In its second phase of implementation, for the period 2008-2010, the Regional Action Plan for the Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean (eLAC2010) presented new challenges and deepened the commitments to many of the goals in the first design of this regional development strategy. Its goals to promote the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) were reached by regional authorities during the II Ministerial Conference on the Information Society in Latin America and the Caribbean that took place in El Salvador, on February 6 to 8 of 2008.
eLAC2010 promoted the use of ICT for development, in order to achieve growth with equity. This reflected an important change in perspective, given that the plan strayed from the tendency in Latin America and the Caribbean to pursue a more industrial approach to the development of ICTs. Instead, it favored a more integral approach to social and human development, or development with ICTs. This change of approach seeks to foster the use of ICT in emerging areas. The plan included important adjustments to the priorities of the region, in terms of capabilities in, access to, and use of ICTs in six areas:
• Education and training
• Infrastructure and access
• Health
• Public administration and e-government
• Productive sector
• Policy instruments and strategic tools
eLAC2010 had two types of goals:
• 18 objectively quantifiable results-oriented goals
• 65 action-oriented goals setting out the next concrete steps to be taken
eLAC2010 envisaged the following lines of action:
• Enhancing knowledge and understanding in critical areas
• Formulating and strengthening concrete initiatives and projects at the regional level
• Intraregional dialogue to support the development and implementation of national initiatives
• Stimulate existing cooperation with extra regional actors, such as Europe and Canada and to foster initiatives with new partners
• To seek financial mechanisms to support the region in forging synergies among the activities included in this platform.
Download the regional action plan here.
