Features ICT4D Project Directory Advanced Search Bellanet International Secretariat Bellanet promotes and facilitates effective collaboration within the international community, especially through the use of ICTs. Canada's IDRC @ The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) The World Summit on the Information Society provides a platform for dialogue on the central role ICTs play in human development. An overview of ICTs at IDRC 2003-11-18 What IDRC is doing in the field of ICTs -- including the work of secretariats -- in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

From its creation in 1970, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) has been committed to advancing the role of information in development. A tradition of innovation that began with an emphasis on building databases and information systems has evolved into a focus on the transformative nature of information and communications technologies (ICTs). IDRC was one of the first development agencies to embrace ICTs as a key means to foster development and alleviate poverty. With established programs like Acacia in Africa, Pan Asia Networking in Asia, and Pan Americas in Latin America, IDRC has acquired a breadth of experience on the impact of ICTs on the lives of people in the developing world.

Building on this experience, IDRC has established two major Canadian-led initiatives to bridge the digital divide:

• the Institute for Connectivity in the Americas, emerging from the Summit of the Americas in 2001;
• Connectivity Africa, resulting from the 2002 G8 Annual Summit.

IDRC also houses the Bellanet secretariat, which promotes and facilitates institutional and individual collaboration within the international development community, especially through the use of ICTs.

IDRC continues to participate actively in global policy dialogues on ICT for Development. Recently, IDRC’s president represented Canada’s nonprofit sector on the G8 Digital Opportunity Task Force (DOT Force)  and co-chaired the World Economic Forum’s Global Digital Divide Initiative.

• Acacia Initiative
  Communities and the Information Society in Africa Program Initiative increases the capacity of sub-Saharan communities to apply Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to their own social and economic development.

• Bellanet International Secretariat
  Bellanet promotes and facilitates effective collaboration within the international community, especially through the use of ICTs.

• Connectivity Africa
  

• Institute for Connectivity in the Americas
  ICA successfully promotes the use of Information and Communication
  Technologies to overcome barriers that hinder socio-economic development in
  Latin America and the Caribbean. In response to the mandates of the Third
  Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, in 2001, the Canadian government
  created ICA.

• Canada's IDRC @ The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)
  The World Summit on the Information Society provides a platform for dialogue on the central role ICTs play in human development.

• KariaNet
  

• PAN-Americas Networking
  The PAN Americas project supports research on the social uses and impacts of ICTs for development in Latin America and the Caribbean.

• Pan Asia Networking
  The Pan Asia Networking Program Initiative is studying the impacts of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) on people, culture, the economy, and society. Its goal is to strengthen ICT uses that promote sustainable development.

• telecentre.org
  A new service aimed at helping community telecentres around the world increase their capacity and promote digital development.

Launch of telecentre.org to strengthen the global telecentre movement 2005-11-17
On 17 November 2005, at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Microsoft Corporation, and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), announced the launch of telecentre.org, a CA$21 million collaborative initiative that will strengthen the capacity of tens of thousands of community-based telecentres around the world.

An overview of ICTs at IDRC 2003-11-18
What IDRC is doing in the field of ICTs -- including the work of secretariats -- in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

Forum on ICTs and Gender 2003-09-15
The Forum on ICTs and Gender: Optimizing Opportunities, recently held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia aimed to encourage a greater awareness of the gender-related barriers that exist in developing and developed countries around the world.

2004-11-22 13:30 (Ottawa)
Lights and Shadows of Globalization Symposium
This event at the impact of globalization on inequalities, analyzes international differences in relation to the impact of globalization on inequalities, and explores policy options to reduce inequalities and to insure a better distribution of the benefits of globalization.

Form(s)

ICT4D Project Directory

Advanced Search