Call for Papers: ICTs, Enterprises and Poverty Alleviation

The Information Economy Report 2010
ICTs, Enterprises and Poverty Alleviation


The Information Economy Report (IER) is one of the flagship publications of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). The report monitors global trends in information and communication technologies (ICTs) as they affect developing countries. It serves as a valuable reference for policymakers.

In 2010, the IER will focus on the poverty implications of the use and production of ICTs by enterprises. Reflecting recent developments in the ICT landscape, the IER 2010 will examine where the main opportunities lie within the ICT sector itself and in terms of wider use of ICT among other enterprises. It will draw policy lessons for relevant stakeholders in order to enhance the poverty reduction impact of production and enterprise use of ICTs.

In this context, UNCTAD hereby invites Members of the Virtual Institute to submit contributions that could be reflected in the final report. Contributions could be in the form of short case studies, summaries of existing research, or simply by making available copies of relevant research articles or chapters.

Key questions that will be addressed include the following:

• In what ways may ICTs in the enterprise sector help to reduce poverty?
• What evidence exists of reduced poverty from an expansion of the ICT sector?
• Within the ICT sector: where are the main opportunities for ICT-related income generation for the poor? What is the evidence to date?
• What evidence exists of reduced poverty from greater use of ICT in the enterprise sector (including in agriculture and in the informal sector)?
• What ICT applications (fixed telephony, mobile telephony, PCs, the Internet, broadband, community radio, telecentres, etc.) for business purposes are the most effective in reducing poverty?
• How does the picture vary between different segments of the poor (classified by gender, age, geographical location, etc)?
• What role can government policies play to enhance the poverty reduction impact of ICT use?
• How successful have ICT for development (ICT4D) projects (especially those focusing on enterprises) been in supporting poverty reduction goals?
• Are there evident “best practices” that can be emulated or “bad practices” that should be avoided when promoting ICT4D projects?
• How can development partners take poverty alleviation better into account when supporting ICT4D activities?
  

Contributions should be submitted to ict4d@unctad.org preferably before 28 February 2010.