Information and Communication
Technology
for Development
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| Satellite Telecom
in Rural Peru |
For more than 30 years, USAID has applied information and communication technology (ICT) to development. Today, the majority of USAID programs worldwide have an ICT component. According to a recent survey of current programs, 95 percent of the more than 80 USAID Missions worldwide have one or more ICT activities in their portfolio, comprising 351 separate ICT for development activities. About 30 percent of these activities focus on ICT as a sector (for example, the software development industry), while the remaining 70 percent focus on ICT as a development tool (for example, distance learning for teacher training).
Historically, USAID has used ICT to instruct children from a distance, lower infant mortality rates, control population growth, battle HIV/AIDS, promote sound practices for agricultural production and natural resources management, and support relief and reconstruction efforts. Most recently, the Internet and related information technologies have increased the importance of ICT as a sector in its own right, driving economic growth and transforming social and economic activity faster than the steam engine, railroad, and electricity did in earlier times.
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