April 12, 2002
Using IT to fight poverty
The International Herald Tribune

G-7 nations find a new form of foreign aid

PALERMO, Sicily An unusual coalition of wealthy Group of Seven governments, leading multinational corporations, nonprofit groups and developing countries is seeking ways to use the Internet and information technology as a new form of foreign aid to help alleviate global poverty.

The public-private partnership, which was among the top issues discussed during a two-day meeting here of 91 countries, is called the Digital Opportunity Task Force, or DOT force.

Members of the group will present their work to President George W. Bush and other G-7 leaders attending their annual summit meeting, to be held in June in the Canadian resort town of Kananaskis.

Flanking the G-7's DOT force are aides to Kofi Annan, secretary-general of the United Nations, and James Wolfensohn, the World Bank president, both of whom have taken a personal interest in the new aid project.

"The real significance of this initiative," said Denis Gilhooly, director of information technology aid projects at the UN Development Program, "is that information technology will ultimately be integrated into the mainstream of overseas development aid."

Gilhooly stressed that "today every G-7 and European Union government is reconsidering its aid strategy and they are all very receptive to increasing the use of technology not as a replacement for traditional aid but as a vital and complementary tool."

Julia Moffett, a former White House official who is managing director of the Markle Foundation, a New York-based philanthropy group that focuses on information technology issues, said the efforts of the DOT force "can set a powerful precedent for public-private government efforts that are strategic and sustainable." She added that as technology's role in overall development gained importance, "the DOT force's work can be a new model for the battle against poverty."

G-7 officials who asked not to be identified said the initiative could be politically attractive to the Bush administration because it was both heavily supported by leading U.S. companies like Cisco Systems Inc., Hewlett-Packard Co., Sun Microsystems Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. and at same time offered a relatively inexpensive response to anti-globalization protest groups, foreign governments and congressional critics who charge that it is not doing enough to alleviate poverty.

The Bush administration was at first cool to the DOT force, perceiving it as a leftover from the Clinton administration. But as big U.S. companies lobbied for support, the administration began warming to the project.

In the United States, the private sector has been enthusiastic, seeing the initiative as a way to grow overseas revenues.

"What is happening is that the public sector is discovering the potential of the Internet and broadband as access channels and development facilitators," said Robert Lloyd, head of Cisco's European operations.

Cisco's motivation, Mr. Lloyd said, "is to help shorten the learning cycle and accelerate success rates for developing country governments by using 'best practice' models, and governments are among our most important clients."

"The private sector," according to John Gage, chief researcher at Sun Microsystems, "believes that governments won't do what they say they are doing unless we are there to ensure strict commitments to deadlines and budgets." Asked why Sun was active in the DOT force, he said "because the government money is there, and so that is why we are there."

Canada, which is chairman of the G-7 this year, is expected to incorporate the digital initiative into its Africa agenda for the June meeting. The chairman of the DOT force is Peter Harder, deputy industry minister of Canada.

Harder said the use of information technology aid was based on a "carrot and stick" approach.

"The carrot is enhanced recognition by rich developed countries that information and communications technologies are important for aid," he said, while "the stick is that developing countries must recognize there has to be greater transparency and accountability for them to qualify for this new form of aid."

Copyright © 2001 The International Herald Tribune