Questioning ICTs and development in Africa

· For the past two decades, most developed countries have witnessed
significant changes that can be traced to ICTs in economics, education, communications, leisure, and travel.
· “The knowledge society”: ICTs have made it possible to find fast access to, and distribution of, information as well as new ways of doing business in real time and at a cheaper cost
· Many initiatives have been taken at the international level to support Africa’s efforts to develop communication infrastructure and services that are connected to the world information highways
In developed countries, the evolution of ICTs has been linked closely to their power and economic boom
· The digital revolution is relevant for Africa only if it takes into consideration the daily realities and aspirations of individuals
Africa is known for being a continent with one of the world lowest growth rates in all types of infrastructure.
· Challenges of Africa include adapting ICTs to local conditions and uses in developing countries, and allowing each country to understand these innovations and adjust them to their own development needs.
· The five development indicators that focus on the improvement of the quality of life are:
o education
o health,
o Income
o Governance
o technology
· ICTs can be socially beneficial only if they contribute to:
o poverty eradication (higher income),
o improved health and education
o better use and more equitable sharing of resources
o raising participation in the decision-making processes

General Framework
The purpose of this book is to share Acacia’s experiences in the processes, resources, products and behaviours that were drawn from the research it supported with grassroots communities in sub-Saharan Africa

Methodology
The approach used is participatory and iterative

Background to the study
· In August 2000, a methodological workshop was held in Nairobi that brought together different Acacia partners who were drawn from various backgrounds, but who all shared an interest in ICTs
· The purpose of the workshop was to agree on the evaluation methodology to be followed, given that this study would involve four countries (Kenya, Senegal, South Africa, and Uganda) and many researchers.

Evaluation problems and issues
· The main evaluation issues that were identified were:
o Economic, technical, political and social environments in which ICTs have been introduced.
o Community access to ICTs.
o Community involvement in the process of introducing ICTs.
o Community responses to ICTs.
o Technologies introduced.
o Applications and content developed along with the introduction of ICT
o Impacts of ICT introduction and use by the communities.
o Capacity building among different groups.

Methods and instruments of data collection
The following conversation guides, targeting specific categories of respondents, were drawn up and used:
1. Information and communication infrastructure map designed for community
representatives.
2. Social map designed for the same target.
3. Conversation guide designed for specific groups
4. Conversation guide designed for community organizations
5. Conversation guide designed for technicians, specialists, and consultants.
6. Documentary analysis guide indicating all the documents that might interest the research team.

Sampling
Based on this sampling, four projects were selected in Senegal, one in (Kenya), and two in Uganda.

Data collection and processing
· Qualitative data collection required interviews with groups and individuals.
· Quantitative data were collected using questionnaires

Methodological limitations
· One of the major difficulties encountered in this study was the differing maturity of the selected projects
· The research was exploratory and descriptive, and little concern was given to ensuring that the sample chosen was statistically meaningful.

Summary of projects
Senegal:

Youth cyber spaces in intermediate and secondary education in Senegal
· ICTs were introduced through the creation of youth cyber spaces
(point of access to ICTs) in secondary education in Senegal
· this experiment attempted to improve the learning, facilitation, and
sensitization model used by the FLE clubs to promote population, environment, and sustainable development issues

Use and appropriation of ICTs by community organizations in Senegal
Training, was implemented to enable the organizations concerned to use ICTs in ways that would encourage the development of sustainable patterns of ICT use through a network of community resource centres that were managed by the communities themselves
Introduction of ICTs to the Management and Rehabilitation of Village Communities
The project aimed at taking actions that would favour the use of ICTs by different actors

ICTs and Decentralization of Trade Point Senegal
To demonstrate that ICTs could provide economic units with the same access to sources of information, and thus enabled them to improve the decisions they make regarding activities and businesses

Kenya:
The main objective of this project was to develop the existing infrastructure at community documentation centres.

Uganda:
This project mainly intended to demonstrate how ICTs could enable female workers and women’s organizations involved in the promotion of entrepreneurship to find ways in which women could be better involved in the economic life of the community

South Africa:
The project was designed to facilitate access to ICTs by organizations and communities to improve their decision-making capacity

Conceptual framework
Community development: Community development can be defined as a global, dynamic, iterative, and interactive process of change that constitutes the source of significant and measurable improvements in various aspects of life and provides some degree of satisfaction.

Community: The term ‘community’ here designates both the individuals and their communities, and organizations or associations that have access to ICTs or are potential users of ICTs.

Participation: it refers to an organized effort accomplished by the members themselves with a view to achieving the development objectives that they had assigned to themselves

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs): ICTs are grouped under two categories: ‘traditional’ and ‘new’
· Traditional ICTs are radio, television, fixed line telephones, and facsimile machines
· The ‘new’ ICTs consist of computers and specific data processing applications accessible through those computers