The FOSS - Policy and Development Implications Forum introduces the theme "FOSS & Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) stretching the development dollar for scaling-up impact", which seeks to initiate discussion on the roles of FOSS in helping the societies in achieving the UN Millennium Development Goals.
Projects implemented at various developemt sectors, especially at the grassroots level using information and communications technologies (ICTs) have demonstrated their capabilities to bring positive impact in meeting the MDGs targets. It is argued that use of FOSS can reduce the cost of such projects implementation, besides providing the local communities a chance to have control over the software applications of the projects. High cost of hardware and software is a major deterrent to undertake ICT-enabled development projects, especially in developing countries.
Poverty and hunger, education, gender, health, environment and promoting a global partnership are being the key themes of MDGs, we seek to illustrate some instances of ICT-based interventions designed for meeting the MDGs:
Poverty and Hunger
Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
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Use of electronic job portal in building a virtual employment marketplace of job-seekers and employers, in local dialects.
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Facilitating access to cost and market information to increase bargaining power of local producers.
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Electronic payments mechanisms that lower risk and enable direct payment to local producers.
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Telecentre movements, those are gaining momentum under the auspices of the UN agencies, donor agencies, governments, civil society and the private sector, can increase access to computers for many people.
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Micro finance solutions for use by grassroots organisations and self-help groups can stimulate local economic development.
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Creation, preservation and exchange of knowledge can improve farming practices and thereby increase crop production.
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Applications, such as geographic information system, can facilitate monitoring, mapping and evaluation of poverty. Food information system and automation of public distribution system can alleviate some of the worst aspects of extreme poverty.
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By providing access to government information, especially services as part of the e-governance programmes, delivery of government services to the citizens can be improved, especially at the local governance level.
Education
Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education
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Complementing the formal education system through ICT-assisted distance learning system, both in all sectors of education systems.
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Computer simulation, telematics, video-audio, conferencing and virtual learning largely contribute to the delivery of quality educational services.
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Building a national workforce with ICT skills can increase investment and economic development.
Gender
Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women
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ICT-enabled interventions amplify womens voices, and provide them with learning tools that might be more suitable to cultural and social environments.
Health
Goal 4: Reduce child mortality
Goal 5: Improve maternal health
Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
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Tracking children' weights in a database application that enables prompt intervention by doctors can drastically lower mortality from avoidable causes.
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Information exchange in healthcare between rural and urban areas provides access to expert advice for remote patients.
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Automatisation of patient records improves health services to the patients.
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Telemedicine applications bring health services otherwise available in urban areas to rural areas.
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Compliance is an important requirement for effective treatment of Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. SMS reminders, "smart" pillboxes and counselling information on handheld devices can greatly increase compliance and effectiveness.
Environment
Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability
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Making better use of locally sourced old/second-hand computers can increase their lifetime and reduce the amount of e-waste.
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Handheld/ GPS devices allow tracking of wildlife to inform better strategies to limit the harmful effects infrastructure projects can have on the ecosystem.
Global Partnership
Goal 8:Develop a global partnership for development
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Multistakeholder partnerships harness the benefits of electronic knowledge networks allowing peoples participation through public e-consultations.
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Software is the building block of such knowledge networks, which facilitate knowledge sharing among the project implementers and its beneficiaries.
So far, the projects mentioned above, are being run largely on proprietary software. However, rapid development of FOSS is showing its criticality of using in such interventions. At this forum, we shall try to identify the FOSS applications in such projects and lessons learnt.
Questions for debate:
Sub-theme 1: What are specific FOSS applications that address the eight UN Millennium Development Goals?
Sub theme 2: What are areas where FOSS has not been able to support the MDGs and what is needed to change that?
Join the debate here.
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