The CTO is above all else a membership organisation committed to the mutual support of its members in delivering effective ICT for development interventions across the Commonwealth and beyond. The CTO’s 2012/13-2015/16 Strategic Plan places the re-invigoration of the our membership structure at the heart of all that we do, and to this end created a new Membership Division within its Corporate Services Department.

The CTO has two broad categories of members: Countries, and ICT Sector Members. Full Member Countries are member states of the Commonwealth that have given an undertaking to make an annual payment to the CTO; Member countries are all other member states of the Commonwealth. ICT Sector Members pay an annual membership fee and include other government departments or regulators, private sector companies, civil society organisation, international organisations, and other entities that share the CTO’s objectives. Non-Commonwealth countries are welcome to join the CTO as ICT Sector Members.

Each category of membership has a specific set of benefits and contributions, which represent excellent value for money for the services offered across the organisation’s operational divisions. The Secretariat encourages all members to make suggestions and recommendations for ways that it can improve the services offered, and invites specific requests for activities that it can implement with and on behalf of its members.

Not all organisations are able to be Members, and the CTO also therefore has Partners, which are those additional organisations that the CTO works with to deliver particular outputs such as research, events or training activities, but that are not Members.