About ICT DevLibrary           The creation of the ICT Development Library follows the launch in February 2002 of ICT Development Agenda, the free-to-view, web-based newsletter published by the CTO, and implements one of the key recommendations of the Louder Voices programme. This programme is a response by the UK government's [ilink=http://www.dfid.gov.uk]Department for International Development (DFID)[endilink] and development partners to the need, identified by the G8 DOT Force and the United Nations ICT Task Force, to strengthen the participation of developing countries in international ICT decision-making. A major study of ways to address this problem was undertaken by the CTO and Panos for DFID and the DOT Force, during the first six months of 2002. This study, whose conclusions were incorporated in the final report of the DOT Force and are under development in the UN ICT Task Force, is published as Louder Voices: Strengthening Developing Country Participation in International ICT Decision-Making. One of the key recommendations of the report is to ‘to provide authoratitive, web-based information on international ICT decision-making to developing countries – for example…through the creation of a “one-click” library of documents related to international ICT policy and regulatory issues’. Lack of easy, affordable and timely access to information about ICT-related issues, decision-making fora and processes was highlighted in the Louder Voices study as an important barrier to developing country participation by government and other stakeholders. The rapid increase that has taken place both in the range of issues on the international ICT policy agenda and in the number of organisations involved in ICT policy-making has made it very difficult for developing countries to keep track of what is going on, to anticipate key events, and to plan strategies for successful outcomes. The ICT Development Digital Library will help to facilitate the dissemination of material to stakeholders in developing countries who are currently making less use of material than they might otherwise do so. We welcome requests from partner organisations wishing to make their documents available through the ICT Development Digital Library, and warmly welcome feedback from users of the service. Paul Hamilton Editor, ICT Development Agenda editor@cto.int Marcel Georges Editor, ICT Development Library editor@cto.int           © Commonwealth Telecommunications Organisation 2004. All rights reserved. For more information about the CTO visit www.cto.int. For rules of use see our Disclaimer & Privacy Policy. If you have any comments about this site please contact the