INFORMATION and Communications Technology (ICT) has already changed the way we work, the way we shop, the way we learn and the way we communicate.

Now, it is starting to change the way we relate to governments. And nowhere is that potential impact greater than in the developing world, where it is increasingly intersecting with another, equally powerful revolution for democracy and democratic governance.

In this respect, we are now in a situation to that of late 15th and 16th Century Europe. Then, the spread of knowledge triggered by Gutenberg’s printing press both helped to drive, and was supported by, a continent-wide rivalry of religious ideas.

Now, the Internet has become both the fuel and the vehicle for a dramatic spread in democracy intensifying demand for and supporting the spread of genuinely transparent and participatory and more efficient systems of government at both the national and global levels.

The number of democracies worldwide has doubled in little more than a decade. But in too many countries, institutions remain fragile; services are weak, officials unaccountable. And the lack of a democratic dividend - in terms of jobs and better services - has been undermining public faith in these new systems, particularly among the poor. ICT offers real hope in all these areas, offering greater citizen input into decision-making and better social services for all.

From the Phillipines to Zimbabwe, we have seen over the past year how cell phones and e-mail have been used to gather supporters and spread ideas and information across grassroots and global networks with dramatic effect. ICT is also providing a vital tool in helping link new civil society networks around key issues, from global warming to women’s empowerment to attempts to make globalisation more responsive to the needs of developing countries and the poor. And it is a dynamic new way to help connect people to their governments. When the new Prime Minister of Japan launched a regular e-mail newsletter in July, 1.35 million people - 20 per cent of the country’s Internet users - signed up within days.

ICT can also make government services and institutions cheaper, more efficient and more accessible. Developing countries like Brazil and Chile already have successful experiments underway in these areas. In parts of India, online government licensing is cutting through traditional tortuous bureaucracies.

UNDP is involved in a number of pioneering initiatives in this area, including:

· Belarus: using the Web to help make legal systems more transparent and accessible to the public;

· Botswana: linking all legislators on line and allowing citizens to follow parliamentary proceedings on the Internet.

· Bulgaria: bringing non-governmental organizations and municipalities together across a common network as part of a major anti-corruption initiative.

· These efforts do not require a computer in every house - just a focus on content relevant to the public and public areas that can be developed through private, public or public-private initiatives.

Still, there is little point talking about the impact of ICT on democracy and development in countries where ICT barely exists. Just 0.4 per cent of Africans and South Asians have used the Internet compared to over half of North Americans. So, the first challenge in harnessing limited resources is to identify the strategic levers of change that best help countries to boost the spread and application of ICT.

As our Human Development Report 2001 argues, governments need to put in place an enabling environment that encourages investments in hardware and tertiary education. A Digital Opportunity Initiatives study that UNDP recently undertook with Accenture and the Markle Foundation shows the need for developing countries to put in place comprehensive national e-strategies that address issues such as connectivity, regulatory environment and human capacity. Usually a well-educated technically-qualified pool of potential IT employees is a more critical advantage than the quality of a country’s telecom infrastructure. This revolution really is about people. Helping countries to move forward in these ways will be a central feature of our Global Network Readiness initiative that we are rolling out first in Bolivia, Romania and Tanzania.

Estonia is one of the world’s best examples of how much can be achieved with the right enabling environment. That country’s Tiger Leap project, supported by the UNDP, wired the entire country starting in the early 1990’s and has ensued that the current generation of Estonian students is 100 per cent computer literate. Tiger Leap has also been a catalyst for regional economic development and provides access points across the country, which citizens can use to conduct most of their transactions with the government. Almost all government documents, as well as Real Audio broadcasts of parliamentary sessions - are available online.

Other countries should follow Estonia’s lead. The global surge of democracy is real but fragile. And ICT can help consolidate the gains of the past several decades. Not just through encouraging the flow of ideas and information, not just by transforming how states deliver services, from schools to security and hospitals to highways, but by supplying the most important democratic dividend of all: a real say combined with choices and opportunities, particularly for the poor.