1. University of Brighton, UK.
PROMOTING INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY (ICT) FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT IN AFGHANISTAN
Bahawodin Baha, PhD.
University of Brighton, UK.
Invited Lecture,CPHD
Kabul University.
July 23, 2008

2. Outline The relationship between Human Development and Technologies,
UN MDGs and technologies, specifically related to ICT,
What is ICT and why it is important,
Reasons for promoting ICT,
Requirements for future workforce in the world,
A New Century with New Technological Frontiers,
New initiatives on ICT at Universities worldwide,
Higher Education and ICT,
Digital Resources for Education,
ICT in Afghanistan,
ICT & Human Development in Afghanistan and
Concluding remarks.

3. Relationship between human development and technologies
The advancement in technologies has revolutionized:
Agriculture
Construction industry
Transportation
Telecommunications
Energy
Pharmaceutical
The above sectors have direct effect on human development

4. UN MDGs and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)
Part of goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development
In co-operation with private sector, make available the benefits of new technologies- especially information and communication technologies (ICTs)
Pharmaceutical companies, provide access to essential drugs

5. What is ICT?
ICT is the field of expertise that connects information technology (computers) and telecommunications networks (the Internet) to provide sophisticated applications.
Digital electronic devices and circuits, communication theory and networks are used to design and develop ICT tools
ICT tools are widely used in every aspects of daily life throughout the world, e.g. Office work, transport, banking, home appliances, etc.
Beside other applications, ICT tools and media is playing a major role in educating people around the world.
ICT tools have been developed to make the governments and businesses more efficient
To modernise Afghanistan, we need ICT Literate workforce for every sector in the country
The future workforce is trained at educational institutions around the world, therefore, the problem should be addressed at source

6. Reasons for promoting ICT Location No Longer Matters.
The World is changing
“The World is Flat” -- Tom Friedman
In 1989 the Berlin Wall came down, and Microsoft’s Windows went up.
$1.5 trillion worth of optical fiber connects the world.
Globalization has “accidentally made Beijing, Bangalore, London, New York next door neighbors.”
Many jobs are now just a “mouse click” away from anywhere..

7. Reasons for promoting ICT (cont)
20th Century:
Physics, Electronics, and High-Speed Communications and Transportation
21st Century:
Bio, Nano and information technologies are main challenges
but also Energy, Water, and Sustainability
Large scale multinational projects
ICT literate workforce is key to the success in all these development

8. Requirements for future workforce
Technically Adept
Broadly Knowledgeable
Innovative and Entrepreneurial
Commercially Savvy
Multilingual
Culturally Aware
Able to Understand World Markets
Professionally Flexible and Mobile

9. New Technological Frontiers
A New Century with
New Technological Frontiers

10. With New Engineering Frontiers
Bio
Info
Nano
Smaller and Smaller
Faster and Faster
More and More Complex

11. Engineering Frontiers
Macro
Energy
Environment
Health Care
Manufacturing
Communications
Logistics
Larger and Larger
More and More Complex
Great Societal Importance

12. Frontiers and Synergies
Natural Science
Nano
Bio
Info
Macro
Energy
Environment
Health Care
Manufacturing
Communications
Logistics
Science and Engineering
Are Merging.

13. Frontiers and Synergies
These engineering systems need
social science, management, and
humanities / communications.
Nano
Bio
Info
Macro
Energy
Environment
Health Care
Manufacturing
Communications
Logistics
Social Science

14. Frontiers and Synergies Must be reflected in university education.
Natural Science
Nano
Bio
Info
Macro
Energy
Environment
Health Care
Manufacturing
Communications
Logistics
Social Science

15. The Payoff will come from Bridging the Frontiers
Bio
Info
Nano
Macro
Energy
Environment
Health Care
Manufacturing
Communications
Logistics
Bio-based materials
Biomemetics
Personalized, Predictive
Medicine
Synthetic Biology
Biofuels
Etc.

16. New initiatives on ICT at Universities worldwide
leading US universities including Harvard, Yale, Stanford, UC Berkeley and MIT
to provide lectures and research news free of charge
MIT has a program called Open Course Ware (OCW), a free publishing venture
Teaching Materials for 1800 courses
Free of charge to Anyone, Anywhere
Some universities in the UK distribute their lectures via the iconic iTunes service
The iTunes service gained its dominant position in online music as
the downloading service for the iPod player
Lectures can be downloaded from an academic iTunes service
The early emergence of a Meta University – a dynamic,
communally-constructed framework of open materials and
platforms on which much of higher education worldwide can
be constructed or enhanced.

17. Higher Education and ICT
ICT can be used in higher education for the following purposes:
Teaching
Developing course material
Delivering and sharing content
Communication between learners, teachers and the outside world
Distance learning
Video conferences
Creation and delivery of presentations and lectures
-Academic research
To find information
To find out about research centres
To communicate with other researchers
To share ideas and new development with other fellows
-Administrative support
Student enrolment
To keep students records
Time table

18. Digital Resources for Education
Cyberinfrastructure
Inexpensive, Limitless Memory
Digital Archives
JSTOR, ARTstor, Ithaka, Public Library of Science, Google Library, …
Platforms / Pedagogy
SAKAI, OKI, Open Learning Initiative (CMU), Connexion (Rice), Digital Chemistry (Berkeley), VUE (Tufts), Lionshare (Penn State), …

19. ICT in Afghanistan Ministry of Communications and IT
The need of ICT literate workforce in non-governmental & governmental organizations
The establishment of new IT departments at Universities
Integration of ICT in the main stream education is essential
Be able to communicate with outside efficiently
Have access to a rich academic environment
Progress?

20. ICT & Human Development in Afghanistan
ICT can help the development in the following areas:
Government and governance
Enhance management system
Poverty alleviation
Better access to relevant knowledge on agriculture, disease control and market price
Environmental management
Through the use of GIS and early warning system
Health
Information and knowledge sharing
Education
ICT is playing important role in distance and e-learning
Others

21. about ICT in Afghanistan
In Closing
Some Personal Views
about ICT in Afghanistan

22. Integrate ICT at the hearth of development in the national strategy
Strong steps must be taken to Improve the quality of education and integrate ICT in the education system
ICT literate workforce is essential for the future of the country
ICT can accelerate the development in the country

23. Challenges
Lack of qualified and experience ICT literate human resource in the country
Lack of affordable ICT tools
Lack of power especially in the remote areas
Lack of reliable communication networks

24. Thank you for your attention.