Information Technology

The international community clearly acknowledges the decisive role information and communication technologies (ICT) play in economic and social development in a globalised world. The United Nations specifically mentions information technology in number eight of its Millennium Development Goals. Additionally the United Nations (UN) held the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in two phases, in 2003 and 2005, to discuss methods for turning the digital divide into digital access and opportunity (Information and Communication Technologies for Development, ICT4D). Digital technologies are increasingly indispensable to the competitiveness of companies and organisations and as such for entire national economies – especially in developing and newly industrialising nations.

The relevant technologies have advanced decisively over the course of the past two decades. Mobile telephones and the internet have penetrated every aspect of public and private life in many countries. They are used in a wide range of applications including the digital economy, electronic management and the digitalisation of the health care sector. But large segments of the earth’s population cannot participate in this process. At the end of 2007 more than 17 percent of the world’s inhabitants were using the internet. This translates however into more than two-thirds of all residents in some industrialised countries, while in developing countries only ten percent of the population have internet access. This figure is a low as one percent in the least developed countries. A large part of the global population is therefore excluded from the advantages of IC technologies. This is why the German government adopted overcoming the digital divide as part of its Action Programme 2015 and has made it an integral part of German development cooperation.

The digital divide can be overcome if international cooperation systematically promotes appropriate and relevant technologies such as free and open source software (FOSS) in partner countries. Along with access to modern information and communication technologies, many of these countries lack the know-how they need to use ICT efficiently and thus initiate processes of development. Inwent uses capacity building to promote the creation of the necessary structures and has developed a series of IT training and network programmes designed to provide the needed ICT skills.

Our it@Inwent programmes, one key element in our endeavours, render information technology usable for sustainable economic development, innovation and for combating poverty. Employees from small and medium-sized IT companies and from relevant training organisations and administrations receive the qualifications they need to implement ICT in their firms and in the IT sector. They also learn how to function as information multipliers, passing along their newly acquired knowledge. We communicate information about key innovations such as local content and free and open source software that can be created and maintained by local firms and in local languages, and thus encourages their independent digital development. The ict@innovation programme for example is directed at small and medium-sized companies in Southern and Eastern Africa. They learn how free and open source software can be a driving force for local innovation and a key technological tool for poverty reduction. Programme participants use their new knowledge to develop and sell affordable applications designed and adapted for local conditions to public administrations and the private sector.

Information and communication technologies are also an important component of Inwent’s capacity building efforts. Our Global Campus 21® e-learning platform creates a space programme participants can use for training, advanced training, the exchange of information and to work on cooperative projects irrespective of time and place. Additionally many of our programmes demonstrate the advantages of information technology for initiating processes of change. We introduce ideas for using ICT in vocational training to teachers and trainers since it provides methods for more efficiently communicating knowledge to experts and executives at home, ensuring that it enters the national education system. Inwent’s International Institute for Journalism (IIJ) offers advance training seminars in online journalism. Our courses show editors and representatives of the media from developing and transition countries how to use the internet to develop free, independent and critical mass media. We also apply IC technologies to another of our central focuses, good governance, when addressing aspect such as using statistical information systems or the development of public administrations that lead to increased transparency and participation.