ICTs and Economic Development: The Case of Latin America and the Caribbean

SUSANA FINQUELIEVICH

Bangalore

Workshop; Information and Communications Technologyfor Sustainable DevelopmentBangalore Workshop; 2004

Carnegie Mellon University, National Science Foundation, World Bank, United Nations (Division for Sustainable Development), Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and the National Institute for Advanced Studies (NIAS), Bangalore.

Can information and communication technologies (ICTs) have effective impacts on poverty reduction in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)? If the impacts are positive, is it the combined outcome of local micro efforts to apply ICTs, or the result of integral state and/or regional programs? How does this affect the differentiated way in which women and men experience poverty and unemployment? This paper consists mainly of identifying the strategic policies of governments in Latin America and the Caribbean for incorporating information and communication technologies into economic, social and political development efforts. At the same time we have identified government strategies and policies in LAC countries to stimulate socioeconomic development and fight poverty. In both cases, given the scope of the field of study, we have analyzed national strategies and policies. A gender perspective has been adopted, analyzing on the one hand whether ICTs have different impacts on men and women in terms of reducing (or maintaining or increasing) poverty and, on the other, whether the related policies include strategies with a gender perspective. Finally, we propose strategies and policies for the utilization of ICTs to drive development in LAC. An extensive review was conducted in LAC countries of government programs, as well as of provincial, federal and international projects. Based on this initial survey we decided to continue working on LAC in general, limiting the depth of the study, using a theoretical sample of the nine countries determined to be the most productive and representative in terms of strategies and policies related to the application of ICTs to development, and the population's access to them: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. In the study of government efforts aiming both at the adoption of ICTs and sustainable development, the focus has been to identify those which attempt to reduce the gender gap in terms of economic and educational opportunities. Subsequently, we identified the links between programs, plans and projects whose goals are building the Information Society at a domestic level and incorporating ICTs, and those efforts whose goals are sustainable development and poverty reduction. The sources of information were gathered from bibliographies and the Internet, and the analysis of domestic policies in LAC countries regarding ICTs adoption for development, expansion and creation of employment, and reduction of poverty. Information was also collected on domestic policies in LAC countries regarding socioeconomic development