This is the website to the Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID).  It contains a multiude of information regarding GAID activities, ICT development projects, and publications regarding relevant ICT and development issues.  There are various articles on the use of Open Source Software in development projects, which I will use as examples in this paper. 

The GAID is an organization launched by the United Nations in 2006 to address the use of ICT in acheieving the Millenium Development Goals, particularly for reducing poverty in the developing world.  It formed from the 2003 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), during which a need for a global ICT and development policy forum was established.  The GAID serves to facilitate collaborative development projects between the private and public sectors, non-governmental organizations and civil society groups.

As stated on the website, the Objectives of the GAID are as follows:

"The Alliance will seek to contribute to:

(1) Mainstreaming of the global ICT agenda into the broader United Nations development agenda

(2) Bringing together key organizations involved in ICT for development (ICT4D) to enhance their collaboration and effectiveness for achieving the internationally agreed development goals

(3) Raising awareness of policy makers on ICT4D policy issues;

(4) Facilitating identification of technological solutions for specific development goals and pertinent partnerships

(5) Creating an enabling environment and innovative business models for pro-poor investment and growth and for empowering people living in poverty

(6) Acting as a "think-tank" on ICT4D-related issues and as an advisory group to the Secretary-General."

Wagner, D. A.2005, ‘Pro-equity approaches to monitoring and evaluation: gender,

marginalized groups and special needs populations’, Monitoring and evaluation of

ICT in education projects: a handbook for developing countries, pps. 55 – 63, viewed 23 July 2009 <http://www.infodev.org/en/Publication.288.html>.

 

This work is a critique of the methods used to evaluate the progress of ICT development projects. It is specifically geared towards projects associated with the Millennium Development Goals. In this work Wagner presents some poverty, literacy and ICT statistics that may be useful to my project.  This work calls for more sophistacted techniques in analyzing data regarding development.  Wagner specifically calls for a "Pro-equity" approach to monitoring and evaluating development projects.  This method requires analysts to expand data used for project evaluation to accurately reflect marginalized groups within a society instead of focussing on macro-level data.  Focussing on high level summarized statistics often masks underlying structural problems and inequalities. 

This work will be particularly useful when discussing the Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID). I will be able to look at some of GAID’s publications and evaluate them using some of Wagner’s perspectives outlined here. For example, he discusses multiple biases that currently exist in the monitoring and evaluation of ICT projects. These include various exclusion factors and demographic classifications such as: rural vs. urban, male vs. female, somewhat poor vs. very poor, young vs. old. Looking at data through these lenses may at times provide different results than focusing strictly on macro-level population data.

Wagner, D. A. 2001, ‘IT and education for the poorest of the poor: constraints,

possibilities and principles’, Techknowlogia, July/August 2001, pps. 48 – 50,

viewed 23 July 2009, <http://www.literacy.org/products/WagnerTechKnowLogiaArticle.pdf>.

 

I will use this source to inform my discussion of the Global Digital Divide. In this piece Wagner is discussing the implications that information and communications technologies can have on the lives of poverty stricken populations. He outlines the challenges for poor communities in the developing world and stresses the interconnectedness of literacy and ICT tools and skills. He discusses the role that ICT can play in overcoming poverty in these areas.  Wagner states that between two and three billion people, roughly half the world's total population, are in need of these skills.

Additionally this piece focuses on the digital divide as a broad development gap including social and cultural factors as well as technical needs in poor areas. This relates to my paper by setting up the context for what the digital divide is, why it is relevant to international and national policy makers, and what the potential benefits may result from closing the gap.  Wagner outlines some core principles that are necessary in closing the digital divide.  First, today ICT tools are too cheap to ignore and may offer more cost effective solutions to poor areas than ever before possible.  Additionally, he stresses the interconnectedness of literacy and technology in today's world, and the need for culturally-sensitive ICT tools.  Finally, he places emphasis on the collaboration of the private, public, and civil society sectors in bridging the digital divide.  Due to the complexity of the issues, no one sector will be successful if acting alone.  I will be able to use these core principles to evaluate some of the GAID projects I will discuss in my research paper.

 The GAID is an initiative launched by the UN in 2006 to address the use of ICT in achieving the MDGs.  This book outlines the purpose, goals, and operations of the GAID.  It is organized into three parts: 1) principles and structure of the GAID; 2) summary and outcomes from the organization's first meeting; and 3) the business plan of the GAID.  It is published by the UN/GAID so it is somewhat of a manifesto rather than a critique or analysis of the organization's operations.  It will give a concise view of the GAID stated goals and objectives and how the organization plans to promote the Millenium Development Goals through the effective use and proliferation of ICT.

The GAID originated as a result of the 2003 World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).  During this summit, representatives from the UN, civil society groups, and non-governemental organizations (NGO) determined a need for a global open forum within which ICT policy dialogue could take place.  It is from this need that the GAID was concieved and launched in 2006.  In pursuit of this goal the GAID "will contribute to transforming the spirit and vision of the WSIS into action and promote the use of ICT for the acheivement of the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millenium Development Goals (pp. 2)."  The organization acts a facilitator and a spring board for colaborative partnerships aimed at tackling development issues using ICT.  This is the main focus of my research and thus this book will be helpful in understanding the vision and operations of this organization. 

This research paper will focus on the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in achieving the United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goals (MDG). The specific issue I will focus on is the debate regarding Open Source Software (OSS) and its potential for spreading ICT's to developing nations at lower costs than proprietary software. I will investigate the UN's Global Alliance for ICT and Development (GAID) and the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Also I will look at some development projects that have benefitted from the use of OSS and present arguments in opposition to OSS. The first part of this paper will analyze the concept of the Global Digital Divide and how it impacts other social problems such as poverty, literacy disparities, etc. Next, I will discuss efforts by the UN to use ICT in the achievement of the MDGs. Specifically I will focus on the creation of the GAID as a forum for addressing issues surrounding the digital divide and international development policy. Finally, I will discuss the specific issue of Open Source Software. This is one area of ICT development that may have potential for bringing low cost and efficient technologies to impoverished communities to improve lives. Some development projects have been successful in their use of Open Source Software, such as the non-profit organization Inveneo. However, Open Source Software does have is critics, and I will discuss these views as well.