{{The World Bank Group Wednesday released its ambitious new Information and Communication Technology (ICT) strategy aimed at helping developing countries use ICT to transform delivery of basic services, drive innovations and productivity gains, and improve competitiveness.}} <\/p>\n
The strategy reflects rapid changes in the ICT sector over the last decade, including a dramatic increase in use of mobile phones and the Internet, plunging prices of computing and mobile internet devices, and the increasing prevalence of social media.<\/p>\n
\u201cInformation and communication technologies can help reduce poverty, boost economic growth, and improve accountability and governance,\u201d said World Bank Vice President for Sustainable Development Rachel Kyte.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe World Bank Group\u2019s new strategy will help our client countries take advantage of the opportunities that ICT offers across all sectors of the economy, drawing on our unique expertise in public-private partnerships in the ICT sector.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new strategy for 2012-2015 builds on the Bank Group\u2019s experience working with client countries on ICT sector reforms, infrastructure development, and electronic government.<\/p>\n
Since 2000, Bank support for ICT sector reforms helped attract an estimated $30 billion in private investment for mobile network infrastructure in the least developed countries. <\/p>\n
The IFC\u2019s US$2.3Billion in telecommunications infrastructure investments and MIGA\u2019s US$550Million in political risk guarantees also supported private investment in mobile service providers in difficult and high-risk environments.<\/p>\n
Bank Group support for ICT applications has grown rapidly over the last decade, and over 70% of the 1,700 projects in the Bank\u2019s active portfolio now have ICT components.<\/p>\n
Since 2007, the Bank Group has intensified its support for public-private partnerships for broadband and high-speed Internet, helping bring down retail prices and increasing the take-up of services, in some instances by a factor of 10.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Strategy recognizes the vital role of the private sector in improving access to information infrastructure and services in developing countries,\u201d said Rashad-Rudolf Kaldany, IFC Vice President for Global Industries.<\/p>\n
He adds, \u201cIFC works with the private sector as an advisor, financier, and standard setter, to help unlock the potential of ICT for development.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bank Group support will be directed to three priority areas;<\/p>\n
{{Transformation:}} Making development more open and accountable, and improving service delivery\u2013 for instance, by facilitating citizen feedback to governments and service providers.<\/p>\n
{{Connectivity}}: Scaling up affordable access to broadband \u2013 including for women, disabled citizens, disadvantaged communities, and people living in remote and rural areas.<\/p>\n
{{Innovation:}} Developing competitive IT-based service industries and fostering ICT innovation across the economy \u2013 with a focus on job creation, especially for women and youth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
{{The World Bank Group Wednesday released its ambitious new Information and Communication Technology (ICT) strategy aimed at helping developing countries use ICT to transform delivery of basic services, drive innovations and productivity gains, and improve competitiveness.}} The strategy reflects rapid changes in the ICT sector over the last decade, including a dramatic increase in use […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[334],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-igihe-reporter"],"bylines":[{"id":334,"name":"IGIHE Reporter","slug":"igihe-reporter","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"contributors":[{"id":334,"name":"IGIHE Reporter","slug":"igihe-reporter","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":null}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2788\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2788"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2788"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}