How important is the Internet How important is the Internet and Technology to the and Technology to the

Progress of Developing Progress of Developing CountriesCountries

Iain McNaught

Big Divisions… Big Divisions…

Percentage of Continent using Internet*– Africa = 2.7%– Asia = 9.0%– Europe = 35.2% – North America = 68.2%

Clearly a big divide– Is it a concern though – do developing countries really

need to be online at this stage.

*Internet World Stats- http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm

Reasons for the DivideReasons for the Divide

Many African governments have unbeneficial policies concerning technology– Protection of large public Telco

Governments often don’t allow smaller regional telecomms companies to connect countries locally – would damage the large Telco

Illegality of VOIP – Only for the benefit of the public Telco Would you drive from here to Dundee and back to go to Morrisons? Probably

not… Most routing in Africa has to go through North America

– “Africa spends $400million talking to itself“ – ITU Important for the people to support local projects, lobby the governments for

change, companies should host content locally even if its more expensive in the short term

So what can technology and So what can technology and the Internet actually do for a the Internet actually do for a

Developing NationDeveloping Nation3 Key areas

– Health– Education– Business

HealthHealth

Many health websites on the internet Unclear how much of the information can be trusted Reliable information could be used to help give

information on how to combat certain disease Problem is that major diseases are borne out of poverty

itself – Hard to see how technology can help fight against AIDs, Malaria,

TB.

Would it not be better to spend money training a handful of professionals rather than providing lot of data to many

Health - SatellifeHealth - Satellife

Charity setup to bring health information to the developing world via technology– 10,000 people in 120 countries sharing information

electronically Various projects

– Recent project involved providing health care workers with hand held computers

Easy access to information

www.satellife.org

EducationEducation

Students in developing countries miss out on wealth of information Internet offers

School in Uruguay - $100/book – Due to high cost of importation– $100/subject/class = Many$– Only teacher can have a copy

$100 can now actually get you a laptop

$100 Laptop$100 Laptop

MIT have formed a non-profit organisation called OLPC (One Laptop Per Child)

Target is ambitious – 1Billion Children worldwide to have a laptop each

So how so cheap?– No need for sales, marketing, distribution and profit– Modern day laptops consume a lot of power in running bloated

applications.– Comparable with a large suspension cable – most of the strength

ends up being in supporting itself These laptops will run lightweight Linux Operating System and rely

upon open source software Challenge is to then get these machines online

BusinessBusiness

Information is very important for businesses Everybody at every level of a business needs access to information Investors, students, employees, citizens in general need information

about:– Operation of organisations– R e-selling to other business users or to customers– Choosing goods and services to make

Information comes in various forms– business journals, textbooks bulletins, reports, standard

specifications, and correspondence Can be very hard to locate and store masses of information

– Technology can play a key role here

BusinessBusiness

Many tales of developing world business doing great things through internet– San Salvador man who sold coffee beans for a record

price using the internet– Disintermediation – man was able to sell directly to his

distributors.

Interesting to here such stories but lets take a closer look at what the Internet can do for a small third world village

Rovieng, CambodiaRovieng, Cambodia

Very primitive village– No telephone service– Houses connected by dirt track– Locals made money working in the rice fields– Very disconnected from the Western World

Could compare to middle of the Amazon jungle Eskimo’s in Northern Canada

So very remote indeed

Experiment: Internet In RoviengExperiment: Internet In Rovieng

American aid organisation gave the funds for handful of desktops and a satellite for internet connection

What were the results?– Locals started making scarves again

Traditional art that died out during Khmer Rouge’s reign of terror

– Used the Internet to sell scarves

ProfitsProfits

Profits from scarf selling were used to start pig farming business in the village

Good money was made from pig farming– Local people were now making as much money

in a month as they did in a year in the rice fieldsChildren could finish their education

instead of dropping out to work to support their family

Sustainable DevelopmentSustainable Development

Sustainable development defined as – “ a characteristic that enables a development program

to survive once the proponents disassociate themselves”

Very important that people can support themselves and continue to do so – even after help is no longer being given– Better to give a man a fishing net than a fish

Signs of this in Rovieng as the people showed enterprise and are now making money for themselves– Aid agency still paying for the running of the satellite however

Success Story?Success Story?

In this example this village were very lucky to get the help they got– Aid agencies have limited budgets– How much of these budgets should be geared towards projects

such as this one – Can’t really start installing satellites in places that are even worse

off – I.e. no clean water Cases like this then money could be better allocated

– It’s possible that projects such as this are not cost effective in the long run

Really depends on how enterprising the people can be

ConclusionsConclusions

Internet and other technology have a definite place in terms of developing nations– Can be useful in health, education and business– Helps contribute to sustainable development

Integration of technology should be gradual and should not impede too much on budgets for other things e.g vacinnations, infrastructure, sanitation