Disaster Preparedness & Response Systems

The development of the information society offers unique opportunities for identifying and implementing a coordinated set of public policies in the region. There are various reasons for this.

In the first place, contrary to other divisive issues in the development agenda, the use of ICTs does not appear to arouse controversy. International cooperation and the sharing of experiences in this development area are welcome by the vast majority of governments and other interested parties. Disagreements may arise over specific issues, but the desire to collaborate is never at issue. The use of new technologies in development strategies has turned out to be a unifying issue which has encouraged and accelerated integration and cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Secondly, most of the countries have already initiated major projects in this area and are using incentives and regulatory mechanisms to develop the necessary institutions. There are a great variety of common or similar challenges in the countries of the region that can be addressed in a coordinated fashion. Moreover, the multi-stakeholder nature of the project naturally gave way to the design of a public-private platform for cooperation. In this sense, the plan’s objectives do not stray from the realities on the ground, synergies are created, and the duplication of efforts is minimized.

Thirdly, the moment could not be more propitious: the region’s countries have already adopted specific political declarations and are forging their own national ICT strategies. The first Regional Action Plan eLAC2007 has been in place for three years (2005-2007), with proven results. Contrary to other initiatives, eLAC2007 is a short-term action plan with concrete and quantifiable goals that must be met within reasonable three-year deadlines. The real opportunity to see the fruits of their labour has proven very useful in enlisting regional authorities in the eLAC effort.

Finally, it has been demonstrated that ICTs represent transversal technologies that directly or indirectly affect the daily lives of all of the inhabitants of our region. The fact that in less than a decade half of the people in the region are communicating via mobile telephones illustrates the great potential these tools have for generating social cohesion.

Thus, integrating agendas for economic growth with equity in the region and enhancing public-sector transparency and efficiency can make a major contribution to the construction of information societies in Latin America and the Caribbean.