george ditsa faculty of ict tshwane uni of tech [email protected] issue of icts and development in...

George DitsaFaculty of ICT

Tshwane Uni of [email protected]

Issue of ICTs and Development in Less Issue of ICTs and Development in Less Developed Countries: A Case of Africa Developed Countries: A Case of Africa

and A View Towards Bridging the and A View Towards Bridging the Digital DivideDigital Divide

Issue of ICTs and Development in Less Issue of ICTs and Development in Less Developed Countries: A Case of Africa Developed Countries: A Case of Africa

and A View Towards Bridging the and A View Towards Bridging the Digital DivideDigital Divide

Slide 1George Ditsa IRMA2005 – San Diego

Presentation Outline

The Digital Divide, Policies & Tech intake in Africa

Tech Breakthroughs & Poverty Reduction

Challenges Faced by ICT Projects in Africa

ICT Initiatives in Development in South Africa & Ghana

Formulating ICT Strategies for Africa

Further Suggestions Conclusion


George Ditsa IRMA2005 – San Diego

The Digital Divide:The Digital Divide: The disparity that exists in the access to and use of

information and communication technology between countries, and between groups within countries (Bridges.org, 2001)

“The gap between individuals, households, businesses and geographical areas at different socio-economic levels with regard both to their opportunities to access information and communication technologies (ICTs) and their use of the Internet for a wide variety of activities” (OECD, 2001, p. 5)


The Digital Divide, Policies & Tech Intake in Africa


Strategic Policies on ICTs & Development:Strategic Policies on ICTs & Development:

ICTs into development in 70s and facilitated by international orgns such the UNDP & World Bank

Support for large number of IT projects in 70s & 80s

Top-Down strategies

“Push” rather than “Pull” resulting in failures that worsen development states of LDCs (Heeks, 2002; Brohman, 1996; Berman, 1992)



Intermediate Tech for Africa:Intermediate Tech for Africa: £1-technology vs £1,000-technology (Schumacher,

1999 - first published in 1973)

Need for £100-technology first instead leapfrogging as some authors advocate (Fontaine,

1999)




ICTs and creation of WealthWealth & rise in Quality of LifeQuality of Life in

industrialized countries in the 20th century (Zachary, 2003)

Promises of Tech Breakthroughs bridging gapbridging gap between “have” & “have-nots”

Failures of Tech as result of pressing social amenitiessocial amenities


Tech Breakthroughs and Poverty Reduction


Lack of basic amenities

Lack of adequate national information infrastructure

Tech know-how and support

Tech beyond means of most

Understanding principle underlying ICT sector

Dealing with culture

Political stability and good governance


Challenges Faced by ICT Projects in Africa


ICT initiatives in developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, dominated by three prevalent ones currently (Bridges.org 2001; Benjamin 2000; Burton 2000)

Online information resources (providing relevant content);

School computer programs & distance learning program;

Telecenters.




Telecenter initiatives in South AfricaTelecenter initiatives in South Africa

Govt embraced idea & set up Telecenters across country

Studies indicate widespread but impact not significant (Benjamin & Dahms 1999; Benjamin 2000 & 2001; Burton 2000; Trusler, 2004)

“It is clear that while existing telecentre facilities offer a variety of services that are both desired and needed by many communities, these facilities remain under-utilized by the majority of communities in which they are located. Reasons for this range from cost and pricing issues to mere awareness of the facilities” (Burton 2000).




“… it appears that the attempt to use ‘£1,000-technology’ presented an impossible transition, not in terms of use – but rather in terms of ownership. We could see the computer training conducted by the PM as an attempt to ‘leap-frog’ certain developmental stages. Intuitively, if we had substituted the £1,000-technology (the MPCC) with a more intermediate technology (say a small-scale hydroponics plant) ownership and empowerment could have been significantly greater” (Trusler, 2004).




Telecenter initiatives in GhanaTelecenter initiatives in Ghana

Two Telecenter initiatives:

The Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence on Information and Communication Technology or simple called Kofi Annan ICT Centre

The Ghana Technology Park

No current research to determine success or failure




Formulation of ICT Strategies for Africa must start from Formulation of ICT Strategies for Africa must start from “here!”“here!”

Use of ICT Growth Stage Models, eg. Sutherland & Galliers Model to:

Identify ICTs StagesICTs Stages in organizationsFormulating strategies based on identified stages to

move to Matured StagesMatured Stages

Important also to identify the sectors that the firms or organizations belong to and use, eg. McFarlan & McKenny’s Strategic Grid in the strategy formulations


Formulating ICT Strategies for Africa


Further suggestions towards bridging the Digital DivideFurther suggestions towards bridging the Digital Divide Africa countries must be willing to invest in ICT to bring about the much

needed change; To avoid pitfalls, components of ICTs must be properly laid out to resolve all

ambiguities; Training/awareness drive must be properly coordinated and implemented; Consultants of repute must be engaged from onset to ensure international

standards are conformed to and enforced; The notion that once a computerization project starts it must produce results

immediately should be discarded; and Attempt must not be made to solve all problems all at once: as doing so will

almost likely result in project failures.


Further Suggestions & Conclusion

Further Suggestions & Conclusion

Your QuestionsYour Questions

Comments Comments

&&

SuggestionsSuggestions


george ditsa faculty of ict tshwane uni of tech [email protected] issue of icts and development in...

Documents