ICT in Ecuador
Where are we now?
Impact & lessons learned
IICD in Ecuador

With a relatively high life expectancy (at birth: 74.5 years) and an adult literacy rate of 91%, Ecuador seems to fare well fare in terms of education and health, compared to the Latin America & Caribbean region as a whole. Yet today, most of Ecuador’s 13.2 million inhabitants face a life blighted by economic recession, rising crime and an increasing lack of security, widespread poverty, and staggering unemployment levels (47%).

ICT in Ecuador

Despite many political and social problems in the country, the Ecuador Country Programme has thrived. This is in part due to the promising circumstances with the country: Ecuador has a highly favourable environment for ICT-enabled development (compared to other IICD focal countries), and most Ecuadorians are already computer literate and familiar with different ICT applications and their benefits.

Where are we now?

With a sufficient number of projects ongoing to show how and what ICT for development can achieve in the various sectors, the Ecuador Country Programme is now in its expansion phase.

At the end of 2006 the Ecuador Country Programme was focussing on the close integration of project-related activities, capacity development, knowledge sharing , and Monitoring & Evaluation.

Impact & lessons learned

The Ecuador Country Programme is fairly young, meaning it is too early to draw conclusions on the impact of the programme. However, in the three year period since the organisation of the first roundtable in 2003, Ecuador had proven to be an environment in which project ideas are easily generated. In some regions connectivity has considerably improved since IICD started working there with local partners. The capacity of local partners to be able to use and apply ICT has improved. It is therefore expected that the Ecuador Country Programme will turn out to be fruitful and have a strong impact.

There is however concern about the high proportion of relatively small NGOs among the implementing organisations. It raises some doubt with regard to the outreach that can be expected from the existing projects. IICD will work on that.

IICD in Ecuador

In 2003, IICD was already involved in the Latin America region through its Bolivia Country Programme. Developing a country programme in an additional country in the region was seen as way to multiply the effects of ICT for development in the region, and increase the impact of the Bolivia Country Programme.

Ecuador was selected in part due to its relative prosperity and political stability, and in part because it could benefit from the lessons already learned in Bolivia. As a result, the Ecuador Country Programme was launched in June 2003. The Ecuador Country Programme is IICD’s youngest Country Programme.

Mindful of both the challenges and opportunities present in Ecuador, the IICD Ecuador Country Programme purposefully aligned itself with the country’s most pressing needs: improving livelihoods and facilitating good governance.

Addressing Ecuador’s ICT needs

Over the years, the Ecuador Country Programme has consistently explored ways in which ICT can improve and stimulate livelihood opportunities in the agriculture sector for the benefit of groups like farmers, cacao traders and ecotourism workers. In governance attention is being given to how ICT can increase the transparency of local governments, particularly in terms of easy access to information. ICT is also used as a tool for information on debt relief.

ICT in projects

We are currently supporting 10 projects in Ecuador. The projects all use ICT applications in a number of innovative and cost-effective ways to for example: inform rural communities about pest control and market prices; improve the micro-credit market; provide training to community tourism workers; and repopulate the mangrove swamps with shellfish.

Developing Capacity

In the first years of the country programme different needs were addressed with a strong focus on basic skills to work with the computer or to be able to find management information on the computer. Technical update seminars, on-the-job training sessions, life long learning skills workshops, and train-the-trainer sessions are some of the activities being carried out by IICD and Nuevared for the benefit of IICD’s project partners and local institutions. Another partner on the ground, Martha Nuñez, carried various monitoring and evaluation activities out with regard to ICT projects, capacity development, and information networking.

Establishing networks

A large number of development organisations were already active in Ecuador when the Ecuador Country Programme was launched, including three of IICD’s enabling partners (HIVOS, SDC and DGIS), providing the foundations for developing further strategic partnerships and joint ventures. The Ecuador Country Programme has also been able to learn from the experiences of IICD’s other longer running country programmes. Bolivia in particular proved to be a rich learning ground.

To stimulate ICT4D knowledge sharing activities nationwide, Infodesarrollo.ec was set up by local partners at the end of 2004. This discussion platform is complemented by the network’s electronic newsletter, Connexión, which now has over 105,000 subscribers. Initially the network focussed strongly on influencing policy processes, but recently the focussed shifted to knowledge sharing among project partners to strengthen project implementation and embedding. Infodesarrollo recently became an independent organisation.

Participating in policy process

The Ecuador Country Programme has not yet reached the stage at which it can begin to influence policy processes.

Ecuador partners

As the Ecuador Country Programme is the most recently started of IICD’s Country Programmes, its partners have been able to take advantage of relatively a favourable - compared to other IICD focus countries - environment for ICT-enabled development. ICT has itself developed in the last ten years, as has the ICT situation in Ecuador.

A number of IICD's longstanding enabling partners are already present in Ecuador, such as: HIVOS, SDC and DGIS. Other important Country Programme partners include NGOs, such as Maquita Cushunchic Comercializamos Como Hermanos (MCCH) and Sedal, and grassroots organisations. Partners in the governance sector vary from communities to ministries, such as the Ministry of Agriculture.

Use the Search on the right to search for partners in Ecuador.