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LAC research offers south-south synergies Print E-mail
Friday, 19 November 2004
ICAResearchers from nine Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) countries met in Montevideo, Uruguay to establish priority research themes for pro-poor strategies to address digital inclusion. The Regional Workshop on ICT Regulation and Equity was convened November 11-12, 2004 in Montevideo by the Institute for Connectivity in the Americas (ICA) and is part of a global IDRC initiative on pro-poor, pro-market ICT policy. LIRNE.NET/WDR associates, Bruce Girard and Amy Mahan, participated in the workshop.

The meeting identified five broad and intersecting themes as a first step towards establishing a pro-poor ICT policy research agenda to contribute to pro-poor policy proposals and action plans for the region.

  1. Understanding and measuring digital poverty (Indicators & developing a basic basket of ICT goods and services)
  2. Pro-poor technologies, applications and content
  3. Universal service funds; evaluating their use, developing new models, new revenue sources
  4. Pro-poor regulation (tools and citizen participation)
  5. New models of network ownership and management

The research group plans to produce a series of papers on the above themes for WSIS. Draft findings will be presented in November 2005 at the Summit of the Americas in Mar del Plata, Argentina, with research being finalized for WSIS Tunis, later that month.

Speaking after the meeting, Amy Mahan remarked on the potential for South-South dialogue between the LAC researchers and their counterparts in WDR's Asian and African networks. "The concerns are often similar, but the approaches and methodologies are unique to each region. There is excellent potential for synergies and cross-fertilisation."