Productions: Briefing on Haiti
Haiti – Technology: The Internet Confronting Archaic Structures
October 1999
by: Ives Marie Chanel & Ronald Colbert 1
This bulletin was produced with the collaboration and financial support of Kosmologic bv of the Netherlands. Kosmologic is a young and innovative company active in the ICT (information, communication and technology) business. In addition to its business goals, Kosmologic aims to support sustainable development in lesser developed countries, with emphasis on practical applications of information technology. The company provides services ranging from programming to project management and consultancy. Please visit: http://www.kosmologic.nl
Haitian authorities have not yet demonstrated any official interest in the promotion of the Internet. The investments are still limited in this sector, which serves a minority with economic means – in a country whose yearly Gross Domestic Product (GDP) does not exceed US$457 per capita (2).
Internautes (% |
of the population) |
Sweden, Iceland U.S.A. OECD (outside U.S.A.) World Latin America & Caribbean Haiti |
>30 26.3 6.9 2.4 0.8 0.05 |
Sources: Based on the UNDP World Report on Human Development 1999 |
The globalization spreading around the world meets in Haiti a terrain characterized by archaic structures and inaccessibility of information. Public authorities are not very sensitive to the need of being open towards technology that could allow the more efficient delivery of their services to the people. The principal problem of connecting to the Internet relates to the infra-structural and organizational deficiencies of the telecommunications sector.
“If we do not make a jump to get into line, the gap between Haiti and the other countries will be even wider than it is already. It takes an eternity to obtain an authorization for accessing the Internet by satellite. One has the impression that pulling strings works better…,” Reynold Pauyot said, Coordinator of the Haitian Telematics Network for Research and Development (REHRED).
Various people interviewed for the preparation of this briefing expressed the view that today, on the eve of the third millennium, we need a collective effort to understand the economic, social and cultural importance of the Internet to Haiti.
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