The International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP), in partnership with the Department of Information Technology (DIT), Government of India, is organising the 5th World IT Forum (WITFOR) in New Delhi on April 16th-18th, 2012.  

WITFOR has emerged as a unique global platform to bring together different stakeholders involved in the application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for sustainable development.  After Lithuania, Botswana, Ethiopia and Vietnam, WITFOR now moves to India, one of the world’s fastest growing economies and a crucible for several ICT initiatives in development. The goal of the Forum is to highlight the successful application of ICT for development, with a focus on replicable projects that combine research, policy and practice, as well as successful ‘resourcing’ of the same.

Under the overall theme of ‘sustainable human development’, WITFOR 2012 seeks to bring together ‘problem solvers’ from across the globe to discuss and debate the potential use, impact and challenges of the use of ICT in four key areas: health, education, agriculture and e-governance. The conference will bring together political leaders, policymakers, government officials, International Organisations, NGOs and private companies working in the field of IT for development.

At the heart of the conference are basic questions like:

Does ICT have a significant impact on development?

Can isolated models of success provide affordable and accessible solutions that can change the lives of ordinary people?

What distinguishes successful models of innovation and implementation from those that have failed?

How can these be scaled up and replicated to provide better, cheaper and more inclusive solutions across the board?

What, if any, are the real ‘business outcomes’ of the use of ICT for development? 

These, and other questions, will be addressed under the four themes: Health, Education, Agriculture and E-governance.