Inter-agency and Expert Meeting on Millennium Development Goal Indicators Geneva, Switzerland 10-13 November 2003
Information and Communication Technologies & the Millennium Development Goals
MDGs ICTs Michael.Minges@itu.int Telecommunication Development Bureau International Telecommunication Union Views expressed are those of the author and may not necessarily reflect the opinions of the ITU or its Members
ICTs & MDGS • ICTs are part of the MDGs (Goal 8, Target 18, Indicators 47-48) • ICTs have an impact on achieving other MDGs • ICTs can be bad for MDGs • MDGs have an impact on use of ICTs
Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development Target 18 “In cooperation with the private sector make available the benefits of new technologies, specifically information and communications.�
Indicators for Target 18 • Total number of telephone subscribers per 100 inhabitants • Personal computers per 100 inhabitants • Internet users per 100 inhabitants
• ITU charged with providing indicators to help measure this target • Of all the different targets, number 18 is the most vague (which ICTs should be made available, to whom and by when?) • Trade-off between the ideal indicator and widespread availability • Number of indicators for the MDG targets had to be kept to a manageable amount • The indicators are targeted around ICTs such as mobile phones, computers and the Internet, since the goal states: “…benefits of new technologies”
A decade of ICT progress Total telephone subscribers per 100 inhabitants, developing regions 2002 1992
77.0
Reasons for not using Internet (Jamaica): No computer 60% Can’t afford 32% Can’t use computer 10%
52.4 35.4 27.4 12.5
18.1 7.6
6.1
0.8
Europe CaribLatin East bean America Asia
3.8 MENA
5.2
4.7
4.5
1.0
2.0
0.6
Sub- Pacific Saharan Africa
South Asia
Note: Developed countries are excluded. For definitions of regions, see: www. worldbank.org/data/countryclass/classgroups.htm. Source: ITU World Telecommunication Indicators Database.
Digital Access Index Broadband Fixed Infrastructure DAI: subscribers telephone is not the subscribers QUALITY A composite INFRAonly factor STRUCTURE measure that Mobile International that impacts cellular Internet subscribers can bandwidth USAGE the Internet users be used availInternet to track access Literacy ability price Target 18 of ICTs
KNOWLEDGE School enrolment
AFFORDABILITY
Digital Access Index
– High, upper, middle, low
• Research into gender sub-index, national indices and index over time
1.0 1998 2002
0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6
-9
-8
-5 -5
-3 + 4
+ 5
+ + + 6 13 20
0.5 New Zealand Australia United States Canada United Kingdom Japan Singapore Hong Kong, Taiwan, China Korea (Rep.)
• Inclusive (178 economies, most of any other ICT index) • Transparent (5 categories, 8 indicators, easy to decode) • 4 DAI classifications:
How ICTs can help achieve the MDGs Goal/Target
Role of ICTs
1. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Increase access to market information and reduce transaction costs for poor farmers and traders
2. Achieve universal primary education
Increase supply of trained teachers through ICT-enhanced distance training
3. Promote gender equality and empower women
Deliver educational and literacy programmes specifically targeted to poor girls and women using appropriate technologies
4. Reduce child mortality 5. Improve maternal health 6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
Increase access of rural care-givers to specialist support and remote diagnosis Enhance delivery of basic and in-service training for health workers Increase monitoring and information-sharing on disease and famine
7. Ensure environmental sustainability
Remote sensing technologies and communications networks permit more effective monitoring, resource management, mitigation of environmental risks
Source: ITU adapted from “The significance of information and communication technologies for reducing poverty.� Department for International Development (United Kingdom). http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Pubs/files/ict_poverty.pdf
Macro-economic impact of ICTs: Japan
1995
1997
1999
2001
ICT annual growth 1995-2001: 9.3% (Overall economy only 1.2%) ICT jobs: 3.8 million (7.1% of all workers, 3rd largest employer)
Overall 0.03%
0.31% Retail
Transportation -0.06%
Wholesale 0.02%
Iron & steel -0.06%
Construction -0.24%
Share of ICT sector in GDP
ICT Source: MPHPT (Japan).
Electric machinery
8.6%
9.3%
10.0%
-0.66%
11.8% 10.9% 11.2%
0.83%
12.6%
Contribution to economic growth, 2001
1.5 million jobs created 25’024 billion Yen ICT investment 40’692 billion Yen production induced
Micro-economic impact of ICTs: Bangladesh Number of months in which poor phone-using families eat well (months per year)
Cost of village phone and alternatives, US$ $1.4
$1.0
10
Time & Transport
8
$0.8
Savings
6
$0.6 4
$0.4 $0.2 $0.0
After phones became available
Village Pay Phone
2 0
Before phones became available 5 years earlier
Source: ZEF (Germany). June 1999
$1.2
12
Gender, pollution & telework in Ireland
Telework: “persons who work from home and could not do so without the use of a computer with a telecommunications link.�
More teleworkers = more people working at home = less car pollution (MDG #7)
41%
Teleworkers All workers 56%
44%
68% 49%
41%
33%
College Women
Have Married children
Work at home 9.7%
Public transport, walk, bicycle 36.2%
Home 8.9% (Telework: 2.3%)
Car 54.1% Away Number of vehicles from increased by 68% home from 1990-2001. 91.1% Related CO2 emissions increased by 122% in Getting to work Location of work
Source: Central Statistics Office (Ireland).
72%
More tertiary education = more women with small children teleworking (MDG #3)
Possible indicators to measure impact of ICTs on MDGs 2. Achieve universal primary education
Number of primary school teachers trained through e-learning
In Nepal training is delivered over radio to around 9’000 aspiring primary school teachers
3. Promote gender equality
6. Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
Number of females enrolled in e-learning
% of population who feel the Internet has helped them adopt a healthy lifestyle
Studies show female participation in elearning outnumbers men in many countries
In the US 88 per cent of those seeking health information online stated “information they found improved the way they took care of their health.”
In Closing… • 2003 World Telecommunication Development Report – Access Indicators for the Information Society • Chapter 4: ICTs and the Millennium Development Goals
– Launch 8 December 2003
• World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) [Geneva, December 2003]
– Main event [December 10-12] http://www.itu.int/wsis – Statistical side event [December 8-9] http://www.unece.org/stats/documen
• 2004: Statistical capacity building through two regional workshops