Digital Reach

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] 160

IGHTY

FIVE YEARS

ago, in the midst of the Great Depression,

British economist John Maynard Keynes also envisioned

the end of poverty in Great Britain and other industrial

countries towards the end of the 20th century, and that Keynes,

too, was acutely aware of the role of technology in underpinning

continued growth.

This same logic can be applied to ending extreme poverty for

the two billion people who still earn less than USD2 per day. The

United Nations Millennium Project has identified three things

that can bring the world’s poor to the first rung of the economic

ladder: information, communications and technology (ICT). The

Navajo nation is using ICT to deliver distance education, economic

opportunities, distance healthcare, e-Government and security to

its remote communities. For the past five years, the International

Telecommunication Union (ITU) has been holding planning and

discussion meetings across the world to find out how best to use

ICT to end poverty.

The Navajo nation

While the UN and ITU have been working on pilot development

projects, the Navajo nation has been implementing its own

nationwide ICT plan, involving the entire 27 000 square mile

nation. The goal is to make ICT available to all Navajo people,

not just the ones that are near a phone line and have a power

supply.

The Navajo nation has successfully developed connectivity

among all local governments (Chapter Houses) and communi-

ties, integrating an ICT system for equitable and self-sustainable

development, oriented towards special applications including the

improvement of distance education and e-learning, health

services, telemedicine, creation of economic opportunities, e-

Government, e-governance, security and safety ICT systems.

The Navajo Nations works within the framework of the Istanbul

Action Plan (ISAP), a special ITU initiative to assist indigenous

people.

The Navajo nation has combined the implementation of ICT

with maintaining its values, language and sovereignty. “We were

able to provide this connectivity without harming our mother

earth,” said President Joe Shirley “We did not dig any ditches,

nor did we bury a foot of cable. Nothing was done to destroy our

sacred land to achieve the goal of bringing information, education,

health, government and opportunity to our people.”

The end of poverty – the ITU

and the Navajo nation

David Stephens, Chief Executive Officer, OnSat

Each Chapter has a number of public access computers that also have high speed, broadband Internet via OnSat satellite services