Mario, I am entering your discussion a bit late, but hope to catch up.
I agree with John's recommendation to include in your strategy a public
communication and lobbying component that magnifies the voices of the
poor.
As you correctly note, the interests of low-income communities are
rarely well represented in government in general and especially on matters
of technology access and deployment. Therefore, I believe such lobbying
could encourage and support enlightened decision-making, if organized and
managed effectively. However, I suspect that the majority of civil society
or peoples' organizations representing the interests of the poor are,
themselves, not very well-prepared or effectively coordinated for lobbying
on these issues. Especially, those who are working at the grass roots
level and have made the effort to learn about the needs of the low-income
communities. Encouraging, supporting, rallying these groups could make a
difference, especially if you could link them up with seasoned lobbying
professionals who know how to influence public policy effectively.
By the way, we just concluded a three-day workshop at the World Bank
with a large group of representatives of people's organizations from
around the world, discussing various strategies/approaches in using IT in
giving a voice to low-income communities. I was not able to participate
very much in the conference, so I couldn't say what we learned. However,
if you think it might help stimulate thinking, I could try to arrange a
briefing for your team with the workshop organizers.
Mike
