The International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) is a non-profit foundation that specialises in using information and communication technology (ICT) as a tool and driver for development. It was founded in 1996 by the former Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation, Mr Jan Pronk.

IICD’s mission is to help several million people with low incomes in Africa and Latin America create opportunities in education, health, agricultural livelihoods, governance and the environment to help them shape their own future and the society they live in through access to, and by using and exploiting, information and communication technologies (ICTs).

That is why, together with local partners, IICD creates practical and sustainable solutions using both modern media (such as computers and mobile phones) and traditional media (such as bulletin boards, radio and television). IICD’s core business resides in enabling and supporting social innovation through the practical and innovative application of ICTs, in turn allowing for societal behavioural changes and transformations. In so doing, IICD and its partners also contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

For optimal impact, IICD also works closely with partners from the public, private and not-for-profit sectors to bring about technical and social innovation in the sectors Livelihoods, Education, Health, Governance and the Environment.

It currently supports 132 ICT projects and programmes in Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Ecuador, Ghana, Jamaica, Malawi, Mali, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

Guiding principles

To secure the quality and sustainability of our work we adhere to the following guiding principles:

Demand-responsiveness; ICT for development activities must respond to local demands and offer opportunities for development that are workable in the local context to increase sustainability of the solutions that have been applied. This means that IICD works with partners that are demand-responsive and that have processes in place which are both participatory and representative;

Local ownership; Local partners take full ownership of their development challenge and develop, implement and monitor their own ICT-based solutions to increase the sustainability of the ICT for development activity. IICD’s role is that of catalyser, broker and facilitator in the process;

Capacity development; People can only make effective use of ICTs for development purposes when they have the right skills base. That is why a large part of our work is devoted to capacity development. Capacity development is not limited to the development of individual ICT skills and competences, but also addresses the needs of the organisations.

Learning by doing; At the heart of IICD’s working philosophy, a strength IICD is widely recognized for, is the “learning by doing” philosophy. The actual execution and piloting of projects is carried out by IICD’s local partners, IICD’s role is to act at the skills’ transfer level. Additionally, project partners participate in monitoring and evaluation activities whereby they review their results and draw lessons from what they have achieved so far. This helps local partners and IICD to learn from their experiences and build up a solid knowledge base on how ICT is best applied;

Partnerships, networks and multi-stakeholder involvement; The success of IICD’s work lies in creative partnerships such as knowledge alliances to help overcome challenges. Each sector – public, private and non-profit - has an added value to ensure sustainable development. IICD aims to involve all of them, both locally and internationally, in finding the solution to a development problem as their combined strengths are critical to sustainable solutions.

Gender equality; Women’s needs receive special attention when analysing and solving development problems to ensure that the ICT solution contributes to gender equality.