This is the start of a discussion around shared economic growth, social development, and the role of ICTs
“In our global, networked economy and society, information is an essential resource for capacity building and social and economic development”
The modern global economy is increasingly a knowledge economy. A knowledge economy[i] is one in which the generation and exploitation of knowledge play a predominant part in the creation of wealth. The economic future of Cape Town depends on successfully competing in the tertiary, services based, knowledge-driven economy.
But economic growth will not by itself ensure that the overall level of poverty is reduced. Policies are needed that ensure both high levels of economic growth and ensure that this significantly impacts poverty. This ‘shared growth’ perspective is reflected in the government’s ASGISA strategy. It holds that whilst higher levels of economic growth are essential to reducing poverty, the resulting benefits must be evenly distributed if they are to be sustainable. A shared growth strategy is thus both pro-growth and pro-poor.
Poverty exists when an individual’s or a household’s access to income, jobs and/or infrastructure is inadequate or sufficiently unequal to prohibit full access to opportunities in society. More broadly still, poverty can be seen as being deprived of the information needed to participate in wider society at the local, national and global level[ii]. If by implication persistent poverty is associated with a ‘knowledge gap’, then this suggests a need for policies that encourage greater communication and information flows within and between communities and countries. The ‘digital information divide’[iii] is therefore a cause, as well as a consequence, of poverty.
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More to follow….
[i] In this discussion I treat the knowledge economy as being the economic manifestation of the Information Society[ii] ZEF, Information and Communication Technologies for Development, Centre for Development Research, University of Bonn, 2002, quoted in Roger W Harris ‘Information and Communication Technologies for Poverty Alleviation’ e-Primers for the Information Society, UNDD-APDIP 2004[iii] The ‘digital divide’ is ‘the disparity between those who have access to ICT and are able to use it effectively, and those who do not’. This disparity is evidenced mainly in economic terms – the more affluent can afford access and generally have the capacity to learn how to use it effectively. This in turn allows them to be yet more economically successful, thus widening the divide even further.
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