Information and communication technology for development (ICT4D)

Mobile phones are close to ubiquitous in developing countries; Internet and broadband access are becoming commonplace.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) thus represent the fastest, broadest, and deepest technical change experienced in international development.

They now affect every development sector - supporting the work of hundreds of millions of farmers and micro-entrepreneurs; creating millions of ICT-based jobs; assisting healthcare workers and teachers; facilitating political change; impacting climate change; but also linked with digital inequalities and harms - with the pace of change continuously accelerating.

This textbook examines and explains these emerging phenomena.