Harnessing Information for Development: A Proposal for a World Bank Group Strategy

Revolutionary advances in information technology reinforce economic and social changes that are transforming business and society. Low-cost telecommunications and information systems are simply not luxuries for developing countries in today's world. On the contrary, they are strategic factors of production central to the development process and to poverty reduction. Indeed, economic development is about information and knowledge: about how to organize society to allow productive activities to thrive, and how to create an economic environment friendly to investment. A major adjustment needs to be made, in all countries, to harness information for economic and social development. This adjustment requires urgent new policies, regulatory and institutional reforms, and investment. Fortunately, the information revolution creates both the challenge and the means for countries to adjust to new ways of doing business and to put in place the needed infrastructure of telecommunications and information systems. This paper describes in very tangible ways how the information revolution is affecting the developing countries, what they should do to enhance and accelerate this process, and proposes a role for the World Bank. The first 3 sections of the paper discuss the information revolution, its significance to the economy and society as a whole, needs and opportunities for developing countries and responsibilities of governments. The heart of the paper, section 4, discusses the proposed strategy and its objectives. Finally, section 5 summarizes the vision of information and development and the assistance strategy.