Information and Communication Technology for People

Sustainable Development Goals 1–6 see to people: they mean to end poverty and hunger, ensure healthy lives and quality education, achieve gender equality, and provide water and sanitation for all. ICT can quicken upscaling; cut deployment costs; augment awareness, inclusiveness, and engagement; stimulate connectivity, productivity, efficiency, and innovation; and raise quality.

Highlights

• The challenges of the 21st century are daunting: global economic growth per person led by emerging economies and a population that topped 7.3 billion in 2015 put great stress on Earth’s ecosystems, even as the agenda of the Millennium Development Goals remains unfinished. So, the Sustainable Development Goals aim for change at the level of the planet, a veritable seismic shift.
• The revolution in ICT provides the most powerful tool yet. Properly deployed, directed, and extended, ICT can be a tool for common good and accelerate action on the global goals.
• “All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded the individual,” said Albert Einstein, Nobel Laureate, Physics. ICT for people can help end poverty and hunger, ensure healthy lives and quality education, achieve gender equality, and provide water and sanitation for all.