Dot Force - Closing Digital Divide
Posted 8th Narch 2001
Photos show in order Richard Manning, Vernon Ellis, Anuradha Vittachi

On Thursday 22nd February, there was a tri-sectoral dotforce meeting (ie. attended by government, private sector and civil society participants) at the OneWorld offices in London. The three dotforce delegates, Richard Manning (DFID), Vernon Ellis (Accenture) and Anuradha Vittachi (OneWorld) were present. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss proposals that the combined UK delegation could put to the international dotforce, at the next dotforce plenary to be held in Cape Town, South Africa on 1-2 March. Does New Zealand have such a group? If not, lets get it together. Email PlaNet if know of NZ group or would like to participate.

Several possible initiatives have been emerging. What they have in common is the wish to make ICTs universally available, not for their own sake, but in order to help create an enabling environment for people struggling to fulfil their basic needs. The dotforce delegates assume that a whole ladder of interventions ­ from policy and regulatory frameworks to training people - will be necessary to close the digital divide, with the different rungs of that ladder being supplied by government, business and civil society organisations in assorted combinations. One such initiative which was discussed at the meeting in some detail was that of increasing public access points. Another, complementary initiative concerns the creation and circulation of local content for the care and development of young children, based on parent networks.