What can information and communication technologies (ICTs) do for the world’s 900 million extremely poor people who live in rural areas?

This question is crucial to the fight to enable rural poor people to overcome poverty. The challenge of using ICTs to fight rural poverty is complex, and connectivity is only the tip of the iceberg. ICTs, such as radio and the newer digital technologies like computers, satellite, mobile phones and the Internet, have tremendous potential to bring about positive change in the lives of rural poor people in developing countries. However, to be effective they must be not only accessible, but also meaningful. ICTs in themselves do not guarantee benefits to rural poor people.

• When a woman has to walk hours every day to fetch water, how can the Internet help her improve her life? Even if she has access to the Internet, can she read what she sees on the computer screen? Is the information content relevant to her needs?
• For a girl who can’t go to school, what does e-learning mean?
• Farmers can access market prices with a mobile phone, but if there is no road, how do they use that information?
• For indigenous peoples fighting to keep their land, what difference can a telecentre make?
• If people have no political voice, how can radio help them shape the decisions and policies that affect their lives?

These and other related issues will be the focus of a side event sponsored by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) during the World Summit on the Information Society, on Thursday 11 December 2003. The roundtable, Six years of bridging the rural digital divide, will be held from 9.30 am to 12.30 pm in Halle 2, Meeting Room Q, of the Geneva-Palexpo, Exhibition and Conference Centre, Chemin Edouard Sarasin, Grand-Saconnex, CH-1218 Geneva, Switzerland.

The results of the discussion will help IFAD develop a people-centred strategy for using ICTs to link social, economic and political empowerment to the efforts to bridge the digital divide in rural areas of developing countries.