ICT Based Development of Marginal Communities: Participatory Approaches to Communication, Empowerment and Engagement in Rural Uganda
The Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for Development discourse in Africa is driven by three dominant viewpoints. These range from the inherently pessimistic that poor communities need food, not technology; through the fundamentally alarmist that Africa needs to engage in a steep learning curve of ICT usage, otherwise the Continent and its people will be left further behind by the rest of the world; to the optimistic conjectures that Africa has the potential to ‘leapfrog’ past older technology into the use of innovative new technologies that offer many benefits.
The marginalised, dominantly rural, populations of the developing world are trapped by the paradox that those who cannot afford an innovative concept are those who have the greatest need and invariably are the last to gain access; and within every marginalised population there exist micro-peripheral communities excluded from ‘mainstream’ society. The paradox is valid for ICTs and the consequent emergence of deep ‘digital divides’ between social groupings. The conundrum facing policy makers and practitioners in developing economies is finding a ‘participatory’ method of bridging the digital divide that benefits both individuals and communities.
This thesis locates an ICT ‘grassroots’ initiative, in an impoverished, agrarian and rural community, in Uganda. The Community Multimedia Centre (CMC) model is gaining relevance and pragmatism in the ‘ICT for development discourse’ as a participatory approach suitable for peripheral communities. The thesis conducts a three-tiered qualitative analysis of the CMC model’s ability in promoting both social inclusion and development of the resident community. The strategy of analysis begins with a profound micro-examination of the model’s structures, processes and outcomes after which the study broadens into separate analyses of the CMC model’s success in the empowerment of women and the civic inclusion and engagement of youths.
The impact assessment of ICTs on the micro-level indicates not only the success of the CMC model, but also the importance of a viable policy commitment and people-centred approaches that foster sustainable ICT accessibility for impoverished marginal communities.
The marginalised, dominantly rural, populations of the developing world are trapped by the paradox that those who cannot afford an innovative concept are those who have the greatest need and invariably are the last to gain access; and within every marginalised population there exist micro-peripheral communities excluded from ‘mainstream’ society. The paradox is valid for ICTs and the consequent emergence of deep ‘digital divides’ between social groupings. The conundrum facing policy makers and practitioners in developing economies is finding a ‘participatory’ method of bridging the digital divide that benefits both individuals and communities.
This thesis locates an ICT ‘grassroots’ initiative, in an impoverished, agrarian and rural community, in Uganda. The Community Multimedia Centre (CMC) model is gaining relevance and pragmatism in the ‘ICT for development discourse’ as a participatory approach suitable for peripheral communities. The thesis conducts a three-tiered qualitative analysis of the CMC model’s ability in promoting both social inclusion and development of the resident community. The strategy of analysis begins with a profound micro-examination of the model’s structures, processes and outcomes after which the study broadens into separate analyses of the CMC model’s success in the empowerment of women and the civic inclusion and engagement of youths.
The impact assessment of ICTs on the micro-level indicates not only the success of the CMC model, but also the importance of a viable policy commitment and people-centred approaches that foster sustainable ICT accessibility for impoverished marginal communities.
Publisert i 2008
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