The digital divide does not only exist at the global level between North and South. It is also present within the economically advanced countries. Let us take Switzerland as an example. Although formal access is generally not a problem, the differences in effective use of the facilities are considerable. While 48% of men regularly use the internet, only 28% of women do. Only 35% of people with a low level of education use the internet, compared to 70% of the highly educated. The internet knowledge gap between the old and the young generations has also widened. Unfortunately, there are few figures available on the divide between economically strong - mainly urban - and economically weak regions, mainly mountainous rural areas.
"How does Switzerland deal with its internal digital divide? Do you have laws and policies in place to bridge the social and regional disparities? Are there lessons learnt out of Swiss experiences that might also be relevant for developing countries?" Many of our partners have been asking such questions, not only in relation to the internet but also concerning other information and communication technologies (ICTs). We, therefore, warmly welcome the initiative of Gerster Consulting in portraying the regulatory and policy environment for ICTs in Switzerland and in drawing a number of lessons from it. It is a pleasure for the Swiss Development Cooperation to publish this study as an information paper.
We need information about the most appropriate conditions for making ICTs a promising instrument for the poor to stimulate their own empowerment, to create new opportunities, to improve their livelihoods, and to increase their security. To take the Millennium Development Goals 2015 seriously, the contribution of ICTs to poverty reduction must become a major issue in the international debate. The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva 2003, and in Tunis 2005 are best placed to take up this challenge. We hope to contribute to that process by feeding in the Swiss practices. These may serve to shape the regulatory and policy environment in a more targeted way, in order to make our inclusive vision - where all persons, without distinction, are empowered freely to create, receive, share and utilise information and knowledge for their economic, social, cultural and political development - come true.
