3rd annual Web4Dev Conference at UN HQ in New York
25 Nov '06
2 min read
Service-oriented information and communication technology (ICT), website evaluation, multilingual websites, accessibility and Internet broadcasting are all topics being discussed at the third annual Web for Development (Web4Dev) Conference being held at United Nations Headquarters in New York.
For development projects to have a truly global impact, the development community must learn to apply a market-based approach to its work, using ICT as leverage, Sarbuland Khan, Executive Coordinator of the Global Alliance for ICT and Development Secretariat, told the opening of the three-day event on Monday.
He challenged participants to use ICT to scale up the hundreds of thousands of development projects launched throughout the world in the past 60 years, so that the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) could be achieved by 2015.
Speaking to ICT managers, mostly affiliated with international development organizations, he stressed the importance of the entrepreneurial spirit of the private sector.
Rakesh Asthana, Senior Manager of the World Bank Information Solutions Group, said millions of people in the developing world had already succeeded in using ICT to generate additional income and improve their lives.
Citing examples, he pointed to young people in Kenya using the Web to sell shoes; Lake Victoria fishermen communicating with middlemen by cellular phone in organizing their sales; and midwives using personal digital assistants (PDAs) to retrieve information on immunization programmes.
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