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East Asia & Pacific is facing some great development challenges today: urbanization, protection of the environment, the need to find renewable energy sources and many others. This site wants to create a conversation around those important issues. More »

Information and Communication Technologies

Telecommunications in the Solomon Islands: "Hem Expensif Tumas" (It’s too Expensive)

Submitted by Hamish Wyatt on Mon, 2009-10-05 11:06
"The only way to really speak to someone is to go over to where they are", Primo told me about the state of telecommunications in the country.

There seems to be a real love of discussion around Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands. In nearly every patch of shade around the capital people can be found escaping the heat and talking, or ‘storying’, to pass the time.

Topics change quickly and, as many people carry a well thumbed local paper, there is often a focus on current events and political issues. However, one topic that seems to be something of a perennial favorite and has been coming up a lot recently is telecommunications.

With around 85 per cent of the population living in rural areas (many of which are extremely remote) and the country stretching over nearly 1,000 islands, communication between families and friends in different parts of the country is a constant challenge, especially considering the lack of coverage and prohibitive price of telecommunications.

Last August, the Solomon Islands Government, with technical assistance from the World Bank, negotiated an early end to what would have been a 15 year monopoly agreement with the national provider, Our Telekom. Parliament has also approved a new telecommunications bill that will, among other things, establish the country’s first telecom regulator, the Telecommunications Commission.

Departing thoughts on NT2: The simple importance of information

Submitted by Nanda Gasparini on Tue, 2008-12-02 11:30

It’s now that time for me when you have to sit down and write goodbye and thank you emails, throw away all those trees you’ve cut over the years (that would be paper), wrap up work, pack up your stuff and say goodbye.

Strategically I guess I could ‘use’ this last blog posting as a way to highlight all the progress that Nam Theun 2 has made over the past two years. Don’t worry, I won’t. While that has definitely been a component of my job – highlighting progress and explaining challenges and ways to overcome them – I think the broader and most important component of this job has been access to information: Access to people, to the site, and to reports.

Over the past two years, among other things, I’ve worked on liaising with journalists, students, NGOs, academics and others to visit the site, to respond to letters, emails and phone calls with questions, suggestions, recommendations…. And I know the people working in the Lao Government (check out their updated website here), the Nam Theun 2 Power Company and the Asian Development Bank, among others, have been doing the same. Access to the project exists, and in a country like Laos, where information – for a number of simple and more complex reasons – is not always in high supply, this has been of high importance.

Long-distance knowledge sharing network expands in Indonesia

Submitted by Philip Karp on Thu, 2008-07-24 10:23

GDLN Indonesia covers more than 220 public and private universities across the archipelago, opening up opportunities to share knowledge both within Indonesia and with other countries.

Earlier this month in Jakarta I participated in the inauguration of the expanded Global Development Learning Network (GDLN) Indonesia.  GDLN, for those who may not be familiar with the network, is a World Bank initiated partnership dedicated to the use of information and communications technology to facilitate learning and knowledge sharing for people working in the development field.  Its programs include formal courses as well as multi-country dialogues and virtual conferences, delivered via a blend of videoconference, web, and other modes of distance learning. 

Indonesia’s participation in GDLN began several years ago with distance learning centers at the University of Indonesia and three other universities around the country having been connected to the global network, via satellite, under a World Bank loan.  However, a few months ago, the Government of Indonesia decided to bridge the four existing centers, through the University of Indonesia DLC, with the broadband fiber optic infrastructure of the Indonesia Higher Education Network (INHERENT). 

Follow detailed information about aid to Myanmar on ReliefWeb

Submitted by Claudia Gabarain on Tue, 2008-05-06 23:37

The New York Times reports that some aid has begun flowing into Myanmar, but it looks like the mobilization for major relief operations is still underway and not clearly defined. However, you can keep track of what's going on in this regard by visiting the site that ReliefWeb has set up for the disaster caused by cyclone Nargis in Myanmar.

ReliefWeb, administered by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), is the main gateway to information --including news, documents and maps-- on humanitarian emergencies and disasters. It's targeted to the international humanitarian community that works on delivering emergency assistance, so you can hardly find a better site for up-to-date, reliable information on all aspects of this emergency.

Incidentally, there's also a site on the effects of the floods caused by Nargis in neighboring Thailand.

As for individual donations, it still seems too early to know how or where to contribute. I'll try to post this information later as it becomes available.

Where do you find information on Nam Theun 2?

Submitted by Nanda Gasparini on Wed, 2008-04-23 09:53

If you’ve read any of the posts in my blog so far, you’ll notice that I’ve mentioned multiple times how much information there is on Nam Theun 2. One of the cornerstones (pdf) for the World Bank’s involvement on NT2 was that the project would be handled in a transparent manner, and that’s why all of the key reports on NT2 are publicly available. The aim of being transparent means that key documentation related to the project as it was being developed and now implemented is public, that the Bank proactively keeps people informed about what is happening (ahem, the blog for one), and that there would be continuous outreach to stakeholders including local and international consultations.

Assessment of impacts to fisheries, resettlement plans, environmental mitigation measures, economic studies, the famous Concession Agreement, independent assessments, semi-annual progress reports from the World Bank… they are all available on the web (see more below). Moreover open channels of communications are ongoing, meaning that -- for example from the World Bank side -- if you, reader, whoever you are, write to me with a question or comment, I will make sure to answer and point you to the relevant information, or put you in touch with one of my colleagues, or arrange a field visit if necessary.