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Connectivity and Development

Connectivity can help transform development efforts...

The combination of informatics and telecommunications is provoking rapid changes in how economies are run and how knowledge is transferred and updated. The widespread use of these technologies has become a critical success factor for the next century. This poses a great challenge for developing nations.

These new technologies also allow instant and economical access to unlimited volumes of information almost anywhere, which offers enormous opportunities. Decentralized decision-making, education in remote areas, and lifelong training and learning are some of the benefits of the proper use of information technologies.

In El Salvador, the privatization of the telecommunications industry, the increase in Internet Service Providers, and the elimination of import tariffs on computer purchases constitute an important step toward joining the connectivity revolution. But much more can be done to promote participation by all of society in the advantages this revolution offers.

Examples

• Farmers can increase their income significantly by locating new markets through the Internet and keeping on top of world and national prices.
• Small businesses use shared-access Internet centers to locate new markets and suppliers.
• Ongoing training and skills-updating of company personnel is facilitated by distance education through the Internet.
• Connectivity allows emigrants to communicate easily with their families and colleagues in home countries, to help build trade, stimulate investments and transfer knowledge.
• Telemedecine can be deployed to support local practitioners in their diagnosis and prescriptions, avoiding the unnecessary movement of patients.

All these successful initiatives have something in common: they utilize modern information and communications technologies to find more rapid and simple solutions to both everyday difficulties and the challenges of development.

updated 31 May 1999

Conectándonos al Futuro, San Salvador, El Salvador

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