Information and communications technology (ICT) innovation is constantly evolving, and evolving very rapidly. This promises to bring unprecedented digital opportunities for the poor and most vulnerable in society, including the delivery of e-Health, e-Governance, e-Education and e-financial services that will reduce the digital divide. Social media is also playing a powerful role, reorganizing socio-political processes, empowering the poor and strengthening participatory approaches. In addition to this, the region’s ICT industry - software firms and hardware manufacturers alike - is poised for a massive take-off that will see innovation increasingly sourced from within the region and the emergence of a knowledge society’. Despite these promising developments, the sheer rapidity of innovations has led to a widening digital divide, with low-income countries facing fundamental challenges, particularly in terms of information, knowledge and policy gaps. This project aims to help strengthen ICT for development and disaster risk reduction by addressing these gaps. Three key challenges need to be addressed. One is the widening divides in the region’s emerging knowledge society with a further marginalization of the poorest and vulnerable social groups in particular. Second are policy failures, including failure to protect the most vulnerable against disaster risks which are increasing annually. It is important therefore to measure, with indicators, the progress in the implementation of existing and emerging ICT developments and disaster risk reduction policies. The Information and Communications Technology and Disaster Risk Reduction Division (IDD) of ESCAP, within the framework of internationally agreed development goals, including Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) and World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) 2015, and in partnership with UN organizations, has been working on these issues. IDD has carried out various analytical work and reported to member states, notably through the ESCAP ICT committee on issues such as mobile applications for economic and social development, ICT and DRR, broadband development and the digital divide in the region. Moreover, ESCAP is a member of the Partnership on ICT for Development and is acting as a regional relay on issues related to ICT measurement in Asia and the Pacific. Related to the above, is the third challenge of persistent inadequate human and institutional capacities to utilize ICTs for socio-economic development and disaster risk reduction, especially amongst national policy and decision-makers. The importance of ICT institutional and human capacity building has been duly recognized at key inter-governmental forums including the WSIS. In response, ESCAP, through the Asian and Pacific Training Centre for Information and Communication Technology for Development (APCICT), has been working in an inclusive and participatory manner to equip policymakers and other development stakeholders with the awareness and skills to leverage ICT for development and disaster risk reduction. The project will be implemented through four key research areas and a series of capacity-building activities as follows: the first, in support of the UN Partnership on Measuring ICT for Development, will involve strengthening the capacity of policymakers to measure and understand the impact of ICT to development and disaster risk reduction, within the framework of Internationally Agreed Development Goals (IADG), including WSIS and Hyogo Framework for Action HFA; second, working in close collaboration with countries at the national level, undertake gap analysis on information, knowledge and policy issues related to social and economic connectivity and disconnectedness, resulting from rapid ICT development; third, and related to the first two aspects, is a study and capacity-building activities on growing pervasiveness and transformative effects of social media, especially in civic participation and the promotion of timely disaster preparedness and risk reduction. Practices, policies and guidelines from countries in the region will be collected and shared; and fourth, development of the Asia Pacific Gateway for Disaster Risk Management and Development as an ICT tool for enhanced information dissemination and knowledge sharing on mainstreaming DRR into development planning. The project draws on ESCAP’s experience as the regional intergovernmental organization with the widest geographic coverage in Asia and the Pacific. It builds on the experiences and lessons learned from work on ICT and DRR, such as ESCAP’s collaboration with sub-regional organizations and United Nations regional offices to facilitate collaboration with disaster communities and networks. This also includes its involvement as lead author of the Asia Pacific Disaster Report, a biennial publication that tracks, among other things, how ICT can contribute to disaster preparedness. IDD has also developed an Asia Pacific Gateway for Disaster Risk Management and Development, which constitutes a platform of information on disaster preparedness policies in the region. Concurrently, the project will utilize the platform of APCICT’s established capacity building programmes to develop high quality and demand-driven training content. The rich experience gained and the requests for assistance emanating from the vast network of committed partners already in place will be leveraged to deliver the activities of the current project. Consequently, the key beneficiary countries identified are developing countries, especially LDCs, that are disaster-prone (e.g. Bangladesh, Philippines (the), Sri Lanka) and affected by the digital divide, while other identified countries such as India and China are also included for a richer sharing of experiences and enhanced benefits for regional cooperation among developing countries of the region.