POLICY BRIEF ON ICT APPLICATIONS
IN THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY
United Nations
ESCAP
ICT for the Economic and Social Development of
Rural Communities
It is generally acknowledged that access to
information and communications technologies
(ICT) has the potential to alleviate poverty, promote
economic and social development and improve
the quality of life of people in rural and remote
communities. Many developing countries have
begun initiatives to build the necessary ICT
infrastructure in rural areas, including establishing
ICT access points – also known as telecentres –
which are community centres that provide public
access to ICT in the form of telephones, computers
and the Internet. The establishment of ICT access
points poses numerous challenges, particularly for
those located in extremely remote areas that are
inaccessible by roads and/or have no power
supply. In this policy brief, we feature appropriate
policies drawn from the experience of successes
and failures to promote the establishment of
sustainable ICT access points for the economic
and social development of rural communities.
How can ICT access points benefit
rural and remote communities?
From an economic and social standpoint, ICT
access points allow those in remote areas to
access information more easily. For instance, in
the agricultural sector, ICT can be used to obtain
information about weather forecasts, new varieties
of crops, farming techniques or crop disease
prevention. In addition, ICT access points can
enable users to provide online products and
services. For example, rural communities can
market their wares – from handicrafts to food
products – on the Internet. Entrepreneurs in rural
communities can use the Internet to communicate
directly with their clients and partners anywhere in
the world.
Through ICT, communities in remote areas can
obtain health information and advice from
United Nations Economic and Social1Commission for Asia and the Pacific
ISSUE NO.3 DECEMBER 2007
specialists (residing in urban areas) for the
diagnosis and treatment of diseases and other
health problems. ICT can also play an important
role in providing high quality educational
opportunities to rural and remote communities, and
Government services could be delivered more
effectively and efficiently in rural areas if they were
conducted electronically. Moreover, ICT can act as
a tool to promote social equality. It can empower
women by facilitating their access to information
related to health, education, employment and other
social development opportunities, including
participation in the decision-making processes of
their governments.
Sustainability – the biggest
challenge
Probably the biggest challenge in setting up rural
ICT access points is making them sustainable.
From a financial perspective, the sponsors of the
ICT access points, such as the local government,
usually cannot continue to fund them perpetually.
Therefore, plans should be put forward to ensure
that the communities, or entrepreneurs in the
communities, are able to sustain the centres. One
critical success factor is the inclusion of business
plans at the preliminary stage of establishing ICT
access points. The business plans should
demonstrate how to generate enough revenue to
operate and maintain the ICT access points,
including covering equipment and personnel costs.
To encourage the community to utilize the
telecentres, they should provide access to content
and services that are relevant and in the local
language.
Another perspective is human resource
sustainability – ensuring that properly trained staff
operates the ICT access point. Of particular
importance is the existence of a local champion to
catalyse and motivate the staff and to pursue new
ways of generating income. All of the personnel
should ideally be locals, as the participation of the
community is crucial to instilling a sense of
ownership and achieving sustainability for the ICT
access point.
Social sustainability refers to the role the ICT
access point plays in addressing the needs of the
community, a significant role should ensure its
continuous use. For example, in the e-Bario
project, which established an ICT access point in
the remote village of Bario in Malaysia, the
volunteers running the telecentre are also lodge
owners and tour operators. Their livelihood
depends on their websites, which promote their
products and services, and on the e-mails that
they use to liaise and communicate with their
clients. Thus, they have an economic motivation
to ensure that the ICT access point is operational.
Strategies for the successful
establishment of ICT access points
Involve the community throughout the project
The community will have a sense of ownership if it
is given a chance to participate in identifying its
own problems, deriving the solutions, setting the
directions, and making decisions on planning and
implementation. Such a participatory approach
increases the likelihood that the community will
take on the responsibility of maintaining the ICT
access point when the implementation project
is completed. In addition, if the community
recognizes that the telecentre is essential to its
livelihood (for example, if the telecentre provides
access to the only telephone in the village), it will
be motivated to ensure that the equipment
provided by the telecentre is functioning properly.
Such an approach is reported as one of the
success factors of the Microsoft Unlimited Potential
Community Information Centres project in Bhutan,
which is being implemented by the Department
of Information Technology. The project has
reportedly secured the participation of important
stakeholders in the community – including
community leaders, the school principal, the village
representatives and the agriculture extension
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officers – to create a sense of ownership in the
project. This sense of having a stake in the project
right from the beginning has been considered vital
to the projects success and to the long-term social
sustainability of the Community Information
Centres in the communities.
Provide appropriate technologies and
applications based on the community’s needs
and strengths
While this may seem intuitive, there have been
instances where technologies were identified first
and the community had to find ways to make use
of them later. If the wrong technologies are put in
place, people will be unable to use them. In
addition, the technological solutions provided
should ideally be tried-and-tested technologies that
have proven effective in similar environments.
The ICT access points should also provide access
to ICT applications which are relevant to the
community and capitalize on its strengths. For
instance, if the rural community has rich cultural
traditions and beautiful scenery – such as
waterfalls or pristine jungle ideal for treks – then
ecotourism could be promoted. The e-Bario
project did just that, applying ICT as a tool to
promote ecotourism and to function as a
communication channel with potential tourists.
Another example is the project aimed at women
artisans developed by the Datamation Foundation,
a non-governmental organization in India. ICT
access points allow women artisans to use
Computer-Assisted Design tools to innovate and
modernize the design of ready-to-wear apparel,
home furnishings and accessories. It is reported
that more than 4,000 women have benefited from
the use of these tools.
Cultivate local champions who can foster
goodwill and motivate and mobilize the
community
The local champions are the ones who can
motivate and mobilize the community. The
establishment of a rural ICT access point could
involve many stakeholders within the community
and it is important to build good relations between
them to facilitate the smooth implementation of the
project. Specifically, an initial rapport must be
established between the community and the
project initiators in order to build trust and, in turn,
cooperation. Ideally, champions should be
members of the community who have good social
relations and a good standing in the community
structure. They should also have entrepreneurial
skills, which will enable them to find ways to
garner revenue to sustain the ICT access point.
Performance-based rewards should also be put
into place to motivate the champions.
Plan for financial sustainability from the
beginning
In addition to the costs incurred to set up the ICT
access points, the maintenance of such centres
also requires financial resources. Thus, when
planning for the establishment of an ICT access
point, the community and its partners should
develop a business plan to determine how to
sustain the telecentre once funding stops. In this
way, implementation should take into account all of
the services and applications the communities are
likely to use to generate income. The micro-
franchise model adopted by Drishtee, a non-
governmental organization in India, is based on
a well developed business plan and the promotion
of entrepreneurship by women. In this model, the
ICT access points – which are called kiosks – have
to be financially sustainable from the beginning
since they are owned and operated by rural
entrepreneurs.
Monitor and evaluate the impact on the
community
There is much debate on what should be
measured and how in order to determine a
telecentre’s success. This largely depends on
what the stakeholders deem to be success
(increase in the average income in the community,
number of new businesses, number of people
using the services provided by the ICT access
point, etc.). Initial baseline studies (socio-
economic situation of the community, average
income per household, etc.) should be conducted
prior to the introduction of ICT and before
monitoring and evaluation take place. For
example, the Jamsetji Tata National Virtual
Academy for Rural Prosperity (NVA) has
developed several mechanisms to monitor the
impact of the village knowledge centres (VKCs)
established by the M.S. Swaminathan Research
3
Foundation, a non-governmental organization in
India. One of the results of these mechanisms is
a two-way communication channel between the
users of VKCs and other stakeholders that
contributes to up-to-date local content that is
relevant to the changing needs of the commu-
nities. NVA has conducted studies on VKCs in
Pondicherry from an anthropological perspective,
covering different aspects of VKCs and their
impact on things such as education, employment,
income generation, skill development and the
empowerment of women.
Policy Recommendations
ESCAP recommends six areas of policy inter-
vention pertaining to the issues raised above:
1. ICT policies should continue to strengthen
the focus on ICT for development. Policies and
regulations related to incorporating the
establishment of ICT access points into the
country’s national development plan should be
further developed and implemented. Universal
access to ICT services should be promoted and
seen as a public good on a par with water,
electricity and public health;
2. Public-private partnerships and community
participation should be promoted in developing ICT
infrastructure and establishing and operating ICT
access points in rural areas. Through these
partnerships, business models could be developed
to make access to the ICT infrastructure more
affordable;
3. Programmes to build capacity in rural
communities on the use of ICT should be
introduced. They should raise awareness of
proven ICT initiatives that can meet the needs of
rural and remote communities in the areas of
health, education, business and government
services;
4. An affordable environment for the
development of ICT access points should be
provided using tax relief, incentives and fee
waivers for the import and use of ICT equipment.
The liberalization of the telecommunication sector
should be continued in order to create competition
which would bring down the costs of the new and
existing technologies to be deployed.
5. Research on new technologies should be
promoted in areas such as alternative energy
(which is efficient, reliable and affordable) and
telecommunications (to provide long-range
telecommunications that are reliable and robust,
require little maintenance and have low energy
consumption). Incentives such as funding should
be provided for research on technologies used
in urban areas that may be beneficial in rural
settings. Given the importance of the social
aspects of ICT access point sustainability,
anthropological research should be carried out to
understand fully the successes (and failures) of
ICT access point development in the country’s
rural and remote areas;
6. An environment that encourages local
content and service development and creation
should be provided. Private investors should be
brought into assist in this endeavour, and
intellectual property, traditional knowledge and any
revenue derived should be shared by both
investors and the communities involved.
M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation.
Jamsetji Tata National Virtual Academy for
Rural Prosperity (NVA). Chennai, 2006.
http://www.mssrf-nva.org/publications/nva-
jts_booklet%20final.pdf (accessed February
11, 2008).
Sharma, Chetan. “Datamation Group of Companies
& Datamation Foundation Trust.” Paper
presented at the ESCAP Expert Group
Meeting on the Provision of ICT Access for
Disadvantaged Communities through Public-
Private Partnership, Bangkok, Thailand.
December 12-14, 2007. http://www.unescap.
org/icstd/applications/projects/EGM-ICT-PPP/
PresentationSharma.pdf (accessed February
11, 2008).
Dorji, Lektsho Yangden. “The Microsoft UP
Community Information Center Project in
Bhutan.” Paper presented at the ESCAP
Consultative Meeting for the Establishment of
Regional Knowledge Network of Telecentres
in Asia-Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand.
September 27-28, 2007. http://telecentresap.
org/meeting/cmap2007/Bhutan_Paper.pdf
(accessed February 11, 2008).

References Mishra, Mamta and Mishra, Swapna. “Equity

ESCAP. Guidebook on Developing Community
E-Centres in Rural Areas: Based on the
Malaysian Experience. New York, 2006.
http://www.unescap.org/icstd/applications/
projects/Malaysia_CeC/docs/guidebook.pdf
(accessed February 11, 2008).
within ICT.” Paper presented at the ESCAP
Consultative Meeting for the Establishment of
Regional Knowledge Network of Telecentres
in Asia-Pacific, Bangkok, Thailand.
September 27-28, 2007. http://telecentresap.
org/meeting/cmap2007/India_Paper_Drishtee.
pdf (accessed February 11, 2008).

M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation. Village

Knowledge Centres in Pondicherry: An
Anthropological Perspective. Chennai,
December 2005. http://www.mssrf-nva.org/
publications/VKC-Anthropological%
20Perspective-2005.pdf (accessed February
11, 2008).

This Policy Brief on ICT Applications in the Knowledge Economy has been prepared by the Information,
Communication and Space Technology Division of ESCAP to provide a brief introduction on selected
ICT applications, identify issues for implementation, and provide policy direction for the promotion of
the applications. For further information on this Policy Brief, please contact: Mr. Siva Thampi, Chief,
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Information, Communication and Space Technology Division (e-mail: thampi@un.org).