectivity to empower people with information on the progress towards the targets.”

Do you agree?  Do you think more information and higher quality statistics can improve outcomes?

Should foreign assistance dollars be used to help developing countries acquired the technical and financial support they need to build solid statistical systems?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  1. 5.     YOUNG PEOPLE&BUSINESS – ESSENTIAL PARTNERS

Young People

Today’s adolescents and youth are 1.8 billion strong and on and one quarter of the world’s population. Young people acting in their own right and living in a digitally interconnected world, with unprecedented access to information, will drive transformative changes.They are shaping social and economic development, challenging social norms and values, and building the foundation of the world s future. They have high expectations for themselves and their societies, and are imagining how the world can be better. Connected to each other as never before through new media, they are driving social progress and directly influencing the sustainability and the resilience of their communities and of their countries. Young people must be subjects, not objects, of the post-2015 development agenda. They need access to the right kind of health (including access to SRHR) and education to improve their job prospects and life skills, but they must also be active participantsin decision-making, and be treated as the vital asset for society that they are.

Business

Business is an essential partner that can drive economic growthand technological innovation. Small- and medium-sized firms will create most of the jobs that will be needed to help today’s poor escape poverty and for the 470 million who will enter the labor market by 2030. Moreover, when business discover successful models that work for sustainable development, they can scale it up fast, using their geographic spread to reach hundreds of millions of people.A growing number of business leaders are already integrating sustainable development into their corporate strategies with business models that use innovation to open up new growth markets, and address the needs of poor consumers, as well as, promote sustainable practices and stay cost-competitive by conserving land, water, energy and minerals and eliminating waste.  Many companies recognize, however, that if they are to be trusted partners, they need to strengthen their own governance mechanisms and adopt integrated reporting, on their social and environmental impact as well as financial performance. Many businesses today are committed to doing this.  The new global partnership should encourage others to follow suit.

In its report, the High Level Panel identified “Forging New Global Partnerships” as the most important transformative shift, therefore towards a new spirit of solidarity, cooperation, and mutual accountability that must underpin the post-2015 agenda.

Do you agree?  Do the private and youth need to be part of this framework?  How should the international community and governments support, encourage participate in partnerships to support the new agenda?

 

 

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