ICTD through the eyes of Richard Heeks

ICTD through the eyes of Richard Heeks
Faizul Khan Tanim spoke with Professor Richard Heeks about the future of ICT in Bangladesh and other developing countries

Richard Heeks is one of the leading ICT scholars in the world. Professor of Development Informatics in the Institute for Development Policy and Management, part of the School of Environment and Development, he is also the Director of Centre for Development Informatics at the University of Manchester.

He is one of the pre-eminent and highly-cited academics in the emerging sub-discipline of "ICT4D" - ICTs for Development, and has written six books, more than 30 refereed articles, and over 100 other papers and reports.


Faizul Khan Tanim (FKT): In developing countries, the ICT sectors are lagging behind because there is lack of human resources. How can we go about developing this resource?

Richard Heeks (RH): Of course the obvious answer is through education, particularly building up skills at undergraduate and postgraduate level. However, I would add two riders to that. First, that you need a careful analysis to see what skills are actually required in the ICT sector: for example, while technical skills are undoubtedly the foundation, we also find that softer skills - what one might call 'information systems' skills - are also needed alongside the 'computer science' technical skills.

Second that you need also to work on the demand side - i.e. by making clear to potential students what sort of careers they can expect from studying these areas.

FKT: According to you, which are the countries that have shown the most promising results in this sector?

RH: Well, again, an obvious answer would be to cast your eyes across the border to India, which is now a global leader on ICT services, and to cast your eyes across a couple of borders to China which is now a global leader in ICT manufacturing. If you look back at the early history of this sector in those countries you find that in fact it was government guidance and supportive interventions that were critical to getting started and to sustaining momentum. That's a lesson I hope the Bangladesh government and business community is heeding.

FKT: According to a few academics, the importance of ICT is over-rated. What is your comment on this?

RH: It is very hard to see how one could look around in the modern world and not recognise the central importance of ICTs. To take just one example, it is estimated that across South Asia the mobile phone has been responsible for the creation of 12 million new jobs. Recent evidence from Kenya has shown that ICTs have, over the past ten years, contributed one quarter of the country's entire GDP growth. To me it seems the danger is more from under-rating than over-rating ICTs.

FKT: According to a lot of ICT academicians/practitioners, the massive telecentre movement still isn't successful the way it was projected in some developing nations such as Bangladesh. Is it lack of infrastructure or lack of financial capability?

RH: You would need to do a detailed analysis to understand what the issue is here for Bangladesh. But I would pose three questions. First: was this model really the right one for Bangladesh, or was it designed based on some European idea, and then transferred to Bangladesh without proper adaptation to local circumstances? Second: how much was the private sector involved - was it too little, was it too much, what lessons can we learn? Third: is the telecentre still the best way ahead to connect the mass of the Bangladeshi population to the Internet, or should we be thinking at least as much - if not more - about making that connection via mobile devices?

FKT: ICT for D has been grabbed by the corporate sectors. Is poverty alleviation possible with this thing happening?

RH: I think it is. Of course one has to be cautious because with the corporate sector there is always a profit motive, and that is sometimes anti-thetical to poverty alleviation. On the other hand, the dynamism of the private sector may well prove to be the key route to poverty alleviation; albeit combined in partnership with the support of government and civil society. But I think the "old development model" of relying on government, and then more latterly also on civil society, has not delivered quite as it should, and we should certainly welcome the private sector into the fight against poverty.

FKT: From your vast knowledge of ICT projects around the world, can you name some interesting projects in Bangladesh?

RH: One of the disappointments I have about Bangladesh is that it contains such a vibrant set of organisations and individuals who are utilising ICTs for developmental purposes, and yet I don't feel - globally - that the country yet gets the recognition and profile it deserves. Of course everyone knows of Grameen and the Village Phone Project, but I sometimes worry that this has rather eclipsed some of the other work that we in the ICT4D community may know of, but which could usefully be given greater acknowledgement: Pallitathya, Cell-Bazaar, Batighar, and no doubt a hundred others.

*This article was first published in The Independent, Bangladesh's Weekend Magazine on Friday 04 2010 - http://www.theindependentbd.com/weekly-independent/32647-ictd-through-the-eyes-of-richard-heeks.html