ict4d vincent shaw. what i found in exploring the topic the d of ict4d is very under-developed the...
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What I found in exploring the topic
• The D of ICT4D is very under-developed
• The ISR literature has not paid much attention to the D
• That the ISDC literature is not really engaging the development world
The focus of this presentation
1. Defining ICT and Development
2. Development as conceptualised currently by the – Development practitioners– ISR literature
3. Framework based on Sen’s work
4. Explore the use of the framework
5. Implications for future research
1.1 Defining ICT
– radio and television services, and – other digital technologies including
• methods for communication protocols,• transmission techniques, • communications equipment,
– techniques for storing & processing information using computers, & similar devices like handheld palmtops and PDA’s.
• ICT is an umbrella term that covers all technical means for processing & communicating information.
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% Penetration Population # Implications for use of mobiles:
• % penetration• Expected growth
Comparing mobile penetration across Africa
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Population (M) Internet content (%)
Gaining some perspective
The languages spoken across the world and language of internet content
Gaining some perspective
Only 15% of rural households in sub-Saharan Africa have access to electricity
Defining Development: Sen’s Capability Approach
• Sen defines development as a “process of expanding the real freedoms that people enjoy”.
• A substantially different approach to that of using GNP or incomes
• Focus on freedoms shifts the emphasis towards the ends rather than the means of development
The Capability Approach:Functionings and Capabilities
• Functionings are the things we can do – the beings and doings of our lives– They are our actual achievements
• Functionings provide us with a “capability set”– This represents our potential achievements –
or the opportunities we have• Commodities are goods and services that
are the means to achieve
2. Development as empowerment
Empowerment is the expansion of assets and capabilities of poor people to – participate in, – negotiate with, – influence, – control, and – hold accountable institutions that affect their
lives.
(World Bank, 2002)
Agency
Opportunity Structure
IterativeRelationship
Degree of Empowerment
DevelopmentOutcomes
Alsop, 2006
Development as Empowerment
Agency
Opportunity Structure
IterativeRelationship
Degree of Empowerment
DevelopmentOutcomes
Alsop, 2006
Development as Empowerment
Agency and Assets
• Assets provide power – a combination of resources and rules
• Interaction takes place between the assets and opportunity structures
• Examples include:• Psychological – capacity to envision• Human – skills of various kinds,
literacy• Informational• Organizational• Material• Social• Financial
Agency
Opportunity Structure
IterativeRelationship
Degree of Empowerment
DevelopmentOutcomes
Alsop, 2006
Development as Empowerment
Opportunity Structure
• Institutions that govern people’s behavior, and which influence the success or failure of people’s choices
• The rules of society that shape human interactions and peoples’ choices• Formal institutions• Informal institutions – unofficial rules,
cultural practices and value systems
Agency
Opportunity Structure
IterativeRelationship
Degree of Empowerment
DevelopmentOutcomes
Alsop, 2006
Development as Empowerment
Degrees of Empowerment
The opportunity to make a choice existsThe opportunity is usedThe choice brings about the desired effect
Surprise finding:
Mobile use in rural Nigeria
• “Self-developed” report format
• Self-funded from “free sms’s”
Degrees of Empowerment• Improvement in mobile coverage created
“opportunity structures” for Bahati and the CHEW in Gagure HC
• They both utilised a variety of personal skills (functionings) to obtain cell phones, and use them
• Their use of their agency, and the opportunity structure (free sms) to enhance their productivity and efficiency
• Despite the lack of material benefit (for Gagure CHEW), they were empowered
3. A Framework for Evaluating Empowerment:Domains and Sub-domains
• State– Justice– Politics– Public service delivery
• Market– Labour– Goods– Services
• Society– Intra-household– Intra-community
Which can be applied in a framework to assess agency and opportunity structures across a number of levels:
• Micro (local, household)• Intermediate (Regional,
State, Provincial)• Macro (National)
Domains Sub-domains Micro Intermediate Macro
State
Policy and regulatory framework
OS Agency
Public service delivery, such as health, education, democracy
OS
Agency Governance and accountability
OS Agency
Market
Entrepreneurialism and economic activity/productivity
OS
Agency Goods
OS Agency
Services
OS Agency
Access to global markets and resources
OS
Agency
Organisational (non-governmental organizations)
OS
Agency Society
Intra-household OS Agency
Intra-community
OS Agency
Framework for Evaluating Empowerment
Four Key Points
1. Empowerment is a relational concept– it emerges from the interaction between
people and their environment;– it plays out through the rights, rules, norms,
behaviours and processes governing poor people and powerful actors;
– the relationship plays out at multiple levels, and in different domains;
Four Key Points
2. Usually, marginalized/poor people capabilities and attributes are conceptualized as individual attributes, but where they are disempowered, they often find a voice through collective action/organizations;
3. Empowerment requires both top-down and bottom-up approaches– Top-down processes are required to change
structures and organizational processes– Bottom-up for awakening individual assets
4 Key Points
4. Intervention points vary, depending on the – Constraints and barriers– What is feasible– The developmental outcome desired
Intervention points can also change over time
Summary so far
• ICT has been defined, and we have drawn attention to the relatively superficial “bean counting” strategies that track expansion so far
• We have suggested that more sophisticated measures are required to monitor the use of ICT, and how this contributes to development
• Defined development using Sen’s Capability Approach
• Explored a framework used in the development domain to track empowerment
Early ISR views on Development
• Development was seen as the antithesis of poverty, and poverty could be addressed by– funding for economic development– transfer of economic and technological policies
from the “developed world” to the “developing world”
• Failure due to instrumentalist view of social life and people which ignores the various factors that influence the well-being of individuals and groups (Critiqued by Escobar, 1995).
Development and ISR
• Avgerou (2003) has critiqued simplistic views drawing on narrow economic theory that links ICT’s to development, arguing that complex interactions govern whether ICT make a meaningful impact on development.
The Offending Reports
• Human Dev Report 2001, • Human Dev Report 2002, • Porter Global Competitiveness
Report (2001/2002), • Global Information Technology
Report
• Avgerou argues that institutional intervention (in the form of government and networked organizations as watchdogs) are required to regulate market dynamics.
• She concludes that emulation of western based practices in developing economies hardly ever succeeds, and suggest that “situated action appropriate to formative contexts” should be prioritized.
Technological innovation
Human capabilities
Economic growth
The reports suggest that a virtuous cycle gets established that can be left to market forces to develop
Development and ISR• The effect of internet expansion has been assessed
by exploring the impact in specific areas– Economic productivity– Health– Education– Poverty alleviation and empowerment– Democracy– Sustainable development
• Useful study:– Clear description of development initiatives over time– Highlights the role of intermediary institutions in linking
local and global conditions in creating knowledge, disseminating knowledge, and in human resource development Madon (2000)
Development and ISR• Papers assessed according to the areas of
contribution– Public infrastructure (e.g. health)– Governance, accountability and civil society (e.g.
educational provision)– Entrepreneurialism and economic activity– Access to global markets and resources.
Thompson and Walsham (undated)
Papers reviewed in:• Walsham and Sahay (2006), • Avgerou (2008), • Walsham et al (2007)
Reference to Development• only 5 made an explicit attempt
to address development issues
Summary• While there have been significant calls for an increased
focus on the role of ICT’s in development, the ISR literature has responded mainly by – Describing the areas in which developmental contributions have been
effected– Warning against overly simplistic views on the link between ICT diffusion
and development;– Highlighting the complex interactions that are required to effect productivity
gains related to ICT diffusion
• Most views on development continue to look at the extent of access to ICT’s rather than their actual use
• There are a few articles that draw on Sen’s Capability Approach
Capability Approach and ISR
• Madon 2004 framework for assessing eGov project in Kerala:– Range of ICT-generated applications– What functionings are enabled– What people do with the opportunities– Barriers to achieving functionings
Development and ISR Contd
• Zheng and Walsham 2008– Commodities:
• What type of technology?• What characteristics of technology are relevant to local conditions?
– Conversion factors:• Personal factors• Social factors• Environmental factors
– Agents:• Whose capabilities are deprived
– Capabilities:• What capabilities are deprived?
– Well-being freedom– Agency freedom
4. Adapting the Framework
• State– Policy and regulatory framework– Public service delivery, such as health, education, democracy– Governance and accountability
• Market– Entrepreneurialism and economic activity/productivity– Goods– Services– Access to global markets and resources – Organisational (non-governmental organizations)
• Society– Intra-household– Intra-community
Domain Sub-domain Micro Intermediate MacroState Policy and regulatory
frameworkOS Data reporting requirements,
indicators, and standards
AgencyPublic service delivery, such as health, education, democracy
OS PAH network
Agency Voice and collective bargaining power
Governance and accountability
OS PAH network
Agency Increased confidence of roles and responsibilities
Analysis based on Jacucci, Shaw, Braa 2003
Analysis based Shaw 2008, HISP-SA Case
Domains Sub-domains Facility Province/Region National/StateMarket
Entrepreneurialism and economic activity/productivity
OS Health Information Practitioner (HIP) as a new cadre in the health sector
Agency
Goods
OS DHIS as a tool for HISD
Agency Services
OS DHIS lists and hot-line support for HIP
Agency Access to global markets and resources
OS HISP as an International network
Agency International networks empowering employees, opportunities for study (reciprocal relationship), etc
Organisational (non-governmental organizations)
OS HISP-SA as a NGO, NPO
Agency Voice for HIP
Analysis based on Zheng and Walsham, 2008 – SA Case
Domain Sub-domains Micro State
Policy and regulatory framework OS Agency
Public service delivery, such as health, education, democracy
OS Computer provided, software available, potential to be comp lit
Agency Inability to use information, absence of culture of information use
Governance and accountability
OS Absence of regular support from superiors, district officeAgency
Market
Entrepreneurialism and economic activity/productivity
OS Agency
Goods
OS Agency
Services
OS Absence of regular support from HISPAgency Software too complicated
Access to global markets and resources
OS Agency
Organisational (non-governmental organizations)
OS Agency
Society
Intra-household
OS Agency
Intra-community
OS Social hierarchy as threat to individual performance - Information officer feels inferior in relation to prof nurses
Ability to recall individual cases with clarityAgency
Value of the framework:
• Assess progress over time• Comparative across time and space• Different view to “failure” of IS projects, or
the paradox of ongoing “unsuccessful” interventions
5. Implications for further research:
• Emergent themes:– South vs North – the framework enables local
priorities to be set, and a range of OS and agency tasks to be determined which are understood to contribute to developmental outcomes
• Longitudinal studies
Implications for further research contd
• Use of particular theories:– Complexity theory –
• non-linearity• role of self-organizing groups• Co-evolution
– Structuration theory• Use of particular methodologies:
– Critical emancipatory action research
Concluding Remarks
• The “Capability Approach” is a useful philosophical and analytical framework;
• Advantage to be gained from combining perspectives from the “development domain” with those from the ISR domain;
• Shift in thinking about ISR in DC, in particular to consider different research approaches, and the use of theory.
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