From East to West, the economies of Europe and Central Asia (ECA) are not taking full advantage of the internet to foster economic growth and job creation.
... See More + The residents of Central Asia and the South Caucasus pay some of the highest prices in the world for internet connections that are slow and unreliable. In contrast, Europe enjoys some of the world’s fastest and affordable internet services. However, its firms and individuals are not fully exploiting the internet to achieve higher productivity growth as well as more and better jobs. Reaping Digital Dividends investigates the barriers that are holding back the broader adoption of the internet in ECA. The report identifies the main bottlenecks and provides policy recommendations tailored to economies at varying levels of digital development. It concludes that policies to increase internet access are necessary but not sufficient. Policies to foster competition, international trade and skills supply, as well as adapting regulations to the changing business environment and labor markets, will also be necessary. In other words, Reaping Digital Dividends not only requires better connectivity, but also complementary factors that allow governments, firms and individuals to make the most out of it.
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Publication 114437 APR 18, 2017
Kelly,Timothy John Charles; Liaplina,Aleksandra; Tan,Shawn Weiming; Winkler,Hernan JorgeDisclosed
From East to West, the economies of Europe and Central Asia (ECA) are not taking full advantage of the internet to foster economic growth and job creation.
... See More + The residents of Central Asia and the South Caucasus pay some of the highest prices in the world for internet connections that are slow and unreliable. In contrast, Europe enjoys some of the world’s fastest and affordable internet services. However, its firms and individuals are not fully exploiting the internet to achieve higher productivity growth as well as more and better jobs. Reaping Digital Dividends investigates the barriers that are holding back the broader adoption of the internet in ECA. The report identifies the main bottlenecks and provides policy recommendations tailored to economies at varying levels of digital development. It concludes that policies to increase internet access are necessary but not sufficient. Policies to foster competition, international trade and skills supply, as well as adapting regulations to the changing business environment and labor markets, will also be necessary. In other words, Reaping Digital Dividends not only requires better connectivity, but also complementary factors that allow governments, firms and individuals to make the most out of it.
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Publication 114437 JAN 01, 2017
Kelly,Timothy John Charles; Liaplina,Aleksandra; Tan,Shawn Weiming; Winkler,Hernan JorgeDisclosed
Digital technologies have spread rapidly. Digital technologies to benefit everyone everywhere requires improving the analog complements to digital investments - by strengthening regulations that ensure competition among businesses, by adapting workers’ skills to the demands of the new economy, and by ensuring that institutions are accountable.
... See More + Inclusion, efficiency, innovation are the main mechanisms for the internet to promote development. How can these mechanisms be leveraged to promote Africa’s development? The paper tracks some 117 tech hubs across Africa, many of which have been created in the last few years. The paper looks at the patterns of origin by which tech hubs are created, why they have a high failure rate, and what makes for success.
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World Development Report 102957 JAN 01, 2016
Kelly,Timothy John Charles; Firestone,Rachel SohnDisclosed
Communications networks underpin regional and global trade. This is particularly true in East Africa where mobile phones are plentiful but postal services are virtually non-existent and cross border road and railway links are subject to the vagaries of adverse environmental conditions.
... See More + High mobile roaming charges, and surcharges on incoming international traffic (SIIT), create a similar barrier for cross-border electronic communications. Recognizing this, the countries of the East African Community (EAC) made a joint commitment in 2014 to create one network area (ONA) for the five economies of the EAC (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Uganda), with the benefits also being extended to South Sudan. It is expected that the benefits of creating the ONA will include increased trade, enhanced regional integration, and reduced costs of doing business, as well as increased revenues to the operators and the governments. Success with mobile voice traffic should also encourage operators to cut data roaming charges, perhaps without regulatory intervention.
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World Development Report 102952 JAN 01, 2016
Kelly,Timothy John Charles; Kemei,Christopher KipkoechDisclosed
Mobile phones, and especially smartphones, are opening new ways to assess and improve assistance and the delivery of basic services in the developing world.
... See More + Each year, developing countries see an annual gain of about 500 million new smartphones, virtually all of which generate not only call data records but also, with their GPS and Wi-Fi capabilities, a rich set of more precise data on location and movement. The rapid diffusion of the phones and the locational data they generate are helping fuel the science of delivery, the evidence-based, experimental approach to project assessment and improvement. The technology is finding an expanding variety of uses. Recent examples involving transport and logistics include: transit route mapping in Abidjan; supply chain management for community health workers in Malawi; transport planning in Cote d’Ivoire; and malaria tracking in Kenya. A notable and more impromptu use arose after a tsunami hit Japan in March 2011. Health care authorities used call data records (CDRs) generated by mobile phones to track the evacuation from the vicinity of the damaged Fukushima nuclear power plant. They then meshed the CDRs with health records to optimize the delivery of needed emergency health treatment.
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Brief 96230 JAN 01, 2015
Haddad,Ryan; Kelly,Timothy John Charles; Leinonen, Teemu; Saarinen, VesaDisclosed
The objective of this report is to examine the potential of locational data for the 'science of delivery' in the field of development.
... See More + The 'science of delivery' is a term popularized by the World Bank President, Jim Yong Kim, and refers to using evidence-based experimentation to improve development outcomes (Walji, 2013). In this context, locational data is a new tool that is starting to be used in a variety of development fields including health, education, disaster risk management, traffic planning etc. this broad introduction to the topic in chapter one, the next chapter explores the technology behind locational data. Chapter three presents the methodology followed in this research and chapter four, which is the heart of this report, then presents a series of mini case studies of how it is actually being used in a representative sample of different development fields. This is the 'evidence-based experimentation' which can be harnessed to improve the 'science of delivery', and examples of both active and passive collection of locational data are presented. Finally, chapter five examines, in broader terms, the longer term potential of locational data as a development tool, once smartphone ownership becomes more widespread.
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This report concerns the relationship between information and communication technologies (ICTs) and post conflict reconstruction, especially with ways in which ICTs can be used by governments and donors to support the transition from violence to stability.
... See More + The report is divided into two parts: part one presents an overview and framework for analysis; and part two presents' case studies. The World Bank Group (WBG) has been concerned with sustainable recovery from violent conflict since its origins in 1944 as indicated by the name of its leading institution, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The role of ICTs in development has also been prominent within the Bank's portfolio since the 1990s, as they have developed rapidly in technological complexity and geographic reach, becoming ever more central to government and business, to the sharing of knowledge, and to interactions between individuals and within communities. This report gives an overview of the relationship between conflict, reconstruction and the role of ICTs. It builds on experience within the Bank as well as on a wide range of practitioner, academic, and other literature. It draws on five case studies of aspects of ICT development in societies emerging from conflict, which were commissioned by the Bank and which are reported in subsequent chapters. These case studies were specifically chosen to reflect the experiences of widely differing countries, at different stages of recovery from conflict: Afghanistan following decades of civil war followed by international intervention; Liberia following a negotiated settlement to protracted civil war; Timor-Leste since its troubled acquisition of independence; Rwanda seeking stability in the aftermath of genocide; and Tunisia, which recently experienced not civil war but insurrection leading to a change of government.
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Publication 84355 FEB 03, 2014
Kelly, Timothy John Charles; Souter, DavidDisclosed
This new flagship report for the eTransform Africa Project, produced by the World Bank and the African Development Bank, with the support of the African Union, identifies best practice in the use of Information and communication technologies (ICTs) in key sectors of the African economy.
... See More + Under the theme transformation-ready, the growing contribution of ICTs to agriculture, climate change adaptation, education, financial services, government services, and health is explored. In addition, the report highlights the role of ICTs in enhancing African regional trade and integration as well as the need to build a competitive ICT industry to boost innovation, job creation, and the export potential of African companies.
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Trade is critically important to Africa's economic prospects, as a source of revenue, investment and employment, yet Africa's trade is highly fragmented and the weakness of its trade performance constrains growth and poverty reduction.
... See More + Africa today generates only about 2.5-3.5 per cent of world trade. African countries mostly export primary commodities while importing manufactured goods, from Europe, North America or developing regions outside Africa. Only about 10 per cent of Africa's trade is exchanged within the continent, a much lower proportion than in other world regions. Small domestic markets, landlocked status and limited natural resources restrict the trade potential of many countries. These structural factors inhibit the development of manufacturing sectors which could supply both African and world markets. Trade barriers are strongest at critical points along the supply chain between producers and consumers of goods and services, particularly points of entry/exit between countries.
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The second most populous continent in the world and with abundant natural resources, Africa continues to grow as the world's economy currently stands on shaky ground.
... See More + However, steady GDP gains are sometimes obscured by the continent's economic, political and social problems. As Africa grows and becomes more tightly integrated with the global economy, its citizens and businesses increasingly need access to financial services tools that will allow them to compete. ICT is one avenue for increasing that access as ICT and financial services complement each other. ICTs allow for greater financial inclusion, and the financial services sector is a primary driver of communications and network technology. However, the financial services sector has distinct developmental challenges. Issues of trust, consumer protection, and network systemic risks that can slow the pace of progress require clear and strong regulations. The need for policy and regulatory development is made more difficult by the speed of technological change. Nevertheless, strategic intervention through policy or public investment can play a critical role in addressing the challenges faced by the financial services sector.
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Tracking progress in sustainable agriculture and forest management is challenging: distances are long, populations are sparse, interventions range from policies to crop and livestock practices, and the voice of the farmer is critical for success.
... See More + Recent approaches focusing on climate impacts and land use pressures (climate-smart agriculture and landscape approach) add to the complexity and require efficient data collection and analysis methods. The systemization of information and communication technology (ICT) in the monitoring and evaluation (M and E) process enables accountability- from field staff to regional and central governments and development partners. The leapfrog effects of ICT have increased access to quality information, eased knowledge sharing among practitioners and resource-constrained governments, and created opportunities to improve accountability. The expansion of ICT has also made the work of development practitioners easier and more accurate. In some regions there are already more mobile phone subscriptions than people, and even internet access has become more common. This report identifies where ICT has expanded the capacity to perform good M and E and, more importantly, it identifies where it has not. It identifies where and how it can expand data collection and M and E, but also why and how technology is not a replacement for human agency and involvement in analysis and interpretation tasks. This report seeks to present solutions to some of the questions concerning data collection and M and E. It is designed to be an operational piece that addresses how governments and practitioners can use ICT to improve their data collection and M&E efforts in rural development projects. The first section gives overview. The second section of the report focuses on the most important aspect of ICT use: articulating the needs of the project and users. The third section provides an overview of five models currently used to implement and integrate information technology into M and E efforts. The crux of the report centers on choosing the right product or set of products for the project, and it includes cross-comparative guidance on application features such as data validation, offline capacity, dashboards, and built-in analytics in section four. The service design section deals with issues inherent to the provision of public services, such as how to provide appropriate incentives for the participation necessary to sustain the program and why post-data collection efforts are critical to success is discussed in section five. Along with these practical approaches to deploying ICT, the report describes five case studies on mobile-based data collection in the agriculture and forest sectors in section six. The conclusion section follows the case studies in section seven.
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Working Paper (Numbered Series) 83305 DEC 01, 2013
Belden,Cory; Bothwell, Carol; Etulain,Troy Michael; Figueres,Caroline Marie Des Neiges; Goyal,Aparajita; Kelly,Timothy John Charles; Pidatala,Krishna; Pruuden, Peeter; Surya,PriyaDisclosed
