This is the second article in a series aimed at the non-technical reader to help demystify ICT for development. This month we explore the concept of “green” ICT. What does it mean in practical terms for us as citizens, businesses and government?

Welcome, to this the second article of a new series of monthly articles on information and communication technologies for development (ICTD) written for the national planning & development agency of the province of Naggroe Aceh Darussalam (NAD). The series is intended for the non-technical reader. The aim of this series is to broaden the view of what ICT is and to take a lot of the mystery out of it so it can be used more effectively, in a way that suits the people of Aceh and our culture and customs, and to enjoy a better quality of life because of it.

The world is rapidly changing and there can be no doubt that ICT is firmly placed at the center of that change. Changes are seen in how people live from day-to-day, how people educate their children, how people interact and communicate with each other, how people find work, the kinds of jobs that they can do, how government conducts their “business”, how citizens interact with government, and how information moves between organizations. The changes are significant, permanent and ICT cannot be removed from the equation – ICT is at the heart of most of the observed changes. The constant factor is that ICT will continue play a sizable part of every aspect of human existence.

BAPPEDA, the provincial arm of the national planning and development agency within the Government of Indonesia, continues to work on the social and economic development challenges facing our province and nation and has a deeply renewed emphasis on ICT and how it can be used as social and economic developmental tool.

So, let’s start by understanding what ICT is. Later we will explore its uses and possibilities.

Most of us have come into contact with ICT as we use mobile phones, a PC, or access the Internet to use email and “surf the web”, but ICT is not just about dealing with phones, computers and the Internet. ICT is a broad, mature, well-structured and diverse social & scientific discipline encompassing an wide and deep body of knowledge.

Planning, designing and implementing ICT initiatives demands knowledge of: new processes and methods for doing things, new ways of applying financial resources, new business and service models, new jobs and learning and training pathways, new environmental impacts, new organizational structures and methods of governing those structures, new policy, legislation and regulatory frameworks, new cognitive and psychological science, new human behaviors and physical interactions, new branches of mathematics and physics, new language…and, yes, of course, there is also an expectation that one is accustomed to new hardware, software and ways of networking them.

Incorporating technology into an environment, whether that environment be a private sector enterprise, a non-governmental organization or a government agency, can only be sustainable and effective if all aspects of ICT are accounted for in the planning, designing and implementing of an ICT project. Accounting for financial resources, human resources, risk, timing, environmental sustainability, procedures, protocols, existing institutional structures needs to occur – without such considerations made, the ICT projects are destined to face challenges if not failing altogether. The number of international development ICT projects that are challenged or have failed altogether are numerous and easy to find. The common link among these projects is that they often failed to account for technical and organisational factors. Challenged or failed projects often exhibit a “gap” between the technology and the organisation.

For us to harness the power of ICT we must recognize that ICT is no longer just about hardware, software and networking – attending to only technology-related factors is an outdated and over simplistic view of ICT and ICT governance. ICT is a deep and wide discipline and understanding this, as a “first step”, will help us engage the right people, foster the right relationships, expect the right attributes in our organisational managers and develop the right skills within our organisations – to realize and enjoy the benefits that ICT can provide our organizations and government agencies is possible when ICT is seen as not just a driver of change or a facilitator of change in the organisation, but seen as the change to the organisation itself.

This is an adaptation of an article written for the Provincial Government of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, Indonesia by ICTD Corporation. ICTD Corporation specialises in the provision of consulting & advisory services for the design, planning, implementation and review of e-government initiatives and field research in developmental ‘leapfrogging’ in the area of ICTs. The author, Tony Willenberg (tony.willenberg@ictd.com), is managing director of ICTD Corporation and based in Sydney, Australia.