The Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development is an international, multi-stakeholder initiative to improve the availability and quality of ICT data and indicators, particularly in developing countries.
The objectives of the Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development are:
- to define and analyse internationally comparable statistical ICT indicators and to develop methodologies to collect these indicators;
- to assist in building statistical capacity in developing countries; and
- to set up a global database on core ICT indicators.
Partnership activities
The Partnership’s main objective is to raise awareness at the political level about the importance of ICT measurement for policymaking and evaluation. Within its advocacy mandate, its main activities have been in the development of ICT indicators, capacity building and contributions to the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS).
The first phase of Partnership activities spanned from 2004 to the WSIS meeting in Tunis in 2005. It focused on raising awareness among policymakers of the importance of statistical indicators for monitoring ICT policies and carrying out impact analysis. An initial core list of ICT indicators was identified and key indicators were included in the WSIS process.
The second phase started in 2006 and focuses on:
- Building statistical capacities through technical material, courses and workshops;
- Developing ICT Core Indicators: ICT in education, ICT in government, e-waste (in progress), ICT and gender, and ICT services (in progress);
- Disseminating the core list of ICT indicators; and
- Enhancing the availability of indicators including through online portals.
Under the auspices of the Partnership, the UIS is an active member of the WSIS task group, which is responsible for collecting, analysing and disseminating indicators used to monitor progress towards the WSIS targets. The UIS is also a member of the task group on Gender and ICT, which aims to identify and diversify related indicators. The report Measuring ICT and Gender: An Assessment provides a foundational analysis of steps in expanding the UIS core indicator list to incorporate the dimension of gender.
Additional resources:
- Download the Partnership’s brochure (PDF)
- Read more about Partnership activities from UNCTAD and the ITU