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This year, World Telecommunication and Information Society
Day highlights the theme
“Better life in rural communities with ICTs”,
which was adopted by
ITU Council in 2009 and follows up on
the theme for 2010: “Better city, better life with ICTs”.
ICTs
are increasingly in demand to meet the
Millennium Development Goals.
In the rural context,
ICTs provide enhanced opportunities
to generate income and combat poverty, hunger, ill health and
illiteracy.
 Half the world’s population resides in
rural districts and far flung communities. This half — three
billion people — represent the poorer, less educated, and more
deprived cousins of our urban citizens. Indeed, latest figures
indicate that as many as 70 per cent of the developing world’s
1.4 billion extremely poor people live in rural areas1.
They are also among the least connected to the benefits of ICTs.
We cannot allow this situation to continue.
As the leading specialized agency of the
United Nations for information and
communication technologies (ICT),
ITU looks towards its Members
to raise awareness of the role of ICTs
in creating fresh opportunities for a
better life through long-term,
sustainable development, not least among
the most vulnerable sections of our
society.
ICTs and related e-applications are key
instruments in improving governance and
rural services, such as providing
community health care, safe drinking
water and sanitation, education, food
and shelter; improving maternal health
and reducing child mortality; empowering
women and the more vulnerable members of
society; and ensuring environmental
sustainability. As ICTs increasingly
dictate lifestyles and behaviour
patterns and power the growth of trade
and commerce, rural communities must not
be allowed to fall behind cities in
their quest for connectivity.
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The theme of this year’s WTISD aims to ensure that ICTs will
contribute to a better future for our rural populations |
 Broadband
connectivity is essential to
establish the information and
communication highway that will feed
both urban centres and rural communities
with the means to meet their development
goals and aspirations.
ITU's Build on
Broadband initiative is aimed at
increasing the roll out of this
state-of-the-art technology. Last
September, the
ITU/UNESCO-led Broadband
Commission, which includes leading
proponents from around the world,
submitted its report to UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon ahead of
the MDG Review in New York.
Developing a global partnership for
development and using the power of ICTs
to meet the MDGs is a goal in itself.
We therefore call upon our Member
States, Sector Members and Associates as
well as academia and citizens’ groups to
pull together every conceivable resource
to ensure that rural communities
worldwide are fully connected to ICTs.
Acting as catalysts, ICTs open the door
to myriad solutions in the quest for a
more productive and better life in our
rural communities.
The World
Summit on the Information Society (WSIS),
which met in Geneva in 2003 and in Tunis
in 2005, called upon countries to
consider establishing national
mechanisms to achieve universal access
in underserved rural areas in order to
bridge the digital divide. ITU is
committed to connecting the world and to
ensure that the benefits of ICTs reach
the remotest corners as well as the most
vulnerable communities.
The theme of this year’s WTISD,
“Better life in rural communities with ICTs”,
aims to ensure that ICTs will contribute to a
better future for our rural populations. As a
means of bringing global attention to this
theme, ITU will present the annual World
Telecommunication and Information Society Award
to eminent personalities who have contributed to
connecting rural communities to the benefits of
ICT.
1
IFAD Rural
Poverty Report, December 2010
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