Engendering Universal Access to ICT in Rural Areas

Abstract

The concept of community access to information and communication technologies (ICT) has gained widespread attention as a strategically vital response to the perpetual lack of affordable access to ICT and ICT services in the developing world, particularly in rural and peri-urban1 poor areas. Community access is not in itself a new idea; however, it provides an encouraging policy approach to overcoming the wide disparities of access and, as such, to provide opportunities for developing societies and historically disadvantaged regions and populations to participate in the newly emerging social and economic orders. This article focuses on community access centers as essential to facilitate access to ICT for women in rural areas in the developing world.