Leapfrogging Possibilities For Sustainable Consumption and ...

BOX 1 : ICT Leapfrogging and SCP
The relevance and implication of leapfrogging cases to the SCP approach of meeting
basic needs and hence alleviating poverty and hunger is illustrated by the case of
Ethiopia.
As mentioned earlier the most common and widespread case of leapfrogging has
happened in the area of ICT and usage of cellular phone both in Africa and other parts
of the world. This leapfrogging has shown already a positive impact on the economic
development of countries that have leapfrogged, albeit at a hitherto insufficient level.
Ethiopia has so far installed 4 500 kilometres of fibre optics. It has covered all its 600
districts and well above half of its 15 000 Kebeles, the smallest unit of administration.
Although still the project is mainly in the phase of developing the infrastructure, even
the low level of utilization so far has resulted in appreciable magnitude of results.
Different activities carried out through video-conferencing such as educating over 6 000
people in an area very far from the point of instruction has created, among other things,
the reduction of consumption of transport fuels imported by hard currencies. Connecting
district courts to high courts has reduced the discomfort of citizens who would have
travelled long distances for appeal procedures leaving their jobs behind. Moreover, the
expenditure of the government in terms of the allowances given to employees who used
to travel from place to place has now reduced due the fact that such trips are made
unnecessary. It has become common now to send reports from the smallest units of
administration to the regional and federal government offices electronically and thereby
making the whole process faster and effective.
This is happening even in previously inaccessible areas such as Rash Dashen, the
highest mountain in Ethiopia with an elevation of 4620 meters above sea level where
road construction etc is very costly due to topographic difficulties.
As a test case of the health-net initiative in Ethiopia, a hospital in Ethiopia is connected
to a specialist hospital in India thereby sharing patient information electronically in realtime
simultaneously with the possibility of exchanging ideas regarding diagnosis and
treatment. Once around 20 hospitals in the country are connected, this same technique
will help patients in rural parts of Ethiopia to have access to the best medical doctors of
the country without being transferred over long distances.
All these will have a propagating effect of huge improvement in the production and
consumption realm due to efficient communication, connectivity and access, leading to
better health services and education. Besides, to consumers and retailers as well as
farmers the connectivity dimension provides access to better market information.
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