SDC and IICD reach out to extend the grasp of ICTs for development

In a nutshell ...

• Switzerland Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC) signs a three-year strategic enabling partnership with IICD (2002-2005)
• SDC will Join both the UK and the Dutch agencies for Development cooperation - DFID and DGIS respectively - in supporting IICD activities.
• Through the agreement, entitled "Building the Digital Opportunities (BDO): IICD and SDC partnerships, both organizations will strive to:
  - to generate on-the-ground experience in implementing poverty-focused and locally-owned ICTs for development and in creating understanding and awareness for the issue;
  - to link this experience to the policy dialogue at the country- and international-levels; and
  - to add to the effectiveness of the multilateral dialogue on ICTs for development through the sharing of these experiences.
• These objectives will be achieved through IICD Country Programmes and Thematic Networks.

"We have arranged to live in and with poverty, but to get excluded from access to information and knowledge facilitated by ICT is unacceptable for us." - SDC African partner

The partnership

SDC and IICD are both members of the Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) Executive Committee (ExCom) and as such, have developed a strong relationship over the past year. This collaboration gained in strength, as the Swiss and Malaysian governments took over co-chairmanship of the GKP in early 2001. Stemming from this association, SDC and IICD began to express a mutual interest in a more extensive working collaboration. The ‘Bridging Digital Opportunities’ agreement between IICD, DFID and DGIS, laid the groundwork for the form this collaboration eventually took.

The primary focus of the SDC/IICD partnership, known as ‘Bridging Digital Opportunities (BDO) - SDC and IICD Partnership’ is that of learning. But not learning in itself. Rather, learning based on practical application of ICTs for development. And the bringing of that learning to the policy makers where it can be applied to enhance decision-making.

To achieve this overall focus, the partnership has the following aims:

• to generate on-the-ground experience in implementing poverty-focused and locally-owned ICTs for development and in creating understanding and awareness for the issue;
• to link this experience to the policy dialogue at the country- and international-levels;
• to add to the effectiveness of the multilateral dialogue on ICTs for development through the sharing of these experiences; and
• to influence policy dialogue and development through partnership with other bilateral donor agencies and linkages to SDC and IICD supported multi-lateral initiatives.

How do these overarching aims translate into practical activities?

Across the agreement’s three year period, 66% of the SDC support will be applied to IICD Country Programmes and Thematic Networks. In this way, the bulk of the funding will be used to realise on-the-ground and locally owned ICTs for development activities and to analyse and disseminate the learning from these activities to a broader audience.

A key component of the above activity will be the Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) by local parties of each Country Programme and the dissemination of harvested lessons at the national and international levels. Additionally, South-South and South-North exchange in national and international fora will prove to be essential linkages.

Another 26% of the monies will be expended on realising the capacity needed to achieve this work plan. IICD’s work is largely based on processes that are catalytic in nature. This being the case, they are labour-intensive. This portion of the budget secures the manpower needed to accomplish the work plan.

IICD is well positioned to be able to realise the planned partnership activities, as they are central to its existing 5-year strategic plan.

A strategic alliance

An important characteristic of the partnership is that it represents SDC joining both DGIS and DFID as part of a strategic alliance to support ICTs for development - the alliance being Bridging Digital Opportunities. At a time when European donor agencies strive for increased coordination, complementarity and coherence, the SDC-DGIS-DFID-IICD agreement shows one way to achieve this.

The remaining 8% of the funding will be used to complement existing and planned donor-coordinated activities as part of the broader BDO.

Further, these monies will also be applied to ensure that learning from concrete ICTs for development activities gain voice in and strengthen the discussion found at multi-lateral meetings, such as the Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP).

More:

If you have any questions on the SDC-IICD partnership or if you are interested in more information on how to partner with IICD, please contact IICD’s Partnerships Manager at partnering@iicd.org.

Or visit these websites:

SDC website
DGIS website
DFID website
IICD website
iConnect online for more information on the BDO programme.