An unusual combination

When I tell people that I am the Managing Director of an NGO that is specialised in ICT and development, people first raise their eye-brows and then start raising questions about the necessity of ICT for developing countries. Surely it cannot be as important as food, security or health care?

I agree it is not. Still, it is vital for improving life in developing countries. ICT is a tool for enabling people to get the right information and to be able to voice out needs, share ideas and knowledge. Many development problems find their origin in a lack of information and communication. Having access to ICT and being able to use it is just as important as being able to read and write. Just think of what would happen if ICT would disappear out of our daily lives… We cannot do without it anymore.

IICD is working with local partners in the South to use the benefits of ICT to improve education, governance, health care, (agricultural) livelihoods and environment. We help local partners to explore how they can adapt ICT through small projects, we take care of capacity development and stimulate them to share experiences among each other. We also encourage them to convince government of the need for a strategy and policies on the use of ICT to further improve development of the country and people’s lives.

To get a better understanding of the necessity of working on ICT in developing countries we have launched a new website that explicitly shows what our work is all about. Videos, photos, online articles and publications and a blog written by staff members of IICD with stories about the work on the ground will help to visualise what ICT for development is all about. At first sight ICT and development may be an unusual combination, but we hope to convince you that it is not.