Full Coverage: Knowledge

23.08.2006

10.08.2006

poverty atlas

This atlas provides examples of the important uses of poverty maps, including: the ability to overlay them with maps of geographical features, agroecological zones, education, accessibility, services and so on, so as to better understand and analyze possible causes of poverty; for better targeting of resources; and for raising donor awareness of financing needs.

09.08.2006

ICT4D

This article discusses the link between national Information and Communications Technology (ICT) policy in developing countries and the effectiveness of ICT for development (ICT4D) initiatives at a community level. This research project, currently in progress, which has the primary goal of determining determine whether, by adopting a Community Informatics (CI) approach to community based ICT4D projects, which leverages existing social capital in the communities, the sustainability of such projects can be significantly improved so that ICT4D is more inclusive in reach and its overall contribution to development is enhanced. The research has a secondary goal to develop a framework for national ICT policy which is anchored in this social paradigm as distinct from the purely techno-economic paradigm that currently prevails. This article reviews the current policy paradigm and framework as reflected in the literature, elaborates on the central research question relating to CI, social capital and sustainability, and hypothesises on what an alternative ICT policy development framework might look like.

08.08.2006 Mission 2007's objective to set up knowledge centres in 6,00,000 villages by 2007, the 60th anniversary of country's independence, will be achieved, said M.S. Swaminathan, chairman of the MSSR Foundation and Mission chairperson.

07.08.2006 Development is a central challenge of our time. The demographic trends are crystal clear: the international balance of power, when measured in population, is undergoing a tectonic shift