Australian Development Gateway

The Australian Development Gateway (ADG) strives to support members of the development community in their efforts to reduce poverty and enhance sustainable development in the Asia Pacific region. The site has been created with participation from members of government, private, academia and non-government organisations. User feedback mechanisms have been incorporated to guide future directions of the site. The site is optimised for low bandwidth access to enable the widest participation throughout the Asia Pacific region.

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Digital divide & challenges to implementation

Digital dividends for the poor

This paper discusses the role of ICTs in poverty reduction. It is organised into three sections. It focuses on poverty in Asia. The discussion begins by highlighting the important distinction between 'development' and 'poverty reduction'. The UNDP's Human Poverty Index is used as the basis for analysing poverty in Asia.

The second section of this paper focuses on issues surrounding the application of ICTs for poverty reduction. Issues include the importance of focusing on information and communication needs rather than on technology, comparison of the different strengths and weaknesses of various ICTs, access and outreach, economic and social impact, the importance of multi-sector partnerships, etc. Section two concludes with analysis of Best Practices in ICT for Poverty Reduction.

The third section of this paper is a number of ICT for Poverty Reduction case studies, organised generally according to the categories of the Millennium Development Goals. Each case study describes the particular application of ICT and discusses targeting the poor, outreach, expandability/replicability, and sustainability.

 

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