By David Souter for Building Communication Opportunities Alliance

LONDON, UK, 10 November 2008

Information and communications have always been crucial to development. People’s abilities to manage their lives, protect their families, seize opportunities and prosper have always depended on the extent to which they can gain and apply knowledge, share experience, seek help and advice, voice their opinions and influence decisions that affect them.

Development agencies have long been concerned to improve people’s ability to learn from one another, share ideas and experience, and use information and communications media for campaigning and empowerment.

In the last decade or so, new information and communications technologies (ICTs) have added considerably to the resources that people use for information and communications. These include many different resources in broadcasting, telecommunications, the internet and information technology. Some – such as community radio and mobile telephony – have achieved extensive reach in developing countries; others – such as the internet – are not yet widely distributed.

Almost everyone agrees that information, communication and ICTs have the potential to improve people’s lives, including the lives of the poor, and can contribute to poverty reduction and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Much of our experience with ICTs, however, is very recent. There is therefore much uncertainty about their impact on the ground, and about the best ways for development actors to unlock their potential.

The Building Communication Opportunities (BCO) Alliance is a partnership of nine diverse agencies working in information and communications for development (ICD), including donors and NGOs concerned with policy development and project implementation. It was formed in 2004 to help its partners work more effectively and creatively with media and ICTs, and to investigate the impact they are having on the lives of the poor with whom they work.

The alliance has produced a briefing which summarises the work which BCO partners have undertaken to assess the impact of ICTs. It is intended for development professionals and others who are concerned about their potential and the challenges involved in working with information and communications media. It identifies key challenges and draws on four investigations undertaken by BCO in 2007-2008. These were concerned with:

• The impact of radio on social and political change
• The impact of information and communications on markets and the poor
• The impact of information and communications networking

• The challenge of impact assessment itself in information and communications work.

The briefing also draws conclusions from BCO partners’ work and makes recommendations for development actors concerned with information and communications in development. Read the briefing, which is also available in French and Spanish on the BCO website.

(END/2008)