Digital Reach

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N-HABITAT

IS THE

United Nations agency for human

settlements. It is mandated by the United Nations

General Assembly to promote socially and environmen-

tally sustainable towns and cities with the goal of providing

adequate shelter for all. It is also the UN agency responsible for

monitoring the progress in the implementation of Millennium

Development Goal seven, Target 11: “Improvement in the lives

of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020.”

As our rapidly urbanizing planet turns more and more into a

‘cyber-sphere’, we have to ensure that everyone can breathe in

it. Information and knowledge are crucial to better socio-

economic development, and this is largely recognized throughout

the world. It is also recognized, however, that too many people

are being left behind by the computer age. This is why a number

of United Nations agencies have taken the lead in making infor-

mation and knowledge part of their strategy to combat poverty

in developing countries.

According to UN-HABITAT research in 2001, 924 million

people or 31.6 per cent of the global population lived in slums,

mostly in developing countries where they accounted for 43 per

cent of the urban population. That compares to six per cent in

the developed world. Within developing regions, sub-Saharan

Africa had 72 per cent, the largest proportion of its urban popu-

lation, living in slums. In South-central Asia this figure was 58

per cent, East Asia 36.4 per cent, and in Western Asia 33.1 per

cent. In Latin America and the Caribbean those living in slums

constituted 31.9 per cent of the urban population, North Africa

28.2 per cent, Southeast Asia 28 per cent, and Oceania 24.1 per

cent. On this side of the digital divide, the majority has no access

to computers, let alone the basic education to use them.

These figures show that we live in a very unequal world, and

unless we do more to lift the hopes of people in poor countries,

we will compromise our own hopes of giving our children a

better future, even in wealthier countries. Therefore, when we

speak of poverty and connectivity, it is the world’s poor them-

selves on whom we must focus – not technology. The technology

has to be engineered to their concerns and needs. They should

not be technology-driven; rather the technology must suit them.

It is with this that UN-HABITAT views information and

Communication technology (ICT) as a powerful means to improve

and streamline local governance, and empower citizens by involv-

ing them in the running of their cities. As hubs of communication

and economic activity around the world, urban centres were the

first to feel the impact of the ICT revolution. Place these benefits

within reach of the urban poor, and the positive impact will be huge.

According to a report in 2004 by the United Nations Research

Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), Senegal has invested

heavily in ICT infrastructure in recent years – more than any

other country in sub-Saharan Africa.

Nonetheless, the digital

divide remains a reality in the developing world. In an effort to

redress this situation, a Digital Solidarity Fund (DSF) proposed

by President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal was launched in March

2005 at Geneva with funding from public and private sectors.

Through their international umbrella body, United Cities and

Local Governments (UCLG), local authorities recently reaffirmed

their commitment to inclusive communities and neighbourhoods

by using information technology as a tool for development and

promoting local democracy. “Information and Communication

Technologies should increase the capacity of cities and local

authorities to provide universal basic services, and to increase

citizen participation in local decision-making,” UCLG said in a

statement at its World Council at Beijing in June 2005. “In an

era where information is an important human and civil right,

local authorities will demand from national governments the

capacity and competencies to guarantee services to their citizens,

including communications infrastructure.”

For successful implementation of ICT at a local level, national

governments must show the political will and commitment to

create the right environment for the management of information

technology by building telecommunications infrastructures

grounded in liberalized policies and regulations. And this has to

be backed up by a modern legal infrastructure with data and

defined rights on access to information. Not least, the system

must also emphasize the role of computer education and liter-

acy as a vital step towards creating ‘smart communities’ of people

aware of their rights and the gains they can make.

It is generally agreed that ICT has an impact and enormous

potential for achieving the goals of good governance in devel-

oping countries. Effective decentralization and efficient

management of limited resources, through information sharing,

popular participation and the development of productive part-

Citizens and local authorities in the

knowledge age: promoting information and

communication technologies for local

sustainable development

Anne Fraser, Information Services Section,

United Nations Human Settlements Programme