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This book dives into the achievements, opportunities, risks and dangers of ICT in the rural Global South, and takes a look at the likely future.Drawing on years of experience across 45 counties, as well as extensive original academic research, Willem van Eekelen situates the evolving role of ICT in wider development patterns in the Global South. He discusses the effects of ICT on agriculture, trade, financial flows, resource management and governmental performance. He then considers the associated risks of financial insecurity, online gambling, exclusion, misinformation and the effects of ICT on people's freedom. The book concludes with six recommendations to maximise the usefulness of rural ICT investments and minimise the risk of them causing harm.This engaging and authoritative account of ICT and rural development will help students, academics, governmental policymakers, donors and investors wishing to support socio-economic development in the Global South.

Attempts to bring the benefits of information technology in the form of the internet to developing countries have, to date, foundered on the belief that this requires the beneficiaries to access the technology directly. As a result, the perceived huge benefits of such an enterprise have often failed to materialise.This original contribution to the