We assist developing countries to realise locally owned sustainable development by harnessing the potential of ICT. Our approach to ICT includes, and where necessary combines, both traditional media (such as radio and television) and modern technologies (including computers and the Internet). It is not the technology itself that is important, but whether or not it is used appropriately and if it is sustainable.

Strategically, we work both at country and thematic levels to address ICT-enabled development needs.
At the country level, Country Programmes are established in each of our nine focal countries, and serve to help local partners to implement and develop their own projects and ICT policies within key development sectors.

Thematically, we stimulate sustainable development through sharing knowledge and skills. This requires effective communication at all levels. IICD fosters the sharing of knowledge and skills in all activities and projects, within national and regional networks on ICT for development, and between partners.

Within the country and thematic approaches, IICD has identified three strategic priorities. These priorities have been translated into operational approaches and point to IICD’s choice to move towards becoming an expertise organisation.

• Embedding: applying experience to sector and national policies
• Harvesting: translating experience into lessons learned and accountability
• Leveraging: taking all experiences to new programmes through partnerships

Unique aspects of our approach

In our work, we distinguish ourselves through:

• Process: We have more than ten years on the ground experience with our methodological approach of local ownership, capacity building, and monitoring & evaluation. We catalyse and advise (in content and process) on embedding ICT as part of sector and national policies;
• Partnerships: We mobilise and implement effective multi-stakeholder partnerships between the public, private and non-profit sectors, on national and international levels. We believe this is the cornerstone of sustainable development;
• Perspective focused on the long term: We build locally-owned sustainable capacity through expertise development and knowledge sharing networks.

Guiding Principles

We apply the following guiding principles to make sure our work is effective and sustainable.

• Capacity development addresses those skills that are essential in order to work effectively
• Multi-stakeholder involvement ensures that the added value of each sector is fully utilised
• Partnerships enable IICD and its partners to further impact development sector experiences and resources
• Local ownership entails each partner recognising their own role (ownership and responsibility for the programmes and projects) and working towards sustainability of the activities
• Demand-driven involvement ensures that the development activities respond to local demands and are workable in the local context
• Learning by doing tackles the issue of making sure that there is a conducive environment for expanding the knowledge base
• Gender equality to ensure women are participatory stakeholders at all stages

Working on the ground

Within each of our focal countries a Country Programme is established that brings local organisations together to formulate and execute ICT supported development programmes in traditional development sectors: education, governance, health, (agricultural) livelihoods and environment.
Each country programme has several components that contribute to the enhancement and strengthening of the institutional capacity of local partners including capacity building, the development of networks, formulating pilot projects and policies, knowledge sharing and monitoring and evaluation activities.

Building on our expertise

Thematically, we gather impact results and learning experiences from the Country Programmes. Through national and regional networks on ICT4D local organisations that work on ICT4D are brought together. The networks encourage and enable the organisations to share knowledge and skills, expertise and experiences in the field of ICT. The knowledge acquired in this way is then shared across countries, and reinvested in existing or new ICT-enabled development activities. At the international level, we disseminate best practice information.