The infoDev Forum at the Tunis Phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS II) addressed some of the key challenges facing the international community in seeking to harness ICT as tools of broad-based development, poverty reduction and opportunity for all. The forum provided an opportunity for reflection on our experience with these issues in the past decade, the questions and challenges still remaining, and ways forward on these issues and challenges.

Each session of the forum focused on a key question facing the international community.  Moderators led a semi-structured discussion among a small group of expert panelists with significant audience participation.  Sessions drew key lessons and messages, particularly about priorities for governments and international donors.

November 17, 2005

Opening Session

Chair and Introduction of Speakers: Mohsen Khalil, Director, Global ICT Department, World Bank Group

Welcoming Speech: Katherine Sierra, Chair, infoDev Donors Committee and Vice President, Infrastructure, World Bank
Welcoming Speech: H.E. Montasser Ouaili, Minister of Communications Technologies, Tunisia (to be confirmed)
Welcoming Speech: Stefano Manservisi, Director General for Development Cooperation, European Commission
Keynote Address: The Hon. Abdoulaye Wade, President of Senegal

Panel 1: Do ICTs Matter to the Poor?

The international donor community, and developing countries, have paid a great deal of attention to ICT as tools of development in general.  Yet it has often been left as an unspoken assumption that ICT will be "pro-poor", that they will serve to empower the poor economically and socially in those countries.  This session will explore whether, and under what conditions, ICTs can have a "pro-poor" impact in developing countries, and how developing country governments and international donors can maximize the pro-poor dimensions of ICT interventions.  

Indicative Questions:

• Should access to, and use of, ICT be a priority in poverty reduction strategies of developing countries, and the assistance programs of international donors?
• Do we have sufficient evidence of the positive impact on the lives and livelihoods of the poor, and of the pre-conditions for those positive impacts?
• Under what conditions should the development and deployment of pro-poor ICT applications and services be subsidized by governments and international donors?
• How can developing country governments, and the donor community, more effectively, and intelligently (and selectively) mainstream ICT as tools of poverty reduction?
• How can we maximize the impact of ICT as tools to empower the poor and narrow economic and social divides?

Moderator:	Kerry McNamara, infoDev
Panelists:	Peter Smith, Assistant Director-General, Education, UNESCO Caroline Nyamai-Kisia, AfriAfya, Kenya Namrata Bali, Self-Employed Women's Association, India David Woolnough, DFID Elhaj Gley, Director General, La Poste Tunisienne

Panel 2: Do National ICT Strategies Matter?

A large number of developing countries have articulated national ICT strategies, often in cooperation with donor agencies and other partners.  Many have experimented with a variety of institutional arrangements for implementing these strategies and integrating them into broader government strategies, policies, investments and programs.  Yet the evidence of their effectiveness remains spotty.  This panel will explore whether, and under what conditions, national ICT strategies are a useful and effective tool for maximizing the beneficial economic and social impacts of ICT.

Indicative questions:

• Have national ICT strategies proved to be useful tools for mobilizing consensus, policy and resources to harness ICT as tools of development?
• In some cases, have they done the opposite – causing excessive attention on ICT as an end in itself rather than a means to other, more fundamental ends (poverty reduction and the MDGs, broad-based development, economic growth.)  Under what conditions are national ICT strategies useful tools?
• What are the essential elements of a successful ICT strategy, and how does one assure that they are coherent with, and supportive of, broader development objectives?
• How does one successfully implement and operationalize an ICT strategy?
• Do national ICT strategies privilege "top-down" and centralized approaches and under-emphasize the importance of local innovation in response to local needs?
• What other elements belong in an ICT-enabled national strategy for growth, competitiveness and poverty reduction?

Moderator:	Diane Coyle, Enlightenment Economics, London
Panelists:	Abdoulie Janneh, Executive Secretary, UN Economic Commission for Africa Eng. Albert Butare, Minister in Charge of Energy and Communications, Republic of Rwanda Mme. Khédija Ghariani, Secretary of State, Ministry of Communication Technologies, Tunisia  Hamadoun Toure, Director, Telecommunication Development Bureau, ITU

Panel 3: Do Policy and Regulation Matter?

In the ICT field, technologies, applications and business models are changing faster than ever before, creating growing challenges for policy makers and regulators in both developed and developing countries.   In this context, the question arises as to whether government policies and regulations risk being as much a hindrance as a help to the innovation and entrepreneurship that drive the growing availability and diversity of ICT infrastructure, tools, applications and services.  Furthermore, in the context of rapid technological change that empowers local innovation and requires particular responses to particular sets of challenges, the value of established "best practices" and standard approaches drawn from experience in other contexts becomes increasingly questionable.  This panel will explore how complexity and rapid change in the ICT field affect traditional approaches to designing, implementing and sharing policy and regulatory practices.

Indicative Questions:

• How can policy-makers and regulators balance legitimate public concerns (access, equity, competition, innovation) with the need to create a flexible environment for innovation and the spread of new ICT solutions?
• How can they proactively encourage network development and the provision of new services through creative policy and regulatory measures?
• In the context of rapidly changing technological and business models, what are the invariant general principles of ICT regulation, and what are the traditional approaches and ideas that now need rethinking?
• Have donor financed efforts to "transfer knowledge" and best practices from OECD experience to developing countries proved effective and valuable? How relevant is OECD experience to the challenges facing developing countries?
• As technological change both empowers and necessitates local adaptation and innovation, how does one balance the desire for coherence with the need for flexible local solutions to ICT challenges?
• How can policy makers and regulators equitably address the complicated and often conflicting political economy of reform in the ICT sector, especially given the threats to entrenched interests represented by technological change and new business models, such as VoIP?

Moderator:

William Melody, LIRNE.NET, Center for ICT, Technical University of Denmark

Panelists:

Muna Nijem, Chair, Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, Jordan Eng. Alaa Fahmy, Executive President, National Telecom,Regulatory Authority, Egypt  Jean-Michel Hubert, French Ambassador to WSIS Ronaldo Balsinde, European Telecom Practice Leader, McKinsey & Co. Rohan Samarajiva, Executive Director, LIRNE Asia Donald Abelson, Director, International Department, Federal Communications Commisison, USA

Friday, November 18

Panel 4: Is Information Infrastructure a Public Good?

Most forms of infrastructure are recognized as having a significant public good component, and substantial public resources have been invested in infrastructure in both developed and developing countries.  Yet in information and communication infrastructure there is an ongoing and intense debate about the appropriate scope and focus of public investment.  It is widely acknowledged that private investment and innovation are core drivers of the growth of, and increasing variety of, information and communication infrastructure.  Yet there is little consensus on the proper balance of public and private investment.  Recent experience with local and municipal networks, and open access models for backbone infrastructure, has provided new fuel for this debate.  And rapid change in technology and business models makes possible new approaches to this question that dismantle the key assumptions of the old debate.  This panel will explore these issues and models, drawing both on recent experience with new approaches (e.g. municipal networks) and new models (e.g. Open Access) and on the impact of technological change on business models and on our understanding of the boundaries of public and private. 

Indicative Questions:

• In a rapidly changing field where innovation in technology and business and service models is a key driver of increased access to affordable ICT services, how can one strike a proper balance between the public good aspects of ICT infrastructure, and the fundamental importance of private sector investment and entrepreneurship?
• How do technological changes, such as the transition to IP networks, enable, and perhaps even necessitate, new models for financing information infrastructure and new market structures that separate infrastructure and services?
• Are our traditional economic and legal models for understanding – and making policy and regulation relative to – communications infrastructure and spectrum still relevant?  If not, how should they be adapted to changing technical realities and market structures?

Moderator:

William Melody, LIRNE.NET, Center for ICT, Technical University of Denmark

Panelists:

Muna Nijem, Chair, Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, Jordan Eng. Alaa Fahmy, Executive President, National Telecom,Regulatory Authority, Egypt  Jean-Michel Hubert, French Ambassador to WSIS Ronaldo Balsinde, European Telecom Practice Leader, McKinsey & Co. Rohan Samarajiva, Executive Director, LIRNE Asia Donald Abelson, Director, International Department, Federal Communications Commisison, USA

Panel 5: How Can Local Innovation be Unleashed?

Many of the most promising innovations to harness ICT as tools of economic growth and social empowerment which respond to the information and communication needs of the poor in developing countries are occurring at the local level – in communities, in NGOs serving the poor, in the minds and hands of small-scale entrepreneurs and local solution providers.  New technologies – by making ICT applications and services more accessible and affordable at the local level, even in remote areas – create new opportunities for local innovation.  Yet these innovators face enormous challenges in taking their solutions to scale.  Apart from their own resources and, in some locations, micro-finance loans, they have little access to capital, and particularly to growth capital after the earliest stages of their success.  Regulatory burdens on small business creation are often enormous, and are sometimes compounded by corruption among the officials responsible for licensing new businesses.  Affordable access to ICT hardware and software, and to telephony and data services, is often not available.   And they often have little access to advice, mentoring and critical skills enhancement. Some already marginalized groups – such as women – face even greater hurdles in accessing financing, support networks and mentoring to start and grow businesses.  This panel will explore how the international community, and developing countries, can more proactively and creatively support local ICT-enabled innovation.

Indicative Questions:

• How can developing countries, and their partners in the international community, create more favorable conditions for local innovation and entrepreneurship?  
• What measures can be taken to address the financing gaps facing entrepreneurs and innovators, particularly at the local level, and particularly for disadvantaged and marginalized groups?  
• How can one create a more supportive enabling and policy environment, and networks of mutual support, for ICT entrepreneurs and small businesses?
• Since SMEs are a key engine not only of economic growth but of innovation to address local needs, how can the international community do more to support the emergence, capacity and ultimate success of SMEs, particularly those that focus on how to harness ICT as tools to address local needs?
• What are the challenges facing SMEs and local innovators in accessing and using information and communication services effectively and affordably, and what can be done to address these challenges?

Moderator:	Mohsen Khalil, Director, Global ICT Department , World Bank
Panelists:	H.K Mittal, Department of Science and Technology, Govt. of India Rahul Patwardhan, CEO, IndiaCo William Siu, Vice President & General Manager, INTEL Corp. Mondher BenAyed, UTICA, Tunisia Namrata Bali, Self-Employed Women's Association, India