"The falling costs of communications, information...have contributed to
globalization...Many poor people are benefiting from globalization. The
challenge is to bring more of them into this process."
Globalization, Growth and Poverty
"Contrary to the rosy picture presented by the World Bank, the evidence
is overwhelming that this current globalization agenda is a scourge on
the poor."
The Unremarkable Record of Liberalized Trade
Dear GKD Members,
Welcome to the discussion on Technology, Globalization and the Poor.
Globalization -- the integration of economies and societies worldwide --
and access to information and communications technology (ICT) are both
expanding at breakneck speeds. Driven by the private sector,
globalization and technology change have largely ignored the poor. Yet
in a world where about one-fifth of the population lives on less than
US$1 per day, fierce arguments rage about whether and how these dynamics
should change.
Can technology help make globalization work for the poor? Can the
private sector use ICT to create, as CK Prahalad argues, "sustainable
win-win scenarios where the poor are actively engaged and, at the same
time, the companies providing products and services to them are
profitable"?
During the next four weeks, we will tackle these questions to examine:
* How ICT can make it easier and more attractive for companies to tap
into the huge market potential of the world's poor -- and the benefits
and risks to all concerned: international and local companies,
governments, communities, and the poor themselves
* Opportunities that ICT and business approaches offer to reduce poverty
and foster new productive partnerships and business options for the poor
-- and the associated dangers of deepening inequality
* Businesses' use of ICT to improve quality of life and reduce poverty
worldwide, and what actions are needed from other stakeholders --
governments, NGOs, international development organizations, labor
unions, etc. -- to make it happen
As always, we seek concrete cases, field experience and specific,
actionable recommendations that business in all sectors, donors, NGOs,
governments, and individuals can adopt. Key messages from the discussion
will be presented at the "Eradicating Poverty Through Profits/Making
Business Work for the Poor" Conference, sponsored by WRI (San Francisco,
December 12-14). In addition, a CD citing the cases, projects,
experience, success stories, and recommendations presented by GKD
members, along with summaries of the main discussion threads, will be
provided to all registrants of the conference and widely circulated
throughout the development community. We look forward to an exciting and
informative interchange.
Agenda
Week 1: Can technology and a business approach make globalization work
for the poor?
Week 2: Is Profitability Essential for Sustainability?
Week 3: How Can ICT Create New Business Partnerships?
Week 4: Tomorrow's Solutions: What New Technologies and Business Models
are On the Horizon?
Additional information:
The DOT-COM Alliance website provides information about this discussion
and other projects using ICT to support development:
http://www.dot-com-alliance.org
The World Resources Institute's "Eradicating Poverty Through Profits"
Conference website provides more information about the Conference:
http://povertyprofit.wri.org
The DOT-COM Archive of this discussion (as of October 25) is available
at:
http://www.dot-com-alliance.org/archive.html
The GKD database provides an easy way to search messages of this and
other GKD discussions:
http://www.GKDknowledge.org
This discussion is sponsored by the DOT-COM Alliance and World Resources
Institute.
------------
This DOT-COM Discussion is funded by USAID's dot-ORG Cooperative
Agreement with AED, in partnership with World Resources Institute's
Digital Dividend Project, and hosted by GKD.
http://www.dot-com-alliance.org and http://www.digitaldividend.org
provide more information.
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