Tomorrow Today

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Turning today’s youth into tomorrow’s

leaders in ICT for development

Dr. Hyeun-Suk Rhee, Director, United Nations Asian and Pacific Training Centre for

Information and Communication Technology for Development

mong the critical elements necessary to achieving

sustainable development is the building and strength-

ening of institutions capable of delivering services that

strive towards the goals of development. A critical part of this

process is education and human capacity-building, which can

equip present and future leaders with the necessary skills and

knowledge they need to achieve development goals.

The new technologies of communication – from individual-

ized computer-assisted learning systems to the more sophisticated

Internet-based technologies of today – offer an unparalleled oppor-

tunity to reconsider conventional practices and institutions and

accelerate the pace of socio-economic advancement. The role of infor-

mation and communication technologies (ICTs) as a critical element

in broad-based and equitable human development has long been

widely accepted. However, the degree to which countries use ICTs to

achieve their development goals depends not only on the provision

of ICT infrastructure, hardware and software but, just as importantly,

on the education of people to effectively use these technologies. Many

developing countries lack the necessary human resources to leverage

the opportunities presented by ICTs, thereby lagging behind in fully

participating in a digital and networked global economy. In order

for these countries to leapfrog ahead, it is vital to ensure that the

knowledge and skills of future generations align with the needs of

the information society. As explicitly noted by the

World Youth Report

2005

in the context of the World Programme of Action

for Youth,

globalization and the technological revolu-

tion require new responses to the educational needs

of youth and therefore, urgent attention is needed to

prevent the digital divide between developed and devel-

oping countries from widening in the next generation.

This is especially relevant in the Asia-Pacific region,

which is home to more than half of the world’s youth

population.

As the youth of today go on to occupy leadership

positions in society in the coming years and decades,

and assume the roles of policymakers and key decision-

makers in academic, private sector and civil society

institutions, their ability to recognize and leverage the

link between ICTs and developmental goals will prove

crucial. From this perspective, creating a critical mass

of future leaders and decision makers who have a

keen understanding of the potential of ICTs for socio-

economic development (and the essential skills to tap the

opportunities presented by ICTs) should be viewed as

a pressing requirement in the Asia-Pacific region today.

Responding to a call for action

The Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information

and Communication Technology for Development

(UN-APCICT/ESCAP),

a subsidiary body of the United

Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and

the Pacific (ESCAP), has been implementing the Future

ICT Leaders Programme to create a cadre of next-

generation leaders equipped with the capacity to use ICTs

for achieving development goals. Currently the programme

consists of two main components: provision of practical

exposure to the ICT for development (ICTD) field and

enhancement of ICTD education in universities, integrated

with and supported by other programmes of APCICT.

The United Nations established APCICT on 16 June

2006 in Incheon, Republic of Korea in response to the

Plan of Action of the World Summit on the Information

Society (WSIS), which called for international and

regional cooperation to enhance the capacity of leaders

and personnel in developing countries. The role and

mission of the Centre is to strengthen the efforts of the

62 ESCAP member and associate member countries

in the Asia-Pacific region to use ICTs in their socio-

economic development through building the human

APCICT’s Future ICT Leaders Programme aims to create a cadre of next generation

leaders equipped with the capacity to use ICTs for achieving development goals

Image: UN-APCICT/ESCAP