The Challenge of Relevancy and Meaningful Use

Source: Information Communications Technology for Development: Synthesis of Lessons Learned, UNDP Evaluation Office, September 5, 2001

http://www.internetpolicy.net/practices/essentials5-web.pdf

Three inter-related issues are identified for thischallenge:

Issue 1: ICT initiatives will not be appropriated unless they deliver information that is relevant and useful to the end-users. Evaluative evidence from ICTD experiences targeting rural access, poverty alleviation and SMEs highlights the importance of relevant content. Merely "plugging in" poor communities to global information flows is generally unhelpful: "A focus on ICT-based information in development means the systems and knowledge that arise in poor communities are often ignored. In fact, it is this local information that is often most relevant and useful to the poor," (Gomez, 2001; see Box 6).¹ This places a premium on recognizing the poor as information producers and on collecting, packaging and more widely disseminating this local knowledge based on a good understanding of information needs. The scale of this challenge is evidenced by the following statistic: Africa (excluding South Africa) generates only 0.02% of Internet content (Wilson and Rodriguez, 1999).

¹ Poor entrepreneurs, for example, get their most valuable information via informal and trusted information systems from those around them (Duncombe & Heeks, 2001; Pigato, 2001; Lake 2000).

Issue 2: Even if the information accessed is useful, development outcomes will be negligible unless the end-user has the capacity to act. ICTs can deliver potentially valuable information to end-users like market prices to poor rural farmers and medical advice to rural healthcare workers. However, market information is useless if there are no roads to transport goods, and medical advice is meaningless if there is no money to purchase medicines. As evidence from research on Botswana SMEs confirms, information is important, but it is only one part in a chain of resources (infrastructure, skills, money) required for the end-user to have a capacity to act. If these other resources cannot be sourced, then, "there is no point providing information via ICTs (or via other means) as it will be of no value," (Duncombe and Heeks, 2001).

An important illustration comes from the failure of numerous initiatives that sought to alleviate poverty by enabling "southern" craft producers to sell directly to "northern" consumers by way of World Wide Web. Recent research reveals the false hope: "Despite the hype and promises of new business models, our research with craft producer networks in India and Bangladesh found no evidence of significant sales of craft goods using e-commerce. Most quoted "success stories" are anecdotal only" (Webb, 2001 – see Box 7).²

² The study focused on ASHA Handicrafts in India and HEED Handicrafts in Bangladesh, representing some 16.500 producers in total (producer numbers from www.peoplink.org). This research also found that Internet and related technology is most likely to bring immediate benefits for producers and craft networks by making small efficiencies in the overall supply chain (rather than providing instant sales on-line).

Issue 3: ICTs work best when they render more effective existing or clearly desired information flows. Research suggests that up to 80% of e-Government initiatives have ended in total or partial failure (Heeks & Davies, 1999).

This figure underlines the disjuncture between what ICTs can achieve in theory and how they can be foiled in practice. Problems often arise when the project focus is on installing the technological system, rather than on understanding the organizational culture and the dynamics of existing information flows. An example comes from a local e-Government project in India that showed very marginal impact after 15 years of implementation. The objective was to use ICTs to improve administrative effectiveness and transparency in 440 districts. However, the ICT systems were deployed without any accompanying reform effort. The result was a considerable investment of resources, with no real improvement in operations. In the absence of wider reforms, the "new" technology could not penetrate the "old" administrative way of doing things (Bhatnagar, 2000).

Box 6

Information supply and demand in South Africa: Irrelevant and relevant information In 1995, the Office of the Premier of the North-West Province initiated a high-level project to provide information to six rural communities through touchscreen computer kiosks. The kiosks provided general demographic and economic information about the province, details of main government programmes, and speeches by the Premier and President. This information did not meet community needs. It became apparent that the exercise was more for public relations than for community development. The project was scrapped in 1997.

In 1995, the local government in Alexandra township created a database of local resources. All township organizations were asked for input, a process often organized by school children as homework. The database was made accessible over the Internet. Not only did it provide information about local capabilities to community members, it also enabled community enterprises to win contracts from larger firms in Johannesburg. From Heeks (1999)

Box 7

Failure and success of South-North ecommerce initiatives

Although much hyped in 1995, the US-based Earth MarketPlace initiative – which linked organic agricultural producers in Kenya and other developing countries with consumers in the US via the Internet – had collapsed by 1997. The US company had developed an elaborate web-site with the capacity to sell products; however, it was unable to raise sufficient capital to undertake marketing activities. Moreover, and most critically, the US company was unable to guarantee the quality and delivery of the imported produce (Panos, 1995; 1998).

In contrast to the above failure of South-North "direct" marketing, an example from Chincheros, Peru, demonstrates how the Internet helped local producers to indirectly access Western markets, via a highly successful partnership with a national export company. Local village leaders established an Internet-enabled partnership with the national company, which was already set up to trade produce in overseas markets. Reportedly, village income has increased five-fold as village vegetables are now sold daily in New York (UNDP, 2001). EthioGift is a profitable on-line gift shop based in Addis Ababa. The gift shop enables Ethiopians living in the diaspora to buy traditional gifts (like goats, cakes and flowers) via the Internet and have them delivered within 48 hours to their families in Ethiopia. The site's success is linked to the large number of expatriates, the strong cultural traditions of gift-giving, and the fact that goods are delivered locally (i.e., not shipped abroad). EthioGift shows that a well-conceived business model, grounded in an accurate assessment of the needs of the target market, can drive a successful e-commerce venture, despite poor quality infrastructure and very little capital (Lake, 2000).

What to do?

When assessing "information and service needs" of communities or organizations, be demand driven, not supply driven. Development outcomes can be greatly enhanced by including the targeted end-users in the project planning stage, to establish what types of information and services are most appropriate. Participatory assessment methods – like Participatory Rural Appraisal – can yield useful results.

Example:

In India, the highly successful Village Knowledge Centre initiative used PRA methods to raise awareness of the project, assess the information needs of the villagers and determine which villages would be most likely to appropriate the services offered by the centres (see Annex 1).

Focus on local knowledge dissemination.

Local knowledge, more widely disseminated, can often be more useful to meeting every day challenges than "foreign" information available on the Internet, especially in poor communities (Gomez, 2001; Munyua, 2000).

Example:

An FAO regional project in Latin America (1994-1997) used video-based training to collect local knowledge from subsistence farmers and then "integrate it with modern scientific knowledge," for training purposes (Balit, 1998).

The project also had an Internet-dimension, whereby trained intermediaries gathered, packaged and disseminated information to individual farmers and their associations, based on an initial assessment of their respective information needs. The project evaluation found the methodologies and technologies to be appropriate, cost effective and sustainable in Argentina, Costa Rica, Honduras and Mexico (Balit et al., 1996).

Ground ICTD initiatives in a careful study of existing information systems and flows be they of rural communities, small entrepreneurs or government ministries. Base-line studies – to ascertain how information is gathered, stored, shared and evaluated – will help to better identify appropriate technologies and opportunities, as well as potential bottlenecks and areas for reform.

Example:

In India, ICTs are effectively enhancing a Dairy Cooperative Society's already existing system of milk collection. Prior to the application of new technologies, the milk collection process was time-consuming, with farmers having to wait in long queues. Often, their wares would become spoiled in the heat, and payment was very slow. The new technologies - AKASHGANGA – greatly increased the speed and accuracy of the measuring, testing and payment process, thereby maintaining the quality of milk and resulting in higher profits for the producer. A review of the project stated: "AKASHGANGA… does not generate any new concepts or reengineer any activity. Rather its power lies in its effective facilitation of existing processes and transactions, in order to deliver value and speed to the farmer" (Parghi, 2001).

Provide auxiliary support to enhance the enduser's capacities to act on information acquired by ICTs. As noted, access to relevant information is only one step in the process of empowerment and choice. Often additional support is required to enable the beneficiaries to act on their newfound knowledge.

Example:

A USAID project in Guatemala trained members of collective farmers' associations to download daily pricing information and market trends, and then to disseminate this information to all members. Farmers underwent complementary training, including in bargaining and negotiating techniques, to enable them to act on this information. As a result, farmers were able to demand a fairer price for their produce from intermediary buyers, and to balance their production with supply and demand trends, thereby accruing a better rate of return (AERDD, 1999).

Empower Intermediaries As discussed above, intermediaries can play a critical role in mediating (capturing, translating, packaging and disseminating) relevant information to impoverished end-users (see Annex 1).

Young people are an important target group for training. "Naturalizing" ICTs within as-yet unconnected communities may require generational change. Evaluative evidence from numerous telecentre and educational initiatives show that young people and students are much more inclined than adults to quickly and un-selfconsciously explore and appropriate new ICTs and their creative possibilities (Proenza et al, 2001. See also: Pek, 2001; Mutler, 2001; Chandrasekaran, 2001 and the Bosnian NHDR (2000), which focuses on youth in CPC contexts.).