Microcomputer implementations in the least-developed countries: Some policy considerations

This conference and its predecessors signal the widespread recognition that microcomputers are an important tool for developing countries to use in a wide variety of applications. This is not only a matter of conferences and abstract programs, however, as tens of thousands of microcomputers are already in use throughout the Third World, bought by private businesses and governments alike, independently and with bilateral and multilateral assistance. Microcomputers are now having a major impact on sectoral-management and general planning functions, and there is a growing, if still insufficient, literature on applications and implementation processes specific to the Third World. In this paper, however, we wish to point to one topic that has been relatively neglected—the circumstances facing computer implementations in the least-developed countries of the world. These special circumstances call for special policy considerations.