Dear TAD friends,

Attached please find the latest collection of snippets from the world of

Telematics and Development. A report on the most recent TAD meeting will

follow in the next week.

Regards,

Neil Butcher

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NEWS

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GLOBAL 'NET USER BASE REACHES 130m

Another 35.2 million people world wide will gain access to the Internet this

year, according to a study released on Wednesday, bringing the total number

of active Internet users to 130.6 million. The report, issued by eMarketer,

a New York-based firm that specializes in online business, predicted that

the number of active Internet users will climb to 350 million by the year

2003. That would be a 267 percent increase from the 95.4 million people

using the Internet at the end of 1998. The study, titled eGlobal Report,

aggregates research data from hundreds of different sources, including

Forrester Research, Intelliquest, Jupiter Communications, Dataquest,

Datamonitor, Cyberdialogue and IDC - as well as many other international

research firms.

Snippets of findings from the 212-page report:

* North America lost majority share of the world's Internet user population

in the first quarter of 1999 as total users in the rest of the world

surpassed the North Americans.

* World wide e-commerce revenues will grow from $98.4 billion in 1999 to

$1.2 trillion by 2003, and the United States will continue to enjoy a

majority share of every e-commerce dollar.

* After the United States, Germany has the second-highest level of

e-commerce revenues in the world, $1.5 billion in 1998 and $4.4 billion

projected for 1999. The United Kingdom follows, with $1.49 billion in 1998

and $3.7 billion in 1999.

* The number of people online in South America will rise from 4.1 million in

1999 to 26.6 million in 2002, an increase of 550 percent.

* More than 75 percent of the world's Web sites are in English.

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Indian Govt identifies markets to boost software exports

T S Vishwanath

NEW DELHI 8 JULY

THE GOVERNMENT of India has identified Brazil, Turkey and South Africa to

boost software exports from small and medium exporters in the country. The

total market potential in these countries alone is over $30 billion.

With Y2K opportunities diminishing, the government is looking at new areas

for market development around the globe. The commerce minister, Mr

Ramakrishna Hegde, is leading a delegation of software companies to Brazil

later this month to capitalise on the growing Latin American market,

officials said. The trip is being organised by the Electronics and Computer

Software Export Promotion Council (ESC). The $3-billion Indian software

sector is going to use these new markets as major engines of growth,

officials said. The Focus-LAC (Latin American Continent) programme of the

commerce ministry is being implemented by the ESC and is targeting the

$24.6-billion market of information technology in Brazil, officials said.

The second market area identified is Turkey. The World Bank is presently

funding a $400-million project for computerisation of schools in Turkey.

The government of Turkey in its education department has provided a total

outlay of $1 billion for information technology towards computerisation of

schools in the next three to four years. These would present good

opportunities to Indian companies, officials said. The ESC will be

participating in the largest international exhibition of information and

communications technology - BILSIM'99 - to be held in Istanbul in the first

week of September, officials said.

The third major area of market diversification identified is South Africa.

The Indo-South African Commercial Alliance that has been set up by the

government of South Africa and the commerce ministry here is being serviced

by ESC for development of software exports. Industry analysts believe that

India is failing to capitalise fully on the $750-billion global software

market. As per the ESC survey, only 13 software companies in India manage to

export more than Rs 100 crore per annum.

The bulk of the over 600 software companies in India export just about Rs 1

crore or less; 222 companies export worth Rs 1 crore and over 315 companies

export less than Rs 1 crore of software. To improve the country's

performance in this sector, industry analysts say that exporters will,

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Telephone: a luxury that can be ill-afforded

RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI (July 8) : A resident of North Nazimabad has decided to end his

35-year-old relationship with the PTCL because a telephone could not "take

precedence over butterless bread".

Aijaz Sherwani wrote a letter to the Divisional Engineer of the North

Nazimabad Telephone Exchange, asking that the telephone installed at his

residence be disconnected, because he could not afford it.

"I take this opportunity to congratulate you on your achieving success after

success in augmenting the revenue income of the PTCL, nay of the Government

of Pakistan by frequently increasing call rates; latest being Rs 2.10 per

call and line rent to Rs 235 per month. For sure this is not the last,

Sherwani wrote.

"This is perfectly in keeping with the much trumpeted Government policy of

making life of a common man comfortable and smooth. "Since (the) telephone

cannot take precedence over butterless bread, which too becomes costlier

with every Budget and frequent Mini Budgets. I cannot but request you to be

kind enough to disconnect my over 35 years old telephone No. 663 2775 from

my humble residence."

"The worthy Executives of PTCL, VIPs and VVIPs in the high corridors of

power," Sherwani wrote, "are all having a bunch of free telephones by dint

of their exalted status. What pinch can they feel of such frequent and

frivolous increases in the rates of telephone call and line rent nay of all

necessities of life -- from bread, water, energy to petrol?

"Thanks for the precious time in going through this request of mine -- a

commoner, and hope this request will be acceded to immediately," he

concluded.

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ONLINE AND OTHER RESOURCES

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[UNDP has issued four press releases on the launching of the 1999 report.

this one deals with the information, knowledge, and techonology.]

Embargoed for 1000 GMT, 12 July 1999

REDUCING THE GAP BETWEEN THE KNOWS AND THE KNOW-NOTS

New York, 12 July 1999-In the race to lay claim to knowledge, "the global

gap between haves and have-nots, between knows and know-nots, is widening"

warns the Human Development Report 1999, commissioned by the United Nations

Development Programme.

Writing computer programmes and revealing genetic codes have replaced the

search for gold, the conquest of land and the command of machinery as the

path to economic power, says the Report.

The Internet, the worldwide computer link-up, is "the fastest-growing tool

of communication ever," with the number of users expected to grow from 150

million today to more than 700 million in 2001. Information and

communications technology are tremendous tools for development and can open

a fast track to knowledge-based growth, a track followed by India's software

programming, Ireland's computing services and the Caribbean's data

processing.

But many of those who most need access cannot obtain it. An invisible

barrier has emerged that, "true to its name, is like a world wide web,

The United States has more computers than the rest of the world combined.

Bulgaria has more Internet hosts than the whole of sub-Saharan Africa,

excluding South Africa. South Asia, with 23 per cent of the world's people,

has less than one per cent of the world's Internet users.

Everywhere, Internet access divides educated from illiterate (60 per cent of

users in China have a university degree), men from women (in Brazil, 75 per

cent of users are men), rich from poor (a computer costs the average

Bangladeshi more than eight years'income, compared with one month's wage for

the average American), young from old (the average British user is under 30)

and urban from rural.

"The typical Internet user worldwide is male, under 35 years old, with a

university education and high income, urban based and English speaking-a

member of a very elite minority," says the Report. English is used in almost

80 per cent of websites. Yet fewer than one in 10 people worldwide speaks

the language.

The literally well connected have an overpowering advantage over the

unconnected poor, whose voices and concerns are being left out of the global

conversation.

Market forces alone will not rectify the imbalance, the Report warns.

Governance of the Internet should be widened to bring in the needs and

concerns of developing countries. To ensure that the global communications

revolution is truly global, funding is required. The Report suggests a "bit

tax" on data sent through the Internet. A tax of one US cent on every 100

A second race to lay claim to knowledge, particularly in biotechnology, has

been sparked by the privatization of research and development, market

liberalization and the tightening of intellectual property rights. As with

global communications, "the risk is that poor people's and poor countries'

interests are being left on the sidelines."

"In defining research agenda, money talks louder than need-cosmetic drugs

and slow-ripening tomatoes come higher on the list than a vaccine against

malaria or drought-resistant crops for marginal lands," says the Report.

"Tighter control of innovation in the hands of multinational corporations

ignores the needs of millions. From new drugs to better seeds for food

crops, the best of new technologies are designed and priced for those who

Huge corporations are controlling ever-growing shares of the global market.

The top 10 telecommunications corporations held 86 per cent of the market in

1998. In pesticides, the top 10's share was 85 per cent; computers, almost

70 per cent; veterinary medicine, 60 per cent; pharmaceuticals, 35 per cent;

commercial seed, 32 per cent. Patents, too, are concentrated, with

industrialized countries holding 97 per cent of all patents worldwide.

The Report calls for a shift of research towards the needs of the world,

rather than just of those who pay. It recommends the establishment of a

group of independent scientists to identify technological problems that, if

solved, would contribute to human development, particularly of the world's

poorest people, and to human security.

Every five years the group would offer money and recognition to researchers

in areas such as robust new crops, malaria and HIV vaccines, solar-powered

or wind-up computers, and renewable energy sources. Funding could be

provided by a levy on patents or from a reallocation of research subsidies,

grants and tax breaks currently given to industry.

The Report calls for a review of the intellectual property rights agreement

under the World Trade Organization-first raised in world trade talks in 1986

Although trade and intellectual property laws, such as patent legislation,

are increasingly determining the path of nations, the intellectual property

rights agreement was negotiated with little input from many of the

developing countries, which are now feeling its impact. In addition, it was

negotiated before most governments and people understood the social and

economic implications of patents on life.

Patent laws pay little attention to the knowledge of indigenous people, and

on what can be owned: "The result: a silent theft of centuries of knowledge

from developing to developed countries."

About this Report:

Every year since 1990, the United Nations Development Programme has

commissioned the Human Development Report by an independent team of experts

to explore major issues of global concern. The Report looks beyond per

capita income as a measure of human progress by also assessing it against

such factors as average life expectancy, literacy and overall well-being. It

This year's Report focuses on the positive and negative aspects of

globalization. It argues that while many millions of people are being

further marginalized by their lack of access to new technologies, including

the Internet, growing inequalities are not inevitable. It recommends, among

other things, stronger social policies and actions to buffer the effects of

today's "bust and boom" economy. It urges policymakers to balance their

concern for profits with concern for people disenfranchised by the turmoil

of the global marketplace.

The Human Development Report is published in English by Oxford University

Press, 2001 Evans Rd., Cary, NC 27513, USA. Telephone (919) 677-0977;

toll-free in the USA (800) 451-7556; fax (919) 677-1303. Paperback price:

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Available on the web:

Proceedings, Information for Development Forum (IDF)/Institute of

Information Scientists Joint Seminar entitled,

"International Development Information and Development Activities and

The general aim of the seminar was to raise the awareness of the full range

of funding sources available for international development information and

knowledge activities. Concentration was made on obtaining contributions from

donor organisations, international, national and local. There were further

contributions from recipients of significant funding from such sources.

Papers presented:

- Danida information and development policies by Anja Moller Rasmussen and

David Kendal, Danida

- Funding of information and knowledge activities: the NGO perspective by

Carol Priestley and Neil Pakenham-Walsh, INASP

- Creating a global knowledge partnership for knowledge development by

Stephan Roman and Judy Ugonna, British Council

- The Global Knowledge Activity Management System (GK-AIMS): a demonstration

by Lucie Lamoureux, Bellanet

- Pro-Natura International's Special Projects (full text not available).

The papers are in PDF format and require an Adobe Acrobat reader.

This was the second in the annual series of Information and Development

seminars. For more information contact Bill Posnett, Seminar Task Force,

bill.posnett@cableinet.co.uk

Katherine Morrow

Communications Officer

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TV meets the Web, 21-22 May.

A small report on the seminar Television meets the Web, as well as links to

reports made by a team of journalism students, including small video clips

with speakers' comments. Full proceedings will be published later this

summer

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A new online paper is available from the Institute for Development Policy

and Management, University of Manchester: "ICTs, Poverty and Development"

It is the latest in a (small) series of reports on Development Informatics,

All reports have online educators' guides with synopsis and development

questions, allowing them to be used as training case studies and discussion

Feedback from trainers who use these guides would be welcome. IDPM training

Richard Heeks

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Small scale industry and sustainable development in Asia and Africa

Contributor(s): Andrew Scott - Intermediate Technology Development Group

(ITDG), UK 22 June 1999

Small-scale industries provide a vital source of employment and incomes for

many millions of people in developing countries. It is often assumed (though

on scant evidence) that they have little environmental impact. But they can

have detrimental effects locally. As numbers of small-scale industries

increase, the need grows to address pollution problems, the efficiency of

energy and raw materials use and the health and safety hazards industries

may pose. It now seems likely that small-scale producers will increasingly

be called to account for their environmental performance, particularly when

trying to access credit or enter export markets. Development agencies and

financial institutions that support small enterprises are also likely to

demand information concerning environmental impact in order to justify their

To receive this piece by email, send a message to the following email

Leave the SUBJECT field BLANK, and copy the following text into the BODY of

the message:

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Learning and not learning. Community conservation policies in Africa

Contributor(s): David Hulme - University of Manchester, UK 25 June 1999

Since 1990 concepts, policies and practices of wildlife conservation and

management in sub-Saharan Africa have shifted towards a community-based

approach, part of a global move towards community-based conservation. This

trend emphatically counters earlier policies of 'Fortress Conservation' that

sought to sequester local people from wildlife. A University of Manchester

team studied the processes and outcomes of such policies in Kenya,

Mozambique, Namibia, Tanzania, Uganda and Zimbabwe. The study report

concludes these moves were steps (albeit belated) in the right direction and

highlights different policy learning processes at work in Eastern and

To receive this piece by email, send a message to the following email

Leave the SUBJECT field BLANK, and copy the following text into the BODY of

the message:

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ANNOUNCEMENTS/REQUESTS

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MICROSOFT SCHOOL AGREEMENT

The new Microsoft School Agreement for schools is modeled on the successful

higher-education licensing program, Microsoft Campus Agreement, launched six

months ago. Developed in collaboration with educators, School Agreement will

allow schools to run a platform of popular software products at a single,

affordable price based on the number of school owned computers used by

students, faculty and staff.

School Agreement is a licensing subscription program targeted at primary and

secondary education institutions, offering a specified set of Microsoft

software products for all desktops within their defined site. The Agreement

allows the customer to use all of the following desktop School Software

products (Standard platform) for 12 full calendar months:

--- Microsoft Windows 9X/Windows NT Workstation (upgrade versions)

--- Microsoft Office Standard/Professional

--- Microsoft Works Standard

--- Microsoft Encarta Reference Suite/Online Subscription

--- Microsoft Visual Studio Professional

--- Microsoft BackOffice Client Access License

--- Microsoft Press Office Starts Here

In addition to the covered products mentioned above, the customer has the

option to include any or all of the following add-on products to its

agreement:

--- Microsoft FrontPage

--- Microsoft Project

--- Microsoft Press Windows Starts Here

--- Microsoft Press NTW Starts Here

--- Microsoft Press Web Authoring Starts Here

The above desktop School software products, together with the selected

add-on products, constitute all Software products covered under the School

Agreement. This is a non-perpetual license, meaning the customer must renew

its School Agreement upon expiration or termination if it wishes to continue

using the School Software products. If the customer chooses not to renew its

School Agreement but would like to continue using the Software, it will have

the option (during the term of the agreement) to purchase perpetual licenses

through the "buy-out" option of the agreement. If the customer no longer

wishes to use the software, it must remove the School Software products from

its computers.

PRICING STRUCTURE:

Total number of PCs : Estimated Price Per PC (Std Platform)

10 - 249 PCs : R310

250 - 2 499 PCs : R290

2 500 + PCs : R270

This pricing is subject to change, please contact your reseller for an exact

quote

The total number of eligible PCs will include all Pentiums, Power MACS and

iMACS owned by the school and the number of other machines that they wish to

run the software on e.g. 286, 386 or 486s. Teachers can use the products at

home at no extra cost (their own home PCs are not included in the total PC

count).

Microsoft School Agreement is available through Microsoft Authorised

Education Resellers. A list of resellers can be found at

www.microsoft.com/southafrica/education/ or contact us at (011) 445 0000 or

email saed@microsoft.com.

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Taken from The Drum Beat - 23 (edited by Warren Feek)

Study on Transmission of HIV Through Breastfeeding - Zimbabwe - undertaken

by the ZVITAMBO project, this study includes developing an intervention to

educate and counsel African women about HIV and breastfeeding, monitoring

the impact of the intervention on at least 5000 both HIV-positive

and -negative mothers, and disseminating results with guidance provided to

the Government of Zimbabwe. Contact Jean Humphrey zvitambo@icon.co.zw

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Taken from The Drum Beat - 23 (edited by Warren Feek)

Threshold 21 - Global - jointly initiated by the Millennium Institute, UNDP

and the Malawi government to assess goals in Malawi, T21 is a computer-based

sustainable development analysis tool, enabling users to evaluate

alternative national strategies in an integrated fashion by linking a

country's environmental, economic and social sectors in a single, customized

model. The long-term impacts of alternative strategies are compared, and the

most sustainable of the available options are identified. Contact Brian

Stranko BStranko@aol.com

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CONTACTS

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Taken from The Drum Beat - 23 (edited by Warren Feek)

Radio Serial Dramas - Nigeria - The African Radio Drama Association has

launched two 15-minute radio serials geared towards spreading democracy and

governance messages. 'Rainbow City', in Pidgin English, weaves concepts of

scrutiny, transparency, leadership, civic rights and responsibility,

patriotism and respect for the rule of law into intrigue, suspense and

drama. 'Asuba ta Gari', a Hausa version, focuses on the rights of women and

children living under Muslim laws in Northern Nigeria. Contact Femi Jarrett

or Data Phido, c/o Aida Opoku-Mensah A.OPOKU-MENSAH@FORDFOUND.ORG

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Telematics for African Development Consortium
P.O. Box 31822
Braamfontein
2017
Johannesburg
South Africa
Tel: +27 +11 403-2813
Fax: +27 +11 403-2814

neilshel@icon.co.za

www.saide.org.za

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