ICT Policy Reviews

Objective: Reviews of National ICT Plans

In the past decade, ICTs have become an integral part of many development plans and poverty reduction strategies. Governments have formulated ICT plans and set objectives to ensure the effective deployment and usage of ICT in their country for the benefit of their citizens and enterprises. In most cases, however, there is a need to review the status of national ICT plans, to understand the impact they have had so far on economies and societies, and finally to make recommendations for policy improvements.

UNCTAD’s ICT Policy Reviews

As part of its technical cooperation activities, UNCTAD carries out country reviews to help developing countries adjust their ICT policies and implementation mechanisms aimed at developing the information and knowledge-based economy. The ICT Policy Review (ICTPR) assesses the implementation of national ICT master plans within the context of UNCTAD’s mandate to examine how ICT and e-business development issues have been operationalized in national development strategies. It identifies policies and programmes favouring the development of the information economy and assesses specific e-business and cross-cutting policies that are intimately linked to the development of the information economy. An ICTPR furthermore discusses the value of integrating ICTs as an instrument within broader national development processes (such as poverty reduction strategies), and examines to what extent national ICT plans have contributed to the country's overall development objectives.

The model framework focuses on a review of three main components:

  • The general economic environment and ICT diffusion to assess the extent to which ICTs are available and used in the country;
  • The key policy components of the national ICT master plan and their implementation: ICT infrastructure, legal and regulatory framework, the development of ICT human resources, and the development of sector-specific policies and ICT applications to promote e-business, e-government, ICT-related trade and investment policies, and ICT-related technological innovation; and
  • The institutional framework, implementation mechanisms and the roles of each stakeholder

Beneficiaries and stakeholders

Direct beneficiaries are the governmental bodies involved in the development, implementation and monitoring of national ICT policies. These include government ministries in charge of the national ICT policy framework, as well as stakeholders from business organizations, academia and civil society that participate in, and contribute to, the policy formulation and implementation.

At a national level, beneficiaries include the general public and specific groups or institutions (e.g. rural communities or schools) benefiting from policy objectives such as universal access to ICT or the development of human resources, as well as SMEs and specific sectors- benefiting from policies promoting domestic and international e-business, ICT-related trade, technological innovation or e-government.

Through UNCTAD’s inter-governmental framework, governments in other developing countries can benefit from peer reviews and sharing of best practices.
Requesting UNCTAD assistance

Developing countries that would like to receive technical assistance in the form of an ICT Policy Review should send an email to ICT4D@unctad.org.