And therein seems to lie the main problem – according to the report ICT policy has in general failed to focus on information society processes and thus socio-economic development has not felt the full force of ICT. From a practical perspective many other problems have hindered effective ICT policy and strategy implementation including a lack of decisive leadership; a lack of awareness of information society issues; a top-down approach to ICT strategy development that does not build consensus among multiple stakeholders; weak institutions unprepared for implementation; vague action plans, and a lack of financial resources. Without a mechanism to stay ahead of technological changes, policy focus moves from one objective to the next without addressing each adequately, hence, while the gap in access to mobile telephony has narrowed, the broadband-access divide is expanding rapidly. There is also a risk the report says, that if left to market forces the digital divide between different population segments will only widen. As far as this report is concerned closing this gap is a state issue, where the state turns ICTs into ‘instruments of inclusion’ through policy development, thus narrowing the divide between rich and poor. And so the formulation of information society strategies, according to the report should complement and correct market forces.  The report describes the Latin American approach to ICT policy as focusing on three target areas: education, telecomms infrastrucutre and government policy. However, as with the ICT development appraoch rather than an ICT approach to development, education policy focused on equipping learners with ICT skills rather than integration with the curriculum. Similarly, e-government services are of little use, the report notes, to a population with limited access to the internet. As these challenges have emerged across the region, the report describes a growing awareness that without cross-sector use of technology, the benefits arising from its incorporation are diluted, or else their potential is not exploited to the full. This means that:  …not only are cross-cutting, multi-sectoral policies needed, specific sectoral policies reflecting a strategic long-term vision of the country’s development must also be promoted simultaneously.  The report closes with a focus on the importance of action plans, insisting that they must consider a ‘horizon’ which keeps pace with technological change, and that action plans must be given their own personnel and financial resources. All of this will help to prevent national strategies, according to the report, from languishing on paper and thus failing to reach sectors that would benefit from the incorporation of such technologies. By Niamh Brannigan Read the full report {{Comments}}