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ICTs for a Sustainable World #ICT4SDG

ICT applications

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ICT applications, such as e-Government, e-Commerce, e-Education, e-Health and e-Environment, are seen as enablers for development, as they provide an efficient channel to deliver a wide range of basic services in remote and rural areas. ICT applications can facilitate the achievement of millennium development targets, reducing poverty and improving health and environmental conditions in developing countries. Given the right approach, context and implementation processes, investments in ICT applications and tools can result in productivity and quality improvements. In turn, e-applications may liberate technical and human capacity and enable greater access to basic services.​
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E-government

​There is a growing body of research examining e-Government policies in developing countries that is yielding new insights into the challenges of implementing services through information and communication technologies. e-Government focuses on the adoption of ICTs to deliver government services through the Internet and other emerging digital technologies. 

Governments worldwide continue to develop more sophisticated ways to provide the public with online service channels that have evolved from the early days of simple web pages to the recent widespread emergence of online transaction services and integrated service delivery systems.

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E-Health

The World Health Organization defines e-Health as "…the cost-effective and secure use of information and communications technologies in support of health and health-related fields, including health-care services, health surveillance, health literature, and health education, knowledge and research..." (see Resolution 58/28 of the World Health Assembly, Geneva, 2005).
At the International Telecommunication Union, the ICT Applications and Cybersecurity Division provides assistance to developing countri​es, among others, by advising on e-Health strategies and policies, creating guidelines and training materials on e-Health applications, and assisting in implementing technical cooperation projects. Our tools and services are geared to improving access to health services through better use of information and communications technologies (ICTs). 

e-environment

The impact of human activities on the environment – and on climate change in particular – are issues of growing concern confronting life on Earth. Concurrently, information and communication technologies (ICTs) are being rapidly deployed around the world. Although ICTs require energy resources, they also offer opportunities to monitor, learn about and protect the environment, reduce carbon emissions, and mitigate climate change.

ITU initiated a bold new work programme in 2008 with its strategy on ICTs and climate change, to ensure that the vital role of ICTs is taken into account in global strategies to address climate change. As part of this strategy, ITU-D Programme 3 is developing reports, toolkits and educational material to raise awareness among its Member States on climate change and the role ICTs can play in combating it.

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ICT applications can deliver basic services in a wide range of sectors including: health, agriculture, education, public administration, commerce, among others. ICT applications constitute one of the priority domains for ITU-D Programme 2 (2010) and the ITU-D ICT Applications and Cybersecurity Division. Improving social conditions and building an entry ramp into the information society are amongst the purposes of ITU's ICT Applications Work Programme for Developing Countries.

ITU activities have been undertaken to deliver and facilitate the roll-out of solutions that will foster social and economic development in developing and least developed countries worldwide. Assistance has been provided in capacity building and training, developing technology strategies, project coordination and implementation. To ensure that solutions proposed to countries were technology-neutral and to make the best use of limited resources, most actions related to the implementation of projects and the organization of events involved a combination of external experts and in-house expertise.

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