ABSTRACT
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. This chapter points to one topic that has been relatively neglected—the circumstances facing computer implementations in the least-developed countries of the world. It offers suggestions based on authors' experiences as technical advisors to the Government of Sudan on two USAID-funded projects in which computerization played a major role. One project involved the design and implementation of systems for financial accounting, developmental budgeting, project monitoring, commodity-assistance tracking, and donor coordination for the Sudanese Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning. The other project involved support for a program of research, policy formulation, and education for the Sudanese National Population Committee. Despite the problems that will continue to plague computerization efforts, microcomputers are an appropriate technology for even the least-developed countries.
