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“Most governments are extremely interested”
10/2004 |
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[ Internet ]
“Most governments are extremely interested”
How important is today’s information and communication technology (ICT) to development cooperation? To what extent do governments wanting to control the internet stand in the way of a flourishing ICT infrastructure? To find out what experiences InWEnt has had with using modern communications technologies, D+C editor Norbert Glaser spoke to Gerd Hönscheid-Gross, project leader in the e-learning division of InWEnt’s Global Campus, Lifelong Learning.
Has your experience shown a direct connection between the nature of a political system and the use of ICT?
You certainly can’t ignore the political dimension because it is a part of the reality, but not in an entirely negative sense. In many countries there is less political interference than we perhaps assume. Taking Vietnam as an example, any political efforts to control the use of the internet are much less apparent than you might expect. For the past 18 months InWEnt has been helping to set up the “Vietnam Development Gateway”. We are in partnership with the Vietnam Post and Telecommunication, who are also working with the World Bank’s Gateway Foundation and other ministries and organisations. Vietnam is clearly endeavouring to include in its development process the internet as a system of information, learning and communication.
If we compare the developing countries, is a disproportionately-advanced infrastructure a positive thing per se for the development process?
A good ICT infrastructure is of course helpful to the development process and the exchange of information. But conversely we cannot conclude from this that nothing is happening in countries having a less positive economic situation. In concrete terms, it is always a matter of access. The low rates of access in many countries in the South only partly reflect the reality. Usually 80 to 90 percent of our participants (skilled workers and managers from the private sector, local government and civil society) have access to the internet. What is striking here is the response we receive to our online courses. The majority of participants often come from African countries such as Mozambique, Tanzania, Eritrea, Malawi, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Zambia, Egypt – states which predominantly belong to the group of least-developed countries. This may come as a surprise. Surveys in our seminars show that most of this target group can access the internet relatively easily at their workplace. Only a few participants – five to ten percent – claim to have difficulties in this respect.
How is Vietnam dealing with an opportunity such as the “Global Campus”?
We have already installed the Global Campus21 as a local learning platform in Vietnam and are making good progress with setting up the Vietnam Development Gateway in collaboration with the authorities. We haven’t noticed any kind of restriction on the part of the state. Also, the participating organisations and the topics chosen do not appear to have been hand-picked with any hidden political agenda in mind. When I look at the targets and services which are planned (fighting hunger, support for the rural population, the possibility for the private sector to advertise, etc.), then I get the impression that they really want to be open-minded in their dealings with the Gateway.
Isn’t it questionable to stake on the internet when access to this form of communication is sometimes difficult?
It is correct that in many developing countries the majority of people are shut out from this form of communication. On the other hand, as already shown, we have in our e-learning courses a large number of participants from LDCs who are willing and able to pay a participation fee. Some developing countries – such as South Africa – are even ahead of us in certain areas of e-learning or telelearning. That is extremely impressive. Virtual communication cannot replace personal contact and debate, but it is an efficient and effective supplement. Nobody believes in a revolution any more. But the developing countries continue to show an enormous interest in keeping up with ICT.
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