Information and Communication Technologies for Direct Poverty Alleviation: Costs and Benefits

Abstract

Information and communications technologies (ICTs) are powerful tools for empowerment and income generation in developing countries. The costeffectiveness of different ICTs does vary between developed and less developed countries, however. This article reviews the potential efficacy of radio, telephony and the Internet as tools of direct poverty alleviation in the latter. While the requirements for their successful utilisation make radio and telephone far more suitable technologies for the poor, traditional ICTs can act as a sustainable intermediary for them to gain indirect access to the power of the Internet. Governments should concentrate on opening up private and community provision of broadcasting and widening access to telephone services, so that they can effectively play this intermediary role.Radio and the telephone have a long history demonstrating their utility in developing countries. The Internet has also already proved itself useful in these countries, in increasing both the incomes and quality of services received by citizens. Using Internetbased systems to make phone calls has reduced the cost of international communication; the Internet is being used to ease the export and import of goods; and countries such as India are earning billions of dollars a year exporting IT services and software (see .Because of the many uses of information and communications technologies (ICTs) in a developing country context, many donors, governments and NGOs have long supported roll-out programmes for these technologies -providing radios to schools, community groups and refugees, and supporting the expansion of rural telephone services. Some of these same groups are now experimenting with community-based multi-purpose community telecentres (MCTs) that provide public Internet access, email and other computer applications.

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