Dr. Najat Rochdi Talk: The role of ICTDAR and develeopment

· ICTDAR is a regional program of UNDP covering all Arab Countries

· Dr. Najat Rochdi is ICTDAR Regional Director and a Former Moroccan Deputy Minister, in charge of Small and Medium Enterprise’s Development in Morocco.

· ICTDAR was established to use ICT to
empower people
build people capacities and facilitate access to all sorts of knowledge
prepare the Arab Region as a land rich in human and natural resources; a land of dialogue, tolerance and entrepreneurial freedom

· Dr. Najat main ideas:

Poverty is about human development:
Access to education
Access to health services
Equity, gender balance, …

In 2002, the publication of a series of Arab human development reports started

Without knowledge there is no development

Development is about advocating for change and connecting countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life.

The role of knowledge for development is:
Economic growth
Social development
Cultural enrichment
Political empowerment

It has been big discussions about the digital divide, but the real issue is knowledge divide

ICT means “The most appropriate technology for the society we are serving, and not necessary the latest and sophisticated technology”

Knowledge is about
Knowledge creation
Knowledge preservation
Knowledge dissemination
Knowledge utilization
Human needs
Human rights
Pluralism

The eight Millennium Development Goals represent commitments by all countries to work on:
poverty and hunger
ill-health
gender inequality
education
access to clean water
environmental degradation
climate change
HIV

ICTDAR pillars are:
Youth
Disabled
Partnership private sector
Regional cooperation
E-strategies, e-governance
SME’s
Women