Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
for Development
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| Satellite
Telecom in Rural Peru |
For more than 30 years, USAID has applied information and
communication technology (ICT) to development. Today, the
majority of USAID programs worldwide have an ICT component.
According to a recent survey of current programs, 95 percent
of the more than 80 USAID Missions worldwide have one or more
ICT activities in their portfolio, comprising 351 separate
ICT for development activities. About 30 percent of these
activities focus on ICT as a sector (for example, the software
development industry), while the remaining 70 percent focus
on ICT as a development tool (for example, distance learning
for teacher training).
Historically, USAID has used ICT to instruct children from
distance, lower infant mortality rates, control population
growth, battle HIV/AIDS, promote sound practices for agricultural
production and natural resources management, and support relief
and reconstruction efforts. Most recently, the Internet and
related information technologies have increased the importance
of ICT as a sector in its own right, driving economic growth
and transforming social and economic activity faster than
the steam engine, railroad, and electricity did in earlier
times.
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The report Information
and Communications Technology for Development: USAID's
Worldwide Program provides an overview of USAID's ICT
programs as well as the detail results of the USAID
Mission survey. |
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