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ICT4D Jamaica Print E-mail
Written by Amy Mahan   
Tuesday, 26 September 2006

ICT4D Jamaica is a Jamaican-based network organization established to define, promote and facilitate the use of information and communication technology in the development process. Although Jamaican-focused, the organisation offers via its website an eclectic collection of documents, links, research, and information about advocacy campaigns in support of ICT and development around the world.

At first glance, and indeed, given its name, this appears to be an organisation dedicated to improving ICT resources for Jamaica. An online survey application asks, “Are the present e-Government services meeting the needs of Jamaican citizens?” This visitor responded “not sure” to gain access to the survey results – which clearly illustrate agreement of the users of this website for ICT4D Jamaica’s mandate.

This mandate to promote ICT4D, and to make available a range of resources, clearly is in support of Jamaican citizens wanting to become involved in promoting ICT4D and activism activities to promote awareness and to mobilize around strategies for effective adoption of new technology resources. The website offers an interesting cross-section of ICT4D resources and publications from around the world. A strong point here is that abstracts and summaries for much of the highlighted research is made available - rather than a collection of links to the original texts. There is also good content on e-governance and ICT4D, explaining the concepts and situating them into the Jamaican context. This is huge value added. Clearly the organisation is concerned with making available information resources intelligible and accessible to their target community.

However, ICT4D Jamaica has a much stronger base of solidarity than for the Caribbean island state alone. The organisational profile further proclaims that:

We believe that the secret to prosperity for all mankind lies in the effective use of information for learning and earning and that with reducing resources we must strive as a matter of policy to produce more with less if we are to achieve growth and competitiveness.

This commitment is evident in the Jamaica Links bi-monthly newsletter, available in a print version, via an online subscription or by downloading current and back issues from the website. The articles report on a mix of Jamaican based initiatives, as well as highlights from around the world. The current number reports on the Jamaica Collaborative for Universal Technology Education (JCUTE), Intellectual property rights, a Community Multimedia Centre Management, and on ICT within the prison educational system – in Jamaica; and also on stories from Haiti, Peru, and Argentina.

ICT4D Jamaica – Advancing Development through Information and Communication Technologies: http://www.ict4djamaica.org/content/home/index.htm

Jamaica Links newsletter (bi-monthly): http://www.ict4djamaica.org/content/html/newsletter.asp