Model of an Information and Decision Centre for Developing Countries

Developing Countries (DCs) are typically faced with weak infrastructures. The lack of reliable transport and communication systems compounds the general misery of disease, ignorance and poverty which in most African DCs has not only not been overcome - as had been hoped for at the time of independence from colonial powers - but has become worse in the last three decades. Partly, this deterioration must be attributed to a fundamental lack of information and inappropriate decision- making practices, characterized by distinct deficiencies with regard to stakeholder participation, transparency and accountability.Information and Decision Centres (InfoDeCs) are designed to help DCs address common problems, resulting from over-centralization, lack of power-sharing, insufficient participation of civil society in development planning, and uncontrollable migration from rural to urban centres due to the typical neglect of rural development.The authors have developed the InfoDeC concept as an expansion of the Multipurpose Community Telecentre (MCT) approach started by IDRC, ITU, and UNESCO in five African countries and have designed a low- cost prototype of an InfoDeC for the district capital of Bagamoyo in Tanzania. The design was based on the University of Dar es Salaam's management decision centre implemented in 1996. The paper presents reasons and rationale for InfoDeCs as intelligent hubs of the future information infrastructure of DCs, summarizes their technical and organizational functions, and assesses their potential for economic and social development.