Narrowing The Digital Divide Notes On A Global Netcorps by Ian Smillie - October 1999

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19

Where is the Wisdom we have lost in knowledge?
Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?
T.S. Eliot

Executive Summary
The rate of advancement of information and communications technologies (ICT) is revolutionary. New technologies facilitate the acquisition and absorption of information, offering developing countries unprecedented opportunities to enhance educational systems, improve policy formation and execution, and widen the range of opportunities for business and the poor. There is a danger, however, that the global information society will be global in name only; that the world will be divided into the 'information rich' and the 'information poor', with the gap between developed and developing countries widening rather than narrowing. The vast need notwithstanding, one of the greatest dangers in the promotion of ICTs is that Southern organizations will be drawn too quickly into the purchase of expensive and sophisticated technology that they can neither afford nor sustain, beguiled by the hope that it will solve problems that it cannot.

The rapid onset of new ICTs offers a new opportunity for volunteer-sending programs. Needs in the South are great and technical assistance, when available, is enormously expensive. In the North, the new technologies are best understood by, and are more familiar to a generation of young adults than to their parents. In short, there is a dramatic need for assistance on the one hand, and on the other there is a large pool of young people with the potential to address it.

Emerging Lessons
In 1996, pilot projects were initiated in Canada which resulted in the creation of 'NetCorps Canada International', a partnership between the Government of Canada and six volunteer-sending NGOs, aimed at harnessing talent among young Canadians for the advancement of ICTs in developing countries. As a result of the pilot phase, 500 internships will be made available between 1999 and 2001. This paper reviews progress to date and considers the potential for a broader 'Global NetCorps'. Initial observations and lessons on the Canadian experience include the following:

requests for NetCorps interns are proliferating almost exponentially. It is becoming increasingly important that requests be carefully screened for two reasons. First, it is essential to ensure a good match between the need and the person who will be sent to address it. Second, and more important, it is incumbent upon the supplying agency to ensure the developmental validity of the request;

recruitment for NetCorps placements is not as straightforward as for other types of assignment. Formal qualifications may be irrelevant to the broader skills and experience that an individual brings to an assignment. Because of high domestic demand for new talent, special recruitment drives and advertising may be necessary;

training: the need to provide technical upgrading for recruits should be treated with care. An under-equipped intern will do a poor job, and may become a disillusioned or angry intern. Alternatively, a well-qualified individual may solve the problem s/he was sent to work on quickly, and then feel there is little left to do. Part of the training should focus on the need for flexibility, encouraging volunteers to think about how their particular expertise and development - of their host institution and the people it serves - fit together;

material support: once a volunteer is on site, it may be discovered that the equipment, software or connectivity needed to support the job are inadequate. A project support fund which can help to address such problems could make the difference between a successful assignment and a failure;

technical support: Volunteers are likely to encounter technical difficulties that could be answered in minutes by someone with the right experience. Reaching distant technical support should not be a major problem in principle. Arrangements could be made to have systematic technical backup on call, possibly involving the private sector, returned volunteers, or 'associate volunteers' (including individuals with disabilities that prevent travel);

given the nature of the technology, there is no reason why returned NetCorps volunteers could not maintain on-going involvement with their host organization, providing on-line support long after they have left the field;

a role for the private sector: if there is private sector interest in fostering and hiring talented individuals with good cross-cultural experience, one manifestation of this might be to make internships available to individuals that a firm is actually in the process of hiring. A sponsored NetCorps posting could be made a pre-condition to permanent hiring by a participating firm. The cost to the company would not be great and longer-term benefits would be obvious; tensions about private sector involvement among other participating agencies should, however, be noted. The initiative should be driven by development considerations rather than by donors, NGOs or private sector interests;

there is nothing magic about an emphasis on youth unless it is central to an organization's work, or unless youth have a special advantage. It might be useful to distinguish between internships with a learning and youth focus, and the longer-term placements more typical of volunteer-sending organizations. If tailored specifically to students as a co-op program for which university credits were available, the former might help to solve some of the recruitment problem while creating real value-added where their education is concerned;

the Canadian program makes interns available for approximately six months. The duration of the assignment was determined by the funding available, rather than by particular needs to be addressed. ICT assignments could very well be shorter or longer;

• clarity of purpose as it relates to volunteer-sending will be important to the effective evolution of the concept. Will it become an ICT-related 'Third World Outward Bound'? A cheap alternative to high-priced technical assistance? Or something more?

A Global NetCorps?
The NetCorps concept is a simple, attractive idea that is bound to catch on quickly. The sending agencies and their volunteers have the potential for creativity and impact. Because of the potential for costly failure, however, they also have a responsibility to think and act in the most developmentally professional way possible. There are strong arguments for the creation of some form of 'Global NetCorps' - to reduce overlap, confusion and wheel reinvention, to reduce the burden on potential recipients, to provide greater partnership and participation among all stakeholders, and to ensure that important, emergent technologies are made available in the most developmentally sound way possible. Two general courses of action are possible:

a minimalist approach: publicize the idea; share experiences and lessons by posting reports on the Internet; encourage others to undertake their own versions of the initiative. Because the need is great and the human resources are available, tailoring existing volunteer-sending organizations to the new challenge will not be difficult. NetCorps lookalikes will develop quickly and without much encouragement;

a virtual network: none of the many existing ICT-related networks has a mandate to manage more than parts of what might be included in a Global NetCorps. It is possible, however, that the tasks envisaged could be stitched together in a virtual manner through already existing organizations or, if necessary, housed in a new one. A virtual network - either distributed or centrally-based - would address some of the opportunities for sharing information and creating common on-line services.

A third alternative would be to create a membership body with a central secretariat which could handle both the virtual and the physical requirements of a global network of people undertaking physical assignments around the world. Such a secretariat could be located independently, or within a participating organization. Its mandate could include:

information sharing: this will be essential to making effective ICT placements. A well-edited website dedicated to sharing information on NetCorps initiatives could be very useful. A single shared information and feedback system would make more sense than ten or twenty, and would considerably reduce the burden on Southern organizations;

coordination, including:

the development of common standards for assessing the technical capabilities of applicants for positions overseas;

the creation of an on-line news service with news and views relating to ICTs and development, as well as practical issues relating to NetCorps placements;

the creation of a virtual 24-hour backstopping and troubleshooting service for volunteers in the field and for registered partner organizations;

shared monitoring and evaluation: could reduce wheel reinvention and failure;

specialized country-based websites that could assist organizations, firms and government departments to understand technological options, problems and potential within the context of their own locale. This would be of use to both providers and potential recipients of ICT support in making requests and objectives as realistic as possible;

South-South placements: in most countries of the South there is a growing cadre of youth with good knowledge and expertise of ICTs. The placement of a Ghanaian volunteer in Sierra Leone would be less expensive and might be far more appropriate than the placement of a European or North American. Building relationships and technical collaboration between developing countries is as important in this field as building North-South relationships;

South-North placements: in some ways, the technology gap is almost as wide within industrialized countries as it is between the North and the South, hence the dozens of ICT-related organizations working with NGOs, rural and native communities and citizens' associations in Europe and North America. Canada World Youth has shown that useful ICT-related programs can be developed in Canada for young people from the South as well as vice versa. A Global NetCorps would be able to coordinate and facilitate such a service better than national efforts;

participatory planning and management: it is possible for ICT interns and volunteers to communicate easily with each other, independently of their sponsoring agency. This offers an opportunity for better insights into attitudes, issues and problems, and would - if broadly established - lead to more participatory planning and management;

real North-South partnerships: a Global NetCorps would offer a rare opportunity for open comment and input from host organizations, which could lead to greater transparency, better monitoring and evaluation and a considerably more participatory approach to planning and management.

Next Steps
Getting to a decision on the alternatives will require serious discussion among interested volunteer-sending organizations, government agencies, existing coordinating bodies and potential users of the service. This should take place soon, before momentum and territoriality overtake the opportunity.