Over the years, we've all seen how information communication technology (ict) has shaped the world, positively and negatively. Lets take the internet for instance, big corporations have been founded on the internet. Big deals have been struck and lives have been changed. Now if a poor farmer in a remote village in Ghana, West Africa, is connected to the internet and taught how to use it positively, he can create direct connections between himself and potential buyers from other parts of the world of his unique farm produce (this trade is currently being run by so called "middle men" who buy the produce from the farmers at very low prices and sell them to importers & consumers at high prices. Many have enriched themselves whilst the hard working farmers are still very poor). By eliminating these middle men, the farmers are able to sell their produce directly to the consumers & importers, there by maximizing profit. These farmers can then provide better education for their children, access good health care and improve the general living conditions. So I ask again. Can ICT be used as a tool to alleviate poverty in Africa? Please share your thoughts
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the case in many of these countries such as Ghana that some do real well and actually live very well, while majority is struggling (a bit like the US start to leaning towards...)? Â I got this impression from student mates from just Ghana (studying in the US). Â So to answer the question (which I'm probably not qualified to do), it would be a certainly help with Education, and also a computer.
How is it being used in Nigeria ? The idea is not the number of people who use internet (these are mostly in the cities and towns), but the impact it can have on the millions (the majority) who don't have enough to feed themselves. How do we harness the potentials of this technology to improve the lives of our people in a sustainable way?
The internet is not to Africa and the level of technology used is equal to that used in other parts of the world. But the question is, how can it be effectively used to improve the lives of the poor majority?