Information and Communications Technology: Challenges
The new technologies also pose challenges to democratic development. The Internet is both a force for good and evil since it provides a voice for all people and groups--democratic and undemocratic. Undemocratic forces are employing the same powerful technologies with equal efficiency and scope, further highlighting the importance for democrats and institutions in emerging democracies to be empowered to use the Internet as a tool to enhance information sharing, efficiency and transparency that are crucial to building and sustaining democracy. The nature of digital information also makes disinformation through altering images and text an ongoing challenge that democratic, media institutions and the public must be cognizant of.
Another of the most difficult developmental challenges involving the new Internet technologies is that of ensuring that all voices are heard by providing access to all citizens, particularly those in less developed socio-economic areas in developing and developed nations. Lack of access to technologies such as telephones, television, radio and others have frustrated development efforts for decades. Currently, access to Internet technologies is similarly limited to a small segment of the world's population and the divide between those that are connected and those who are not is significant and growing. At first glance this appears to pose a serious challenge to exploiting the potential of the Internet for democratic development and citizen participation in democratic governance. However, NDI's experience suggests that pragmatic strategies for using the Internet and related technologies given and in spite of the 'divide' are critical in beginning to narrow the gap and bring more of the currently 'disconnected' into the fold.
NDI has developed a pragmatic approach for democracy support programming that begins to address the "divide" challenge immediately. It will be decades, at best, before most of the world's people have access to the Internet for a number of complex reasons spanning the social, economic and political spheres. Yet the forces of globalization that the technologies at once are part of and accelerate are not going to wait for the disconnected-and democratic development cannot wait either. For most international democracy support and development institutions such as NDI and in most developmental organizations in emerging democracies it is not useful to become distracted by the daunting task of connecting everyone to the Internet. There are international actors and appropriate governmental and private sector players within countries who are attempting to deal with this. For the rest of us, let us move forward with developmental assistance that deals with the task at hand-providing useful support to enhance democratic development using Internet and related technologies (where appropriate) within those sectors of society where it is currently practical. In doing so we are inevitably bridging people within these societies from one side of the divide to the other.
The primary issues that hinder access to Internet and related technologies for the global (especially rural) populations are: 1) level of technology and infrastructure; 2) cost; 3) cultural, linguistic or other social barriers; and/or 4) political will in countries toward addressing these issues. However, there are thousands of important organizations and millions of people on the wrong side of the 'divide' today in emerging democracies who do not necessarily face these issues. In many countries these are civil servants, Members of Parliament and parliamentary staff, NGO and CSO staff and members, teachers and students, leadership and staff in various institutions inside and outside the governmental sphere, political party members and/or staff, employees in all spheres of the private sector, and more. These people almost certainly come from 'disconnected' communities but are employed by or involved with organizations that could and should be 'connected'. Yet many of these organizations are 'disconnected' not because there is no telecommunications infrastructure or providers available for equipment and training, nor because they don't recognize the importance of getting connected and communicating or sharing their information. They are not connected because they either do not have the moderate financial resources required, and/or they lack the technical and managerial expertise to adequately plan for and procure the necessary equipment, systems and services. These are areas where NDI provides assistance.
Thus for many organizations the 'divide' lies between them and the local ISPs, computer vendors, consulting companies and IT specialists. Although local, this divide is a difficult one to bridge because of the shortage of IT skills on the market in many of these countries in general (much of this due to 'brain drain'), and the fact that the private sector players are stretched thin and thus have little incentive in gaining a deep understanding of the needs and systems within these organizations in order to provide an optimal service. NDI's partners often do not have the technical nor IT project management expertise to liase effectively with the IT solutions providers about their business processes or requirements in a reasonable timeframe and thus at a manageable cost in order to build effective systems. Tendering for a simple Internet-connected network with messaging and collaboration capabilities is very different than tendering for a photocopier, office furniture, or a digital telephone system. And it is much more difficult to support. Developing an effective website or document management system involves a process that is unfamiliar to most managers outside of the information systems sphere. And recruiting adequate IT staff or outsourcing partners that can provide the solutions (and integrate them with existing systems) is similarly unique and challenging and different from the more traditional recruiting that many of these institutions are accustomed to.
NDI has learned to fill this gap, to apply in-depth knowledge of the democratic workings of our partners that we have gained over time with the technical and project management expertise aligned with the IT vendors, providing that crucial middle layer that is necessary for a successful IT initiative. In addition, the incentives are aligned in favor of our partners since NDI's success is linked to that of the project and the partner, while when partners stake their success solely on solutions provided by a private sector player with different incentives sub optimal service often results. This is the value that NDI adds for our democratic partners in the Internet and technology area-we provide the link between democrats and technologists so that our partners can develop sustainable systems using local staff, equipment and service providers that meet their needs and support the democratic process.
Contact Information
For further information on information and communications technology, please contact:
Chris Spence
Director, Technology Strategy and Programs
Send Email
Updated February 2006
<< BACK