1. ICT and Human
Development
Dejan Mincic – UNDP Moldova
www.undp.md

2. Contents
Deciphering the Human Development Agenda
Digital Divide – a concept of the past?
Lessons Learned from ICT for Development
Role of the Governments and Private Sector
Moldova and the CIS – ICT Development Index vs. Human Development Index
The way forward
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3. Human Development is about…
Enlarging human choices
Building human capabilities and using them fully
Ensuring equity and productivity
A participative and empowering process, relevant across the Board, but
especially in the developing countries
UNDP is a development arm of the United Nations. Supporting
countries in accelerating the progress on Human Development is at the
core of its mandate
Activities in 166 countries, 27 of which in the Europe and CIS region
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4. Elements of Human Development
EQUITY PRODUCTIVITY
AND EFFICIENCY
PARTICIPATION
AND
EMPOWERMENT SUSTAINABILITY
POLICY AND PLANNING
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5. “Digital Divide”
Digital divide is a reflection of existing socio-economic and
political “divides”
“Traditional divides” persist in most developing countries
Need to address them with innovative tools and integrated
solutions
New ICTs as one such tool (not the only one, not a panacea!)
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6. Linking ICT to Development
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7. ICT for Development (Evolution)
Four phases since 1990:
Infrastructure, connectivity and access - 1991
Local capacity building - 1997
Applications (e-government, e-commerce etc.) – 2000
Web 2.0 (bottom-up collaboration, etc.) 2005 -
Each phase emerges from and builds upon the previous one

8. Lessons Learned
ICT ALONE IS INSUFFICIENT FOR SIGNIFICANT BENEFITS TO EMERGE
ICT WILL NOT TRANSFORM BAD DEVELOPMENT INTO GOOD
DEVELOPMENT, BUT IT CAN MAKE GOOD DEVELOPMENT EVEN
BETTER
EFFECTIVE APPLICATION OF ICT COMPRISES BOTH TECHNOLOGICAL
AND INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURES
DIGITAL DIVIDE IS A SYMPTOM. DIVIDE IS TRADITIONAL AND IMPACTS
THE DIGITAL ASPECTS.
ICT PROVIDES OPPORTUNITIES FOR DEVELOPMENT, BUT DESIRABLE
OUTCOMES ALWAYS ARISE FROM THE ACTIONS OF PEOPLE
ICT, IN ABSENCE OF A DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY TO MAKE EFFECTIVE
USE OF THEM RESULTS IN SUB-OPTIMAL OUTCOMES
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9. Lessons Learned (cont’d)
Traditional e-government is not delivering!
In 2008, over 80 billion USD were invested on e-government
In developing countries, over 65% of e-government projects failed (35%
being “total” failures)
Characterized by:
=> uncoordinated, sectorial interventions
=> technology focused (usually high-end)
=> supply driven
=> do not reach citizens/stakeholders
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10. E-governance Framework
Policy and regulation
National
e-administration e-services
Access
State to
Information
e-participation
Democratic
Governance
Enhanced
Local
Infrastructure
10
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11. Role of the Governments and Private Sector
DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIS TAILORED TO THE LOCAL CONTEXT, AND CATERED
TO A WIDER REGIONAL AND GLOBAL REALITIES
PUBLIC AND PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS ENABLED AND GROOMED
GOVERNMENTS SHOULD LEAD BY EXAMPLE
EFFECTIVE REGULATORY AUTHORITY IS PARAMOUNT IN ENSURING INTERESTS
OF THE POPULATION
POLICIES (ACCESS TO ELECTRICITY, REGULATION OF ICT SERVICES COSTS,
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT, PROMOTING EMPOWERMENT AND PARTICIPATION)
MARKET LIBERALIZATION AND COMPETITION
CORPORATE AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
ENSURING SUSTAINABILITY
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12. ICT Development Index
Source: ITU (Measuring the Information Society 2009)
• High: Economies included in this group have high level
of ICT access and use and high ICT skills. The 33
ICT DELEVOPMENT ICT Development Index
economies accounted for 15 per cent of the world’s
INDEX RANK (IDI)
population in 2007 and included twenty-one European
countries, ten Asia & Pacific economies, as well as
Canada, and the United States.
• Upper: Economies included in this category are those
Out of 154 Countries that have achieved an elevated level of access to and
Country Analyzed by ITU Group Rank use of ICTs, and ICT skills, for a majority of their
Albania 85 MEDIUM inhabitants. In total, they accounted for almost 780
Armenia 72 MEDIUM million people. The economies included in both this
Azerbaijan 86 MEDIUM group and in the “high” group accounted for more than 27
Belarus 54 UPPER per cent of the total population in 2007.
• Medium: This group includes economies that account for
Bosnia-Herzegovina 58 UPPER more than one-third of the total population (37 per cent or
Bulgaria 45 UPPER 2.4 billion inhabitants).
Croatia 43 UPPER • Low: The remaining one-third of the world’s inhabitants
Cyprus 37 UPPER can be found in this group (36 per cent or 2.3 billion
Georgia 80 MEDIUM people). Except for two countries from Latin America and
Kazakhstan 69 MEDIUM the Caribbean (Nicaragua and Haiti), most of the
Kyrgyzstan 93 MEDIUM Southern-Asian countries are classified under this group
Latvia 36 UPPER along with most of the Sub-Saharan African countries.
Lithuania 33 HIGH This group reflects countries with low level of ICT
Macedonia 65 UPPER access, usage and skills.
Moldova 68 MEDIUM
Montenegro N.I. ICT access indicators (Source: ITU)
Fixed telephone line penetration
Romania 46 UPPER Mobile cellular penetration
Russia 50 UPPER International Internet bandwidth per Internet user
Serbia N.I. Proportion of households with computer
Proportion of households with Internet
Slovakia 38 UPPER ICT use indicators
Tajikistan 106 MEDIUM Internet user per 100 inhabitants
Turkey 59 UPPER Fixed broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants
Mobile broad subscriptions per 100 inhabitants
Turkmenistan 104 MEDIUM ICT skills indicators
Adult literacy rate
Ukraine 51 UPPER Secondary gross enrolment ratio
Uzbekistan 110 MEDIUM Tertiary gross enrolment ratio

13. Correlations (a coincidence?)
Broadban Broadban Human Development
% of d ICT d Sub- Index and Illiteracy
Populatio Subscrib DELEVOP ICT Basket (% Rate IDI and HDI
n ers MENT Developm of GNI Broadban UNDP's UNDP's
(penetrati INDEX ent Index per d Cost Connecti Connecti
on rate) RANK (IDI) capita) USD vity vity2
There is a notable correlation between the ICT
Adult Development Index and Human Development
Out of illiteracy Index. Four bottom Countries (Kyrgyzstan,
(users 154 Rank (out HDI rate (% of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) are
per 100 Per 100 Countries of 150 RANK population
ranked low in both IDI and HDI terms. Their
inhabitan Analyzed Group countries Speed (out of aged 15
Country ts) inhab. by ITU Rank ) USA = 1 USA = 15 Type (Down) 182) and above) Internet penetration rate is consistently low, cost
Albania 13% 1.27 85 MEDIUM 82 31.4 DSN 512 70 1 is high relative to the GNI %, and even UN in
Armenia 7% 0.06 72 MEDIUM 96 39.2 T1/T3 > 4096 84 0.5 those countries is so far dependent on the VSAT
Azerbaijan 18% 0.69 86 MEDIUM 110 84.5 Wireless 2048 86 0.5 technologies for Internet access. Small,
Belarus 29% 4.94 54 UPPER n.i. n.i. T1/T3 > 4096 68 0.3
28% 4.99 76 3.3
scattered ISPs are available in the market, but
Bosnia- Leased
Herzegovina 58 UPPER 55 14.8 line 1024 data security, confidentiality and privacy issues
Bulgaria 37% 10.82 45 UPPER 52 15.6 ISDN 1024 61 1.7 are insufficiently regulated.
Croatia 50% 11.86 43 UPPER 39 20.9 ISDN 4096 45 1.3
Cyprus 42% 15.66 37 UPPER 7 16.5 ISDN 2048 32 2.3 The literacy rate and digital divide
Georgia 22% 2.23 80 MEDIUM 104 47.6 T1/T3 512 40 0
Kazakhstan 15% 4.26 69 MEDIUM n.i. n.i. ISDN 4096 89 0.4
Kyrgystan 16% 0.05 93 MEDIUM n.i. n.i. VSAT 1024 120 0.7 Adult literacy rate is already covered by the IDI.
Latvia 56% 6.44 36 UPPER 44 26 ISDN > 4096 48 0.2 However, even though some of the bottom-
Lithuania 50% 17.77 33 HIGH 36 15.9 DSN 2048 46 0.3 ranked countries have relatively low literacy rate
Macedonia 42% 8.77 65 UPPER 59 14.7 T1/T3 2048 72 3 compared to the others, they are facing the
Moldova 18% 3.17 68 MEDIUM 99 23.2 T1/T3 4096 117 0.8
danger of computer illiteracy, digital divide and
Montenegro 43% 4.16 N.I. 58 21.3 T1/T3 1024 65 3.6
Romania 28% 11.75 46 UPPER 53 22.7 T1/T3 4096 63 2.4 loss of competitive skills in the future.
Russia 32% 6.56 50 UPPER 37 13.9 T1/T3 2048 71 0.5
Serbia 29% 4.59 N.I. 38 9 ISDN 2048 67 3.6 These correlations are no coincidence.
Slovakia 51% 11.46 38 UPPER 42 28.5 T1/T3 4096 42 ..
Tajikistan 8% - 106 MEDIUM n.i. n.i. VSAT 2048 127 0.4 OECD estimates that Broadband penetration
Turkey 32% 7.78 59 UPPER n.i. n.i. T1/T3 2048 79 11.3
2% ... 109 0.5
and use may be one of the main drivers of the
Turkmenista
n 104 MEDIUM n.i. n.i. VSAT 1024 knowledge-based economies and internet
Ukraine 23% 3.48 51 UPPER 79 20.8 T1/T3 > 4096 85 0.3 societies in the future. Looking at the IDI and
Uzbekistan 9% 0.24 110 MEDIUM n.i. n.i. VSAT 1024 119 3.1 HDI rankings, the low-ranked societies are
facing a complex challenge in the changing
TOTAL
Europe CIS 28%
world economy.
WORLD
TOTAL 23.80%

14. The Way Forward
Development-based policies
European Integration Agenda (EU2020 and Digital Agenda)
Broadband
Security and Infrastructure
Digital TV and information services
E-Governance
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15. Thank You!
Dejan Mincic
UNDP Moldova
dejan.mincic@undp.org
www.undp.md
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