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Strengthening the IDB-LAC partnership for development
effectiveness
The IDB commitment to development effectiveness was renewed
on 3 October 2005, when Luis Alberto Moreno became the third
president since the institution was founded in 1959. In his address
to IDB staff, Mr. Moreno placed an emphasis on results. He also
underscored the importance of the generation and diffusion of
applied knowledge for development as one of the fundamental
pillars of the welfare of citizens. Further elaboration on these
thoughts should be forthcoming as Mr. Moreno moves forward as
IDB president.
It could be useful to consider that the cumulative added value of
the IDB, like that of all international development organizations,
has historically been and will continue to be the expansion of the
capacity of the countries themselves to add value to their human,
material and financial resources. By generating synergy and improv-
ing effectiveness among their activities in this area, development
institutions strengthen their partnership with beneficiary countries
to increase the rate of sustainable economic growth and reduce
poverty while promoting equity.
At the IDB, the Information Technology for Development Division,
Sustainable Development Department, promotes the application of
new development effectiveness processes, tools and funding instru-
ments to measure the contribution of knowledge economy
expansion as a conceptual and programmatic ‘bridge’ for achieving
the two objectives of the IDB institutional strategy. These are to
increase the rate of sustainable economic growth and reduce poverty
while promoting equity. An important part of this effort is to promote
consensus on outcomes, outputs and indicators to measure,
monitor and evaluate the contributions to the construction of the
bridge.
More than any particular solution, the IDB partnership with the
countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) seeks to create
an enabling environment for innovation and learning about what
works and what does not work with respect to ICT deployment in
each of these areas. Promoting incentives for risk taking is crucial if
innovation and learning are to become more widespread in devel-
opment efforts.
The objective of the IDB-LAC partnership in this area is to
strengthen country and Bank capacity for effectively adjusting to
the new conditions of development emerging from the widespread
deployment of ICT and knowledge economy expansion. A crucial
aspect of this process is creating enabling environments for manag-
ing change for development effectiveness.
The Information Technology for Development Division serves as
a catalyst for a Bank-wide effort to match the changing and expand-
ing needs of the countries in the region with respect to the
institution’s experience and resources. Out of this effort, a matrix
approach is emerging for integrating ICT and knowledge economy
expansion into development planning. We do not believe that a
sector approach (ICT in vertical sectors such as education, infra-
structure and rural development) is better than a horizontal
approach (ICT in sustainable economic growth, ICT in human devel-
opment and ICT in governance). However, we do believe that
opportunities for synergy and greater effectiveness between the two
approaches could emerge if incentives for communication and
collaboration were expanded.
The ‘effectiveness’ of development effectiveness methodolo-
gies, currently receiving justifiable attention by national and
international development organizations will depend, in large
measure, on how well the role of information and knowledge in
development is understood and integrated into the application
of these methodologies. These organizations, including the IDB,
are committed to working with beneficiary countries to refine
processes and instruments for formulating outcomes, outputs
and indicators to measure, monitor and evaluate development
effectiveness. However, it is crucial to make sure that what is being
measured is relevant and makes a strategic contribution to achiev-
ing development objectives.
Applying development effectiveness methods to measure the
contribution of knowledge economy expansion to development is
important for a variety of reasons. First of all, since there are no
simple solutions to the challenges of development, the capacity to
manage change becomes crucial. Managing change depends on
access to information about what, when and how development chal-
lenges are articulated and addressed as well as if adjustments are
needed in the approaches for addressing them. A dynamic knowl-
edge economy can ensure that such information is available and
the capacity to manage change is strengthened.
Secondly, information about information and knowledge about
knowledge economy are essential to formulate strategies and design
projects regarding the effective deployment of ICT for development.
Development effectiveness is enhanced as the capacity for manag-
ing change is strengthened. Managing change depends on access
to information and the application of knowledge, including infor-
mation about information and knowledge about knowledge.
Ensuring this access, therefore, depends on applying development
effectiveness methodologies to ICT deployment and knowledge
economy expansion.
As the idea of applying development effectiveness methodolo-
gies to knowledge economy expansion spreads, the questions
that emerge relate to what should be measured and how should
it be measured. Our concern is as much with measuring the
deployment of specific technologies as it is with measuring the
contribution of their applications to the two objectives of the IDB
institutional strategy: increasing the rate of sustainable economic
growth and reducing poverty while promoting equity. A great deal
of important work is being produced that measures technologi-
cal deployment. This approach is based on collaboration with
other groups and a desire to increase the application of econom-
ics to measure the contribution of knowledge economy expansion
to sustainable economic growth and reducing poverty while
promoting equity.
Policy convergence
Digital convergence requires policy convergence among the compo-
nents of the knowledge economy if these technologies are to
contribute effectively to a democratic process of efficient, equitable
and sustainable development. Policy convergence should involve
the application of development effectiveness methodologies to
measure, monitor and evaluate the contribution of digital conver-
gence and knowledge economy to this process. Lessons learned
from efforts currently underway in a growing number of countries
are likely to provide concrete and practical linkages between digital
convergence and the strengthening of their capacity to increase
sustainable economic growth and reducing poverty while promot-
ing equity. Such linkages between economic and social
development are critical if the countries of Latin America and the
Caribbean are to carry out ‘second generation’ reforms needed to
achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
The ideas and opinions expressed in this chapter are those of the authors
and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Inter-American
Development Bank (IDB)