UN groups join to track technology deficit of poor communities

Two United Nations organizations announced today that they have teamed up to measure the so-called "digital divide" – the deficit in information and communications technology (ICT) suffered by poor communities – and to track global progress in the uses of ICT for development.

The Digital Opportunity Index (DOI) was launched last week in Tunis at the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), with assistance from the Government of the Republic of Korea. The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) will now join efforts to develop the index further.

The development of such an index is one of the goals of the Plan of Action adopted by the first phase of WSIS, held in Geneva in December 2003.

The collaboration between UNCTAD and ITU is partly in response to an invitation by the UN General Assembly for the two agencies to cooperate closely in the measurement of ICT access and its relation to development.