ICTD News for 07 March 2007

[ICTD Newsmaster <ictdnews@undp.org>]

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CONTENTS

EDUCATION/E-LEARNING
	Cellphones as an educational tool
	A Wikipedia for the Right Wing

POVERTY ALLEVIATION
	India: A 21st-century powerhouse
	What a U.N. Partnership with Big Business Could Accomplish

ENVIRONMENT
	Solar Power Starts Muscling Out Kerosene
	UN launches consortium to tackle e-waste

METRICS/STATS
	Worldwide Internet Penetration Grew 10% in 2006




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EDUCATION/E-LEARNING
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---- Cellphones as an educational tool
The Meraka Institute, the Helsinki University of Art and Design in Finland and the University of Pretoria have, over the past 18 months, been working on a project dubbed MobilED, where they are investigating the use of mobile technologies and services for formal and informal learning.
http://www.sdnp.undp.org/perl/news/articles.pl?id=9334&do=gpage



---- A Wikipedia for the Right Wing
The site is, as its name suggests, a conservative response to what it bills as Wikipedia?s ?increasingly anti-Christian and anti-American? sentiment. Predictably, left-leaning blogs have had a field day with that statement, and they?ve relished many of Conservapedia?s more florid phrasings: Ronald Reagan is ?considered by many to be the greatest American President,? for example.
http://www.sdnp.undp.org/perl/news/articles.pl?id=9332&do=gpage




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POVERTY ALLEVIATION
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---- India: A 21st-century powerhouse
For all the mess that is India, it's still one heck of a productive mess. In its latest five-year plan, the country forecast average growth accelerating from 9 percent to more than 10 percent. That's a breathtaking climb. And consider the following: In 2002, the country's annual GDP growth was lower than that of China, Vietnam, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda and Bangladesh. Within a year, India had closed to No. 2 behind China, largely on the strength of its emerging IT/BPO outsourcing sector.
http://www.sdnp.undp.org/perl/news/articles.pl?id=9333&do=gpage



---- What a U.N. Partnership with Big Business Could Accomplish
Here's where Ban and the United Nations can play a part. To leverage the multinationals' power and reach, we propose establishing a World Development Corporation that would be formed and managed by a partnership of these corporations in cooperation with nongovernmental organizations and the United Nations. This development corporation would be nonprofit.
http://www.sdnp.undp.org/perl/news/articles.pl?id=9335&do=gpage




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ENVIRONMENT
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---- Solar Power Starts Muscling Out Kerosene
For Merline Momo Azeufac, a teacher at Balefock village in western Cameroon, the days of fearing nightfall while correcting pupils' work are over. She's no longer hostage to the poor light provided by kerosene lamps. "I always had sore eyes, and also a headache because of the smoke," Azeufac told IPS. "Imagine that I used to correct about a hundred exercise books in bad lighting conditions?But this hasn't been a problem since we had solar power." 
http://www.sdnp.undp.org/perl/news/articles.pl?id=9338&do=gpage



---- UN launches consortium to tackle e-waste
The UN is to set up an initiative to extend the life of computers and electronic equipment and tackle the growing problem of 'e-waste' in the developing world. Discarded electronic equipment can contaminate soil and water, and is a growing problem in developing countries as information technology becomes increasingly popular.
http://www.sdnp.undp.org/perl/news/articles.pl?id=9336&do=gpage




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METRICS/STATS
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---- Worldwide Internet Penetration Grew 10% in 2006
India, the Russian Federation and China all saw heavy Internet user growth in 2006, growing 33%, 21% and 20%, respectively. China now has the world's second-largest Internet population, with 87 million users ages 15 and older.
http://www.sdnp.undp.org/perl/news/articles.pl?id=9337&do=gpage




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