As the role of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has become indispensable for  poverty reduction and development of poor and restive region of world, the report evaluates the impact the of ICTs project, namely "Building Digital Opportunities" (BDO), in Sub Saharan Africa and highlights its positive impacts. It identifies the main issues of development and poverty reduction  as well as  some of the key hurdles to develop genuine opportunities and poverty focused ICT for development initiatives in the African region. Although it has been focused on mainly three countries, Mali, Uganda and Zambia, but also takes account of regional and global dimension of ICTs for development. The report highlights the experience of BDO programme that ICT can promote opportunities for livelihoods, enhance good governance, transparency, and facilitate people participation and so on. The key areas were livelihood, governance , health, and capacity building where the project has made considerable difference. Finally, the report also recommends to strengthen the capacity of policy makers and  civil society organisations, and recommends that local partners for the development programmes should be carefully chosen, and so on.

The report, also called the 'Blue Book', draws attention to the fundamental question of financial exclusion of disadvantaged sections of society in developing world. It has been already been widely recognised  that microfinance is indispensable for enhancing the socio-economic impacts of financial sector and United Nations General Assembly designated 2005 as the International Year for MicroCredit to address the constraints that negates the participation of poor in the financial sector. In this context, the report was prepared by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) and the UN Capital Development Fund (UNCDF) to analyse the obstacles to financial inclusion and give policy measures to overcome those hurdles. 

Although majority of population is not covered in present banking net in the developing countries, the report states that the scenario is changing and many financial services are now available in the financial market, which are intended to address the needs of poor and low income groups of society. The report points out that education, locations, cultural constraints, and  perception towards market  are the main factors that limit access to formal financial services. The report state that appropriate policy framework is an important condition but it is not sufficient condition. Success of  financial institution depends up on the overall conducive business environment in the country because it  encourages financial institutions to extend credit beyond short term secured loans.  The process of financial liberialisation has opened  the spaces for innovations for financial technologies.

The report also discusses the practical aspects of the financial inclusion as it states that both effective policy and its implementation are important,  which include the efficient clustering of financial programmes, activities with in government administration and political attention. The report concludes that multiple stakeholders must  work in tandem to design strategies and organise the best ways to implement them.

This report provides a first hand analysis of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and gender scenario in Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States.  The report reviews main gender and ICT  initiatives of the UNDP as well as gender dimensions of such initiatives undertaken by other UN agencies in this region.  The report weighs up all pros and cons of application of ICTs in development. It highlights the significance of ICTs for gender empowerment and human development such  as access and control, education, training and  skill development. But it also points out its negative impact  how it can be used in human trafficking, pornography and terror activities. The report also points out that most countries of the region have not included the specific gender perspectives in their ICTs programmes. Highlighting the imbalances of access to information and communication technologies between men and women the report suggests that more measures need to be taken to ensure that women get to enjoy the benefits of the global knowledge economy through all levels of ICT policy and practice.

The report highlights that women are underrepresented at all level of ICT initiatives and the integration of gender specific issues is limited. There are also lack of special measures to bridge the divide. Therefore, it recommends to take specific measures to build the enabling environment for women and encourage research in the sector in order to understand the status women in the ICT sector and to help  in policy formulation.