International experience suggests that access to information, and information sharing, especially in rural areas, are key factors for development.

In today’s digital society, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is an appropriate tool to facilitate interaction between a government and its citizens, thereby promoting good governance. Moreover, ICT is capable of creating conditions for enhancing transparency, increasing accountability and improving the effectiveness of public sector institutions.

For Ethiopia, a country constrained by a heterogeneous topography, many years of conflict and recurrent drought, the utilization of ICT aims at accelerating development, sustaining growth and promoting the process of democratization, while, at the same time, reducing the national level of poverty.

The Ethiopian government has therefore embarked on a major National ICT Capacity Building Program to enhance the growth of information and communication technology by encouraging investment in the sector that focuses on infrastructure and human resource development. This program is based on a constitutional decentralization policy which entrusts regions and woredas with the task of responding to needs where and when they occur.

The Information and Communication Technology Assisted Development (ICTAD) Project assists Ethiopian communities to improve their livelihood through the use of appropriate ICT that facilitates increased access to markets, development information as well as public and private services.