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.