"The effective use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) holds the potential of boosting economies, improving healthcare delivery, enhancing education and learning processes, and strengthening democratic processes."
Commission on Science and Technology for Development
Report of the Secretary General
(E/CN.16/2009/2)
Coffee handlers from Cooperative Café Timor in Timor-Leste sifting coffee beans. UN Photo/Martine PerretThe General Assembly in 1972 instituted World Development Information Day to draw the attention of world public opinion to development problems and the need to strengthen international cooperation to solve them (resolution 3038 (XXVII)). The Assembly decided that the date for the Day should coincide in principle with United Nations Day, 24 October, which was also the date of the adoption, in 1970, of the International Development Strategy for the Second United Nations Development Decade.
The Assembly felt that improving the dissemination of information and the mobilization of public opinion, particularly among young people, would lead to greater awareness of the problems of development, thus, promoting efforts in the sphere of international cooperation for development.