Statement for Indigenous Peoples and ICTs for inclusion in:

Connectivity and Access Challenges for Asian and the Pacific
Least Developed Countries and SmallIsland Developing States

Indigenous peoples (IPs) globally include some of the world’s most economically and socially disadvantaged. In many cases they are found in rural and remote locations where their deep relationship to the land has restricted their opportunities for economic and social advancement including in such areas as access to education, healthcare, economic development and opportunities for effective participation in processes of governance and self-determination.  Many of the opportunities presented by ICTs provide direct solutions to certain of the problems that IPs face. There are excellent examples in the Developed Countries demonstrating some of these solutions However, IPs in Asia, where the majority of IPs live (and elsewhere in LDCs), remain the least served by ICTs and stand to continue to be so if pro-active initiatives are not adopted.

In addition to its potential for individual empowerment, democracy, and socio-economic development, the internet has offered businesses and consumers an enormously expanded marketplace, with new tools for creating, advertising, browsing, communicating, and transacting. It allows for worldwide retail commerce and instantaneous communication between buyers and sellers. It removes geographical barriers and reduces the need for intermediaries.

Much of the attention concerning ICT use in Less Developed Countries (LDC’s) including among Indigenous Peoples has focused on the issue of “access”, that is the availability of the means to physically link to the Internet or to electronically interact via the Internet through some technical facilitation of that connection. This is clearly an issue of general significance since in the absence of such a means to “connect”, no other issues concerning the opportunities (or limitations) presented by Internet enabled communications or digital processing are feasible. Specifically at the level of physical connection the issues of the availability (and usability) of such access through facilities that are geographically convenient and within the financial means of even the poorest presents overwhelming arguments for publicly initiated and supported “access facilities”.

Additionally, discussions are increasingly recognizing that the Digital Divide is often but a symptom of other “divides” limiting the “accessibility” of Internet based services such as levels of literacy and numeracy, location and geography (with rural and remote areas being particularly ill-served), education and skill levels, gender and (physical) ability.

Some, among Indigenous Peoples as with others are using skill or (in some cases privileged) access to knowledge, capital and an existing advanced technology infrastructure to realize enormous benefits for themselves and their organizations through the use of the Internet and related technologies. As well, these technologies are providing enormous benefits to consumers and to the range of users. The challenge for Indigenous Peoples in Less Developed Countries is to extend to the widest possible range of users the opportunities that ICTs present.

What this means in practical terms is that not only is there the need and the social responsibility for citizens to have ready and equitable “access” to the Internet but they must also have access to the means to use the Internet in productive and meaningful ways.

The ICT4D community must also recognize the exceptional difficulties (and opportunities) which Indigenous Peoples (IPs) experience in relation to ICTs. In many cases IP’s suffer a cascade of difficulties in relation to their participation as equal partners in the Information Society and knowledge economies. IP’s are disproportionately found in rural and remote areas; their traditional groupings often straddle national boundaries; their traditional geographic locales are often in areas of particular environmental or economic vulnerability; while their languages and cultures distinguish them from others in their societies. In these contexts, access to ICTs and the Internet often present significant barriers and yet it is precisely through the use of ICTs that impoverished economic and social conditions can most effectively be alleviated. ICTs provide a means through which IPs may participate as equal members in the larger society and realise their aspirations for self-management and self-determination. The ICT4D community must suppors the provision of exceptional support for IPs to realize the opportunity for access and effective use of ICTs in support of their objectives.

There are a number of areas of possible application and use of ICTs that are of particular interest to Indigenous Peoples and there is thus a need for the ICT4D community to provide additional resources and support in these areas.  These include the use of ICT for language and cultural documentation, preservation and propagation particularly through education of young people ICT presents very specific advantages in these areas and making existing software and hardware systems available and adapting and developing these in support of Indigenous languages and cultures in the Asia Pacific region should be a significat priority for the ICT4D community.

Many of the Indigenous communities in the Asia Pacific region (as elsewhere) are currently having their territory and traditional land rights encroached upon by various resource extraction initiatives.  ICT can help the Indigenous communities to respond effectively to these in a number of ways by:

·        By helping IPs to form larger groupings and communicate common interests across large distances and borders to realize collaborative responses

·        By helping IPs to document these issues and to make them known via the Internet to the global community

·        By supporting IPs in using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Global Positioning Systems (GPS) to identify and document traditional land use patterns.

The ICT4D community can recognize and develop strategies for supporting IPs in these areas and initiatives.

The Internet allows for the distribution of intelligence and empowerment to the edges of the network. There thus is a natural correspondence between ICTs and local self-management and empowerment and means are thus available for effective participation by grassroots and other communities in broader economic, social and political processes. All of which should be recognized and supported in the design and deployment of technical and related organizational and governance systems.

There has been a dramatic decline in the cost of computing hardware in LDCs as elsewhere (including among other devices the One Laptop per Child pc). While this development brings access to personal computing into the income range of a larger number in the Developing world and for Indigenous Peoples, it also serves to highlight the excessive cost of Internet access in many of these same countries resulting from in many cases managed pricing or lack of competition. Developed countries as part of broader strategies to promote deregulation and development should be encouraged to target these areas both at the national and the global inter-connectivity levels and as well to support the development of additional global capacity as a way of competitively driving down access costs in LDC’s (as elsewhere).

Many of the services which in Developed Countries have been computer based, are in LDC’s cellular telephone based. Electronic funds transfer, electronic purchasing, rapid information transfer concerning local markets and so on have now through popular use (and popular innovation) become cellular services. These developments should be encouraged and efforts should be made to integrate the variety of “more structured” development initiatives as cellular services in LDC’s.

While not generally understood under the rubric of ICTs, Community Radio is nevertheless one of the most effective tools available for information dissemination and community involvement. Notably new organizational and technology developments (including linkages with the Internet) have extended the capability of Community Radio. Developed Countries should as part of their overall development assistance programs be supportive of Community Radio initiatives and should where required, be lobbying for changes in legislation and regulation at the national level in LDCs to enable the development of local and community radio stations.

As noted elsewhere, ICTs are transformative in a number of directions including through providing enabling mechanisms for emerging beneficial processes and for linking new technologies with the range of activities supported through Development Assistance programs which too often are reflective of stale and long outdated organizational divisions.