There are literally thousands of initiatives aimed at tackling the digital divide, but they are bound to fail as long as they focus on just computers and connections.

Although information communication technology (ICT) has the potential to help people leapfrog development obstacles, it will only benefit disadvantaged communities once these initiatives address the patchwork of issues at stake. This is the main finding of a report just released by the international NGO bridges.org, whose mission is to help people in developing countries use technology to improve their lives.

Bridges.org has concluded that in order for people to have what it describes as "real access" to ICT, a range of factors have to be taken into consideration. These include affordability, local capacity, relevant content and services, socio-cultural factors, legal and regulatory framework, economic environment, and political will.

The point is illustrated by the fact that the digital divide is growing despite all countries - even the poorest - increasing their access to ICT. Instead of closing the divide, the introduction of more ICTs is now simply exacerbating social and economic divides - not only between rich and poor countries, but also between socio-economic groups within countries.

Bridges.org's report, "Spanning the Digital Divide: Understanding and Tackling the Issues," was inspired and funded by the Vivendi Prospective Institute. It reviews some of the basic facts about ICT access and use and provides an extensive list of resources on the digital divide. It also examines the major approaches to the problems, describing various on-the-ground initiatives and setting out the government policies that play a role.

The report points out that too often digital divide programs fail to address the problems in a comprehensive way or they fail to take real action and it outlines the key elements necessary for integrating technology into society in an effective and sustainable way.

At a macro level the report describes the digital divide as a failure of development initiatives, a failure of market forces and a failure of governments. Development initiatives are often top-down and do not involve local partners and the business community. The private sector has slowly spread technology to middle income groups, but on the whole they fail to see the developing world and underserved populations as viable markets that require targeted products. Governments often tend to the short-term demands of their constituencies, but do not provide a coherent, long-term plan for prosperity and effective ICT integration, and a legal and regulatory framework that foster ICT use. All three failures need to be turned around in order to bridge the divides with practical applications of technology and sound policy-making.

Overall, a pooling of resources and experiences is needed, says bridges.org. It is critical to involve the private sector, adapt internationally-accepted policies to the local context, and connect on-the-ground initiatives with policy-making.

Dealing with the digital divide is beyond the scope of any single initiative and technology is not a silver bullet for the world's problems. It is important for organizations doing community ICT projects to bring a global perspective and an entrepreneurial approach, and they must cooperate with like-minded efforts to tackle the range of problems collaboratively.

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