The Microsoft Unlimited Potential E-centers in Bhutan: Using ICT for development

In: Media and public culture: proceedings of the Second International Seminar on Bhutan Studies. Thimphu, Centre for Bhutan Studies 2007, pp. 154-171 . ISBN 99936-14-41-6

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Abstract

This paper will present the potential effects specific to the Microsoft Unlimited Potential community E-centers, as a creative and innovative Information and Communication Technology (ICT) solution to rural development in Bhutan. It will also explore the impacts that Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) have on four other aspects of development, namely economic growth, political evolution, good governance, and gender equity. While evaluating the impacts of ICT in general and Ecenters in particular on development in Bhutan, this paper will concentrate on the potential value of ICT as agents of change in enabling development, based on the past experiences of such use of ICT in other developing countries. This paper will also argue in favour of the use of ICT to serve broader development purposes in the ongoing debate about the need and effectiveness of ICT in the developing world, where it has been argued that other areas such as health care and education deserve higher priority.