73770
                                      ICT for Greater Development Impact
                                       World Bank Group (WBG) Strategy
                                for Information and Communication Technology

                              Report to the Board of Executive Directors from the
                                  Committee on Development Effectiveness ∗

                                             Meeting of February 22, 2012

   The Committee on Development Effectiveness (CODE) endorsed the document entitled ICT for
Greater Development Impact – World Bank Group Strategy for Information and Communication
Technology (CODE2012-0004).

     Members of the Committee strongly welcomed the ICT strategy and supported the proposed three
pillars: Transform, Innovate and Connect. They noted the challenges of implementing the Strategy,
including mainstreaming ICT across sectors and WBG institutions. They underscored the importance of
collaboration across the institution. They inquired about how to scale up activities in IDA countries, and
the financial and human resources available to support clients. Members highlighted the importance of
country-driven approaches and the need to develop client capacity. Comments were made with regard to
ICT and development expectations, procurement, risk management, selectivity, security and privacy
issues, and gender and the digital gap. On results indicators, members noted that specific indicators would
be needed on ICT-enabled transformation and gender. Members asked that the Executive Summary be
strengthened to reflect the richness of the main report.

    Management acknowledged that the recent IEG evaluation as well as consultations with external
stakeholders and public and private players in the ICT market helped shape the ICT strategy. It noted the
potential of the ICT sector, with five billion mobile users in developing countries, and the new
opportunities provided by the IT-based services industry for youth and females. In that sense, ICT has
great promise for increasing productivity, boosting economic growth, reducing poverty, and improving
accountability and governance.

     Management noted that in order to effectively implement the Strategy, the following key issues would
need to be addressed: skills development, selectivity, procurement outcomes, organizational structure and
results. With regard to skills development, it highlighted the limited supply and high demand for ICT
skills in WBG. The supply gap will require expanding the knowledge platform to tap external expertise
and building a strategic plan to identify and scale up skills as needed. Regions and Networks may need to
staff up on ICT skills in sectors where ICT is key to achieving sector objectives while ensuring cross-
sectoral alignment with the ICT unit. On selectivity, the Strategy will look to invest where ICT is critical
for transformative development and where there is client commitment to reform and use country
diagnostics to identify these opportunities. On procurement, greater guidance will be provided to task
team leaders and governments going forward, and changes in Bank-wide procurement guidelines will be
assessed. In the case of organizational structure, it noted that ICT is managed as a single global
operational team that has the flexibility to work across all three institutions. Ownership of the ICT agenda
across Regions and Networks will be strengthened, with the establishment of a director-level global
practice leadership group. Management also noted that it will seek further guidance from IEG to
strengthen the Results Framework of the strategy.



∗
    This report is not an approved record.