Are We Making a Better World with

ICTs?

Geoff WalshamJudge Business School

University of Cambridge

Contents

• Some successes in Africa

• Some challenges

• Implications for the ICT4D community

Some Successes

Mobile phone explosion• More than 635 million mobile

subscriptions in sub-Saharan Africa by end 2014

• Predicted to rise to 930 million by late 2019 with 75% internet-enabled [Guardian 5 June 2014]

• Supporting capability of people to live the lives they value (Sen 1999)

M-Pesa• Used by over 17 million Kenyans,

two thirds of the adult population [Economist 27 May 2013]

• Banking for the poor and unbanked

• Transformational effects: easier remittances, more money being sent, ability of poor to deal with shocks (Morawczynski 2009)

Mobile activism in Africa (Ekine 2010)

• To support campaigns e.g. Fahamu – petition on women’s rights in Africa

• To monitor human rights violations e.g. Ushahidi – locating post-election violence in Kenya

• To provide information e.g. Kubatana – civil society resource in Zimbabwe

Some Challenges

ICTs only one part of need for change

• Example: public health information systems (see Braa et al (2004) on the HISP initiative)

• ICTs an important component of ‘information for action’ to provide better health care

• But must also tackle human capacity building, better financing, attitudinal and institutional change

• Need to integrate ICTs in wider sociotechnical interventions

Institutional contexts often constrain what can be

achieved• Example: ‘African women and ICTs’ (Buskens

and Webb 2009)

• Strong evidence that mobiles ‘empower’ women in a number of ways, such as enabling economic activity and facilitating contact with relatives and friends

• But old gender-based hierarchies persist and use of mobiles for economic activity does not necessarily enhance women’s status in the community nor their influence in decision making processes

Systems not of benefit to the really poor

• Example: telecentres, bill payment systems, SMS …

• Many ICT-based initiatives in India but beneficiaries almost never the poorest or most disadvantaged groups (Walsham 2010)

• ‘There is no substitute for human, social and political organising, and technical tools are just that – tools’ (Ekine 2010, p95)

Implications for ICT4D Community

Embrace multi-disciplinarity

• Relevant disciplines for ICT4D include: anthropology, computer science, geography, economics, political science, information systems, development studies, sociology ….

• Can’t be an expert on all of these but we need to create a ‘trans-disciplinary’ space of productive encounters between disciplines

Need for strategic agenda for research and practice• Building information infrastructures

e.g. health information systems• Promoting social justice e.g. mobile

activism• Supporting economic activities of the

poor e.g. M-Pesa• Addressing issues of hierarchy and

institutional persistence e.g. African women and ICTs

Adopt strong ethical norms for research and practice

with ICTs• Who benefits and who loses out?• How to promote ‘good’ use of ICTs and

challenge 'bad’ use?• How to address institutional

constraints? • Need for inspirational agenda for young

and old (Walsham 2012) : Are we making a better world with

ICTs?

References

• Braa, J., Monteiro, E. and Sahay, S. (2004). Networks of action: sustainable health information systems across developing countries. MIS Quarterly 28(3):337-362.

• Buskens, I. and Webb, A. (Eds.). (2009). African Women and ICTs. Pretoria: Unisa Press.

• Ekine, S. (Ed.). (2010). SMS Uprising: Mobile Activism in Africa. Cape Town: Pamzabuka Press.

• Morawczynski, O. (2009). Exploring the usage and impact of ‘transformational’ mobile financial services: the case of M-Pesa in Kenya. Journal of East African Studies, 3(3): 509-525.

• Sen, A. (1999). Development as Freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

• Walsham, G. (2010). ICTs for the broader development of India: an analysis of the literature. Electronic Journal of Information Systems for Developing Countries, 41(4): 1-20.

• Walsham, G. (2012). Are we making a better world with ICTs? Reflections on a future agenda for the IS field. Journal of Information Technology, 27(2): 87-93.