ICT4D

My involvement with Project Nine Mile - promoting it publicly and talking to progressive, young people about it - has significantly increased my learning curve. Most recently, a once active member of IdlerzLounge.com called ‘B.art’ told me about ICT4D. This is a neat acronym for Information and Communication Technologies for Development. Wikipedia gives a good definition and summary of ICT4D. As you can see, Project Nine Mile is all about ICT4D. I find satisfaction in knowing that this is a global trend and even more satisfaction in knowing that the global trend did not play a part in influencing my decision to be involved with this project. It’s always nice to be reassured that one’s genuine passion is leading one in a positive direction for humanity.

Here are some related links:

• A Jamaican ICT4D initiative wins the top award at the Stockholm Challenge in Sweden [taken from B.art's blog]
• ICT4D Jamaica
• Vision 2030 Jamaica: National Development Plan - ICT Sector Plan

Finally, I had done some preliminary research about ICT in August 2007 and I discovered that Jamaica’s ICT platform was ranked #45 in the world at the time. To put things into perspective, the emerging IT giant, India, was ranked #44. Furthermore, looking only at the western hemisphere, Jamaica was ranked 5th behind the USA, Canada - both in the top 20 - Chile at #31 and Barbados at #40. This could imply that Jamaica is quite ready to accommodate more ICT4D projects such as Project Nine Mile.