Building Digital Opportunities (BDO) Programme: Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and Poverty Reduction in Sub Saharan Africa

This 76-page paper examines the rationale underpinning the Building Digital Opportunities programme (BDO), which is an effort to identify and help remove some of the key barriers to, and to develop genuine opportunities for, poverty-focused information and communication technology (ICT) for development. It is co-funded by the Department for International Development (DfID, UK), the Directorate General for International Co-operation (DGIS, Netherlands), the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC, Switzerland) and the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).

After two years of BDO-initiated activities, these partners felt it timely to look at the experience and the impact of the programme on poverty. Focusing on activities in Mali, Uganda and Zambia, this study examines progress in fulfilling BDO’s global objective to ensure that ICTs contribute to the achievement of the 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and 17 Millennium Development Targets. Comments on this Learning Study are welcome; contact info@gersterconsulting.ch

Excerpts from the Executive Summary follow:

...In order to address a broad variety of key issues, five non-governmental agencies implement the BDO programme: the Association of Community Radio Broadcasters (AMARC), the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation (CTO), the International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD), OneWorld International (OWI) and the Panos Institute (Panos). Technical coordination of the programme is provided by IICD. BDO started at the beginning of 2001 and runs to the end of 2003. BDO’s five strategic objectives (‘action lines’) are:

• Action line 1: The capacities of regional, national and local policy makers to formulate and establish effective ICT policies and regulatory frameworks are strengthened.
• Action line 2: Local organisations are enabled to effectively apply ICTs for the benefit of poor people.
• Action line 3: The capacities of local, community, media, and public interest organisations to express themselves, nationally and internationally, through the use of new and traditional ICTs, are strengthened.
• Action line 4: The awareness by development stakeholders regarding the development potentials of ICTs is increased.
• Action line 5: The relationships and alliances among BDO and other partners are made more effective.

[Here is] the thematic framework for the Learning Study:

• Poverty is seen as a multidimensional issue, and the way to poverty reduction leads via empowerment, opportunity and security of the poor;
• The key issues of the BDO programme have been identified as livelihoods, health - HIV/AIDS, governance and capacity building as cross-cutting themes;
• Areas of analysis are the activities of BDO and local partners in Mali, Uganda, and Zambia, as well as at the regional and global level.

...Targeting the poor: The BDO programme, in most of its elements, targets the poor. BDO partners, as far as shown during the Learning Study, share a concern to reduce social and regional disparities and to eliminate poverty. Overall, the BDO programme targets vulnerable and marginalised people, as evidenced by the location of many of the projects, their clientele and thematic focus.

Reaching the poor: The findings of the Learning Study show a pro poor effectiveness of the BDO effort. BDO provides important ICT-focused support to development and poverty reduction. The BDO achievements demonstrate that ICTs can contribute significantly to poverty reduction in all three dimensions of empowerment, opportunity and security, and to an attainment of the Multilateral Development Goals (MDGs).

• ICTs can promote opportunities for livelihoods: An increase in agricultural productivity, a broadening of the food crop basket, improved market access for cash crops, and the creation of employment opportunities and higher chances of finding jobs have been observed.
• ICTs can be powerful tools for strengthening good governance. They are important in terms of increasing knowledge of human and constitutional rights, in making the powerful more accountable, and giving the poor a voice. The decentralisation process can be enhanced by ICTs. They have also enhanced government efficiency in service provision that is directly relevant for the poor.
• ICTs can be relevant for health interventions and in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Radio broadcasts deliver timely information on immunisation times; a combination of ICTs influences young people in their reproductive health behaviour, and information exchange with northern countries helps with diagnosis in the South and provides interesting data to the North.
• In capacity building, activities included training in international, regional and national workshops, awareness creation seminars, courses in institutions of higher learning for IT personnel, on-the-job training courses by national and international consultants and the provision of equipment. This has generally been found to be relevant and significant considering the great need for ICT related training.

Improving the environment: The issue-based, sectoral review of achievements is complemented by an analysis of the national, regional and global dimensions:

• National environment: In order to realise their potential for poverty reduction,
  ICTs should be embedded in a suitable environment. This includes: freedom of expression, a competitive market, an independent regulator, pro-poor licence obligations for operators and service providers, a Universal Service Fund ensuring an effective service provision, community radio legislation, and integration of ICTs in PRSP.
• Regional dimension: A regional approach is based on the vision of closer cultural, economic, and political ties among neighbouring countries. The creation of regional strategies enables Africa to prevent a duplication of efforts and waste of resources, to build economies of scale for developing its infrastructure, and to strengthen local content creation. The results demonstrate that regional contacts, coordination and cooperation are strategically key. Strengthened regional cooperation and exchange are not, however, an automatic result of such interventions. It is intended to make regional cooperation and sharing of regional knowledge an explicit part of joint events, with an emphasis on social issues, including poverty reduction.
• Global dimension: BDO was set up as a project with a global reach. BDO knowledge sharing is facilitated by the use of ICTs. Its activities stimulate an information flow up from the southern grassroots, through intermediaries and the BDO partners, to the global audience. ICTs enhance the effectiveness of alliance building among partners and advocacy work. At the global level, there is a danger that agenda setting is done by the northern partners and that project-based activities ultimately are top down...

Excerpts from the Recommendations section follow:

The background to these recommendations is the overall positive appreciation of the BDO effort. Through various channels, and with a multitude of partners, BDO provides important ICT-focused support to development and poverty reduction. BDO is not about technology transfer to developing countries but about strengthening local skills and capacities to live a decent live in a fast-changing world, with ICTs offering untapped opportunities. BDO is a framework for locally owned ICT livelihood projects, for ICT regulation and training activities, as well as media development with an emphasis on accessible media, like community radio. This manifold operational backbone makes BDO a unique platform for exchange of experience and learning. It is important to continue with the BDO cooperation and to enhance the pro poor effectiveness by learning from the past. Because the basic philosophy behind BDO is valid, BDO’s five strategic objectives (“action lines”) are an excellent pattern of orientation also for the future...