The CTO is an international development partnership between Commonwealth governments, non-Commonwealth countries, businesses and civil society organisations. It is based in London, UK.
The CTO is the oldest and largest Commonwealth organisation engaged in multilateral collaboration in the field of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). It uses its experience and expertise to support members in integrating ICTs to deliver effective development interventions that enrich, empower, and emancipate people within the Commonwealth and beyond.
CTO has been at the centre of continuous and extensive international communications development funding, co-operation and assistance programmes. Since 1985, the organisation has delivered to its recipient members in Europe, the Caribbean, Americas, Africa and Asia-Pacific regions, over 3,500 bilateral and multilateral telecommunications and ICT capacity-building projects in the form of policy, operational and regulatory training and expert assistance.
Moreover, the CTO has been at the forefront of generating cutting-edge knowledge through its research and consultancy services, as well as sharing knowledge through its conferences and workshops held across the world. This long history as a development facilitator provides the Organisation with a unique and growing delivery capacity for ICT for Development (ICT4D) programmes and services. Recently, the CTO has significantly reviewed its mandate to reflect and respond to today’s global development challenge as set out in the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
The CTO has two broad categories of membership: Full Member Countries, and ICT Sector Members.
CTO's Strategic Plan for 2012/13-2015/16 highlights six main areas on which the organisation will be placing particular emphasis: