This is a list of organisations that claim to work in the field of information and communication technologies for development (ICT4Dev). The sections below show two separate classifications:
organisations founded specifically with the sole purpose of engaging in ICT4Dev activities (i.e. activities that benefit the poorest people in the world)
In 2003 Aptivate was founded as a nonprofit company limited by guarantee in Cambridge, UK, to solve the problems aid workers experienced accessing the internet in low bandwidth environments. (Its name at the time of incorporation was AidWorld; this changed in 2005).
Over subsequent years, Aptivate's technical work has expanded to include building web sites, integrating mobile data gathering systems, producing systems for data visualization, and developing the open-source monitoring and evaluation platform Kashana.[1] Aptivate has also expanded its work to include training in various technical subjects, consultancy, and authoring of related works.[2] Aptivate provided the lead authors on the World Bank Guide to Digital Citizen Engagement, to be published in Autumn 2015.
UN ICT Task Force
In 2001 the United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force was formed to address a variety of ICT4Dev topics. The Task Force held semi-annual meetings focusing on specific themes, including a Global Forum on Internet Governance (UN headquarters in New York, March 2004); a Global Forum on an Enabling Environment (Berlin, November 2004); and a Global Forum on Harnessing the Potential of ICTs in Education (Dublin, April 2005). The UN ICT Task Force's mandate ended on December 31, 2005. A new group, called the 'Global Alliance for ICT and Development', was created to continue much of the work of the UN ICTTF.
In November 2002, UN Secretary-GeneralKofi Annan issued a call for Silicon Valley to create the computers and communications systems that would enable villages to leapfrog several generations of technology and enter the Information Age directly.[3] This would provide the technical basis for WSIS (World Summit on the Information Society) discussions.
This United Nations initiative held summits in Geneva in 2003 and Tunis in 2005. After Tunis, a Plan of Action is being followed, with a ten-year deadline ending in 2015. This parallels the timeframe for the Millennium Development Goals.
It is described as a "multi-stakeholder forum" and a "cross-sectoral platform and forum that will bring together all stakeholders representing relevant constituencies". It includes a large number of persons from the fields of government, development cooperation, foreign policy, finance, the social sector (health, education), regulatory agencies, industry and workers' associations, producers and consumers of ICT, the media, non-governmental organisations, community social organisations, foundations, scientific, academic and ICT communities and "individuals providing advocacy and oversight on Information Society issues and implementing programs addressing the United Nations' MDGs Millennium Development Goals."
GAID is led by a steering committee, with Intel's Craig Barrett as its chairman.
It has a Strategy Council, a set of high-level advisors, and a "champions' network". The Global Alliance for ICT and Development held its first meeting on June 19 and June 20, 2006 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
GAID Global Forum 2010 was organized in partnership with the government of Abu Dhabi on December 5–6, 2010. The theme for the 2010 forum was "ICT for MDGs: Moving from Advocacy to Action." It was attended by members from governments, the private sector, civil society, and international organizations. Archived videos from the forum are available on the GAID website www.un-gaid.org or GAID Global Forum 2010.
Asia Pacific Development Information Programme and International Open Source Network
UNDP-APDIP publishes two series of e-primers, namely the e-Primers for the Information Economy, Society and Polity and the e-Primers on Free/Open Source Software. The former series details the concepts, issues, and trends surrounding the information economy, society and polity. It intends to raise awareness and help policy makers and planners understand the relevance of information and communications technology (ICT) for development, by explaining technical jargon in simple terms. The latter series serves as an introduction to various aspects and dimensions of FLOSS, with country case studies. It aims to raise awareness on FLOSS issues and support capacity building efforts.
The International Development Research Centre (IDRC)
The IDRC is a Canadian governmental agency (crown corporation) that has a very broad programme which includes many small to mid-sized ICT4Dev projects.[4] The IDRC is also one of the major sponsors of the telecentre.org movement.
OLPC is a high-profile project initiated by Nicholas Negroponte. Several large companies are members of the organisation including MIT and chip manufacturer AMD. It had a wide open source community. The aim is to produce laptops cheaply enough to provide them to every school child in the world. Through its bold and controversial aim, the project has generated much exposure for ICT4Dev in general.
The 50x15-project is a similar worldwide project, offering low-cost computers from a variety of manufacturers.
Zidisha is an online peer-to-peer lending platform that allows individuals in developing countries to raise microfinance loans from individuals worldwide. Unlike earlier microfinancing websites such as Kiva, Zidisha does not work through local intermediary organizations. Instead, the individual borrowers themselves use the Zidisha website to create Facebook-style profiles and negotiate loans with individuals in the US and Europe. Zidisha lenders and borrowers dialogue with each other directly in the loan profile pages and Zidisha forum.[5]
Founded in 1998 Computer Aid International is a not-for-profit organisation that facilitates the practical application of ICT4Dev solutions[buzzword] to social development challenges. Computer Aid provides resources and project management inputs to projects in focal areas for ICT4Dev that include eLearning, eInclusion, eHealth and rural connectivity. Current initiatives include the promotion and training of the open learning platform Moodle in Africa universities; development of FLOSS software for blind and visually impaired users; telemedicine projects for rural hospitals; advocacy around eWaste and a wide variety of school initiatives. Computer Aid is perhaps most well known for having provided over 160,000 professionally refurbished PCs to educational institutions and not-for-profit development organisations in more than 100 different developing countries.
Founded in 2002, Dimagi Inc. is a software social enterprise that develops scalable, open source ICT solutions[buzzword] for low-resource settings. Dimagi has performed technical strategy, systems design, software development, and research for 100+ projects worldwide, and its core product suite supports thousands of Frontline Workers in over 40 countries. Dimagi rapidly iterates and adapts its technologies to the local environment, creating appropriate, scalable, and sustainable solutions.[buzzword] Dimagi has a history of executing ICT4D projects as a technical lead, partnered with an in-country implementation lead. This model has been implemented for pilot-phase projects through enterprise-wide deployments with over 75 partners, including WHO, World Bank, USAID, CDC, World Vision, UNICEF, PATH, and the Rockefeller Foundation. Dimagi also has experience conducting research on ICT4D, which has led to 18 peer-reviewed publications about its primary mobile health platform, CommCare.[6]
The International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) is a non-profit foundation that specialises in ICT as a tool for development. It was founded in 1996 by the Dutch Ministry for Development Cooperation to help developing countries in their efforts to overcome the digital divide. IICD works in the sectors Education, Livelihoods, Health and Governance.
SPIDER (Swedish Program for ICT in Developing Regions)
The Swedish Program for ICT in Developing Regions is a resource center for ICT for Development. A spider was established in 2004 and is primarily financed by the Swedish International Development Cooperation (Sida), with complementary funding from Stockholm University. The center is administered by the Department of Computer and Systems Sciences (DSV) at Stockholm University.
NetHope, Inc., founded in 2001, is a consortium of 35 international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that specializes in improving IT connectivity among humanitarian organizations in developing countries and areas affected by the disaster. The organization has partnerships with Microsoft, Cisco Systems, Intel, and Accenture. Its humanitarian development, emergency response, and conservation programs are in place in 180 countries worldwide.
Sarvodaya-Fusion
Sarvodaya-Fusion is a social enterprise specializing in ICT4D in Sri Lanka. The organisation collaborates with government, corporate partners and civil society organisations with the aim of the e-empowerment of rural communities. As a specialized branch of the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement, it has pioneered the use of rural telecentres to provide a sustainable education model in over one hundred locations across the island called Fusion Education. In 2007 Sarvodaya-Fusion introduced the first ever Mobile4Development application for agriculture through the SMS trading service FarmerNet. In 2011, it launched the SmartVillage project that integrated Android Smartphone technology and social networking as a tool for community development.
SOS Children's Villages
SOS children's villages have several ICT4D initiatives in her different programs; in Kenya, SOS implements a literacy program dubbed OSL(Open space literacy), in this, children are given an opportunity to interact with digital technologies and learn literacy through digital educational contents. , for more information, follow the following link www.sos-childrensvillages.org
TechChange
TechChange: The Institute of Technology and Social Change is a US-based social enterprise that delivers online certificate courses and workshops in topics related to ICT4D such as technology for emergency management, mobile phones for international development, mHealth, social media for social change, citizen journalism, participatory mapping social entrepreneurship, digital organizing, open government, intrapreneurship and more.[19]
Open Function (OpenFn)
Open Function works with NGOs (such as UNICEF[20]) and governments to scale public health and humanitarian programs via data integration, interoperability, and automation.[21] Their integration-platform-as-a-service is used to connect such tools as DHIS2,[22] CommCare, and ODK.[23]
ICT4D.at
The Austrian Network for Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D.at) was founded in Vienna in the year of 2008. ICT4D.at is a non-profit and non-governmental organization. The association is a network of people who engage themselves into the context of ICT4D. Several small and large scale projects have been implemented over the last decade and ICT4D.at is part of a larger network of organizations and research facilities.
Engaged in ICT4Dev
Bangladesh Institute of ICT in Development (BIID)
BIID is a Bangladesh-based inclusive business initiative engaged in developing ICT enabled products and services to support private and public (Government and NGO) initiatives targeted for the BoP (Base of the Pyramid) segment in particular and citizens in general in providing them with access to ICTs and ICT enabled information and services. BIID envisions wide range of opportunities in the ICT4D sector in developing countries.
However, there exists no impact assessment report that might claim its success in the areas it is involved, reflecting on the experiences of its target beneficiaries.[24]
Microsoft
Microsoft started to offer special developing world Windows version dubbed "Starter edition" since Windows XP, which is cheaper than other editions, has limited application functions, network connectivity and is restricted to low-end hardware.[25][26]
Microsoft sees sub-Saharan Africa as one of the last great computing frontiers and wants to make Windows a fixture there. The company has established a presence in 13 countries and has donated Windows for thousands of school computers and funded programs for entrepreneurs and the youth and has used aggressive business tactics aimed at Linux, which is its biggest threat in the region.[27][28] The company also makes a kind of ICT4Dev service with its "Unlimited Potential" program.[29]
MIT
At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the IMARA organization (from Swahili word for "power") sponsors a variety of outreach programs which bridge the Global Digital Divide. Its aim is to find and implement long-term, sustainable solutions[buzzword] which will increase the availability of educational technology and resources to domestic and international communities. These projects are run under the aegis of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and staffed by MIT volunteers who give training, installed and donated computer setups in greater Boston, Massachusetts, Kenya, Indian reservations the American Southwest such as the Navajo Nation, the Middle East, and Fiji Islands. The CommuniTech project strives to empower underserved communities through sustainable technology and education.[30][31]
The institute also runs the Entrepreneurial Programming and Research on Mobiles[32] and Africa Information Technology Initiative[33] which focus on ICT4Dev.
Unclassified ICT4Dev organizations
TechChange delivers online certificate courses on ICT4D topics such as mHealth, tech for emergency management, mobile money, social media for social change, and more.
SITIA International ICT non-profit supporting public health in the developing world.
Besipae is an NGO based in East Nusa Tenggara province in Indonesia. It supports poverty alleviation in rural communities by disseminating knowledge through ICT approaches.[37]
The Association for Progressive Communications (APC) is an international network of organizations that was founded in 1990 to provide communication infrastructure, including Internet-based applications, to groups and individuals who work for peace, human rights, protection of the environment, and sustainability. Pioneering the use of ICTs for civil society, especially in developing countries, APC were often the first providers of Internet in their member countries.
The global digital divide describes global disparities, primarily between developed and developing countries, in regards to access to computing and information resources such as the Internet and the opportunities derived from such access. As with a smaller unit of analysis, this gap describes an inequality that exists, referencing a global scale.
The United Nations Information and Communication Technologies Task Force was a multi-stakeholder initiative associated with the United Nations which is "intended to lend a truly global dimension to the multitude of efforts to bridge the global digital divide, foster digital opportunity and thus firmly put ICT at the service of development for all".
Community informatics (CI) is an interdisciplinary field that is concerned with using information and communication technology (ICT) to empower members of communities and support their social, cultural, and economic development. Community informatics may contribute to enhancing democracy, supporting the development of social capital, and building well connected communities; moreover, it is probable that such similar actions may let people experience new positive social change. In community informatics, there are several considerations which are the social context, shared values, distinct processes that are taken by members in a community, and social and technical systems. It is formally located as an academic discipline within a variety of academic faculties including information science, information systems, computer science, planning, development studies, and library science among others and draws on insights on community development from a range of backgrounds and disciplines. It is an interdisciplinary approach interested in using ICTs for different forms of community action, as distinct from pure academic study about ICT effects.
The New Partnership for Africa's Development E-School Program is included as a means to provide ICT equipment such as computers and internet access to all schools in member nations within The New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) program. NEPAD parents the E-School Program and is an economic program that aims to bring economic and social development to African nations and ensure 'Africa's Renewal'. The E-School Program began with Demonstration Projects and has developed further yet remains a work in progress in many countries, facing both criticism and support.
Nkumba University (NKU) is a chartered private university in Uganda. It was established in 1994 as part of a group of schools and colleges that originally grew from a kindergarten established in 1951. The university is not affiliated with any particular religious organization, but it accommodates several religious associations.
BytesForAll is a South Asian initiative to focus on how information technology and the internet can help in taking up social development issues. It is one of the oldest ICT4D networks in South Asia. It was launched at a time when ICT4D was yet to become a buzz-word on the development circuit, and was still largely unnoticed for its potential.
The Center to Bridge the Digital Divide (CBDD) was a self-sustaining outreach unit of the Washington State University Extension. Founded in 2001, the CBDD was an ICT4D organization committed to assisting under-served populations leverage information communication technologies (ICT) to better their lives and achieve desired goals. Unlike traditional digital divide initiatives, the CBDD's strategic focus was not on gaining access to technology but on helping target communities achieve successful application of ICT.
Ungana-Afrika, Swahili for "connect africa", is a non-governmental organisation based in Pretoria, South Africa that provides a wide range of ICT services for civil society within and outside of the continent. It aims to better empower civil society organisations, networks and related stakeholders, in terms of ICT capacity and resources, so they may more efficiently achieve their unique social missions.
Fusion is the ICT for Development (ICT4D) movement of Sarvodaya, Sri Lanka, the leading NGO, serving over 15,000 villages. The name Sarvodaya is taken from the Sanskrit meaning of 'awakening (udaya) of all (sarva)', and roots back to the Gandhian ideals. Fusion, as implied by the true meaning of the word, envisages the fusion of the vision and mission of Sarvodaya into the broader development scenario, using Information and Communication technologies (ICT) as a common fabric. Thus, Fusion is identified as the ICT for Development (ICT4D) movement of Sarvodaya.
Participatory Web 2.0 for development was a term coined around 2007-2008 to describe new ways of employing legemvweb services, in order to improve information sharing and collaborative production of content in the context of development work. Emerging developments in participatory Web and user-generated content platforms were seen to create conditions by which actors in development could easily relate to other stakeholders, have selective access to information, produce and publish their own content and redistribute pieces of content released by others. At this time, new social tools, such as wikis, blogs, and other user-generated content platforms, were first being considered for their ability to help development actors integrate, combine, aggregate, generate, moderate and mediate content. In a typical Web2forDev scenario data and/or functionalities from a number of free/low cost online applications are combined and served as mashups thus ensuring a wide range of online services at low cost. The term is no longer used in the development informatics or ICT4D fields.
The Information and Communication Technology Agency is the lead agency in Sri Lanka for implementation of information and communications technology (ICT) initiatives by the Government of Sri Lanka. It was established to develop the economy of Sri Lanka through ICT. To this end, it works to improve the country's technological capacity, such as building infrastructure, and the readiness of its people, through education and human resources. It is also active in developing regulations around the use of technology and disseminating information worldwide about Sri Lankan ICT. Its current Chairman is Prof. Malik Ranasinghe.
Design for All in the context of information and communications technology (ICT) is the conscious and systematic effort to proactively apply principles, methods and tools to promote universal design in computer-related technologies, including Internet-based technologies, thus avoiding the need for a posteriori adaptations, or specialised design.
Kentaro Toyama is a computer scientist and international development researcher, who works on the relationship of technology and global development. He is the W. K. Kellogg Professor at the University of Michigan School of Information and author of Geek Heresy: Rescuing Social Change from the Cult of Technology.
Computer technology for developing areas is a field focused on using technology to improve the quality of life and support economic development in regions with limited access to resources and infrastructure. This area of research seeks to address the digital divide, which refers to the gap between those who have access to technology and those who do not, and the resulting inequalities in education, healthcare, and economic opportunities.
Mobiles for development (M4D), a more specific iteration of Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D), refers to the use of mobile technologies in global development strategies. Focusing on the fields of international and socioeconomic development and human rights, M4D relies on the theory that increased access to mobile devices acts as an integral cornerstone in the promotion of overall societal development.
Michael L. Best is an American computer scientist and international development specialist. He is professor at the Georgia Institute of Technology where he holds a joint appointment with the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs and the School of Interactive Computing. He is Executive Director of the Institute for People and Technology(IPaT) and Director of the Technologies and International Development Lab. Best served as founding director of the United Nations University Institute on Computing and Society established in 2015.
The Swedish Program for ICT in Development Regions (SPIDER) is an ICT4D non governmental organization based in Sweden. SPIDER's vision is "an interconnected world where Information and Communication Technology enables everyone to have their voices heard and their needs met". SPIDER's mission is to support the use of Information and Communication Technology to improve accountability, education and health in developing regions. SPIDER establishes collaborations, shares knowledge and builds capacity through networks globally.
Anriette Esterhuysen is a human rights defender and computer networking pioneer from South Africa. She has pioneered the use of Internet and Communications Technologies (ICTs) to promote social justice in South Africa and throughout the world, focusing on affordable Internet access. She was the Executive Director of the Association for Progressive Communications from 2000 until April 2017, when she became APC's Director of Policy and Strategy. In November 2019 United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Esterhuysen to Chair the Internet Governance Forum’s Multistakeholder Advisory Group.
Educational technology in sub-Saharan Africa refers to the promotion, development and use of information and communication technologies (ICT), m-learning, media, and other technological tools to improve aspects of education in sub-Saharan Africa. Since the 1960s, various information and communication technologies have aroused strong interest in sub-Saharan Africa as a way of increasing access to education, and enhancing its quality and fairness.
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