Italian Trust Fund for ICT for Development

Inter-American Development Bank Italian Trust Fund for Information and Communication Technology for Development

On March 21, 2003, during the Annual Board of Governors Assembly of the Inter-American Development Bank of Milan, Italy and, in particular, during the Seminar "E-Governance: Towards a New Approach to International Cooperation in the Knowledge Economy", the Bank and the Government of the Republic of Italy signed the agreement for the establishment of the "Italian Trust Fund for Information and Communication Technology for Development" (Fund) for EUR 3 million.

With the establishment of the Fund, the Bank and the Government of Italy seek to effectively contribute to the design and deployment of information and communication technology (ICT) to: (a) lower the costs and improve the efficiency of political and institutional reforms in the Latin American and Caribbean Region (LAC); (b) improve the efficiency and reach of social development programs and promote innovative instruments for poverty reduction; (c) improve the transparency of public sector administration and, thereby, increase the trust of its constituents; (d) introduce more transparency to the political process and allow for wider citizen participation; (e) allow the governments to play a fundamental role of empowering their peoples, raising human capabilities and productive potential, and broadening their opportunities; and (f) improve the leadership, management, administration and operations in general of public institutions of the Region.

Within this context, the Fund finances a series of individual technical cooperation activities for the design and implementation of electronic government (e-government) applications aimed at improving the efficiency and transparency of the public administration, expanding the reach and impact of public social and other services, and enhancing the capacity of public institutions to effectively meet the needs of their constituents and, thereby, contribute to the consolidation of the democratic process in the Bank?s borrowing member countries of the Region.

The Fund has two main components. First, it provides non-reimbursable resources to undertake a series of diagnostic studies and activities which allow to further identify the situation, real needs and demand for ICT systems and infrastructure and e government solutions, with special emphasis in their application to, among others, public sector administration and the social sectors in the countries of the Region. Second, the Fund finances a series of investment activities including project preparation and the execution of small, innovative and demonstrative pilot projects in e government.

On a first stage, the following borrowing member countries of the Bank have been selected as beneficiaries of the Fund: Argentina, Bolivia, Peru and Uruguay in South America; Honduras and Panama in Central America; Dominican Republic in the Spanish-speaking Caribbean; and regional initiatives in the English-speaking Caribbean. Based on the First Replenishment of June 2005, all borrowing member countries of the region are eligible under the framework.

Project Elegibility and Evaluation Manual

Contact: Andres Garrett