In early October, the WTO held its Public Forum in Geneva, Switzerland. The Public Forum is an annual event providing a platform for public debate about a wide range of global topics and issues being discussed by the WTO.
As part of this year's event, Maximo Torero, David Laborde, and Eugenio Diaz-Bonilla of IFPRI presented a session on the use of Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) in development and poverty reduction. The session focused on how ICTs can be used most effectively to increase smallholders' access to markets, expanding their involvement in international trade, particularly in the agricultural sector. The presentations, shown below, highlight the need for both government and private sector investment in ICTs in order to have the most impact on poverty reduction in developing countries. Specifically, Torero points out that smallholders need to be equipped with the Three C's: connectivity, capability, and content. Focus should be placed on increasing access to new technologies such as broad-band wireless services in both urban and rural areas (connectivity), expanding capacity-strengthening programs that teach smallholders both the value of ICTs and how to use them most effectively (capability), and ensuring that the information exchanged through ICTs is relevant and up-to-date (content).