Stakeholder Theory and ICT in rural Macha, Zambia

The problem discussed in this dissertation is to gather evidence of good practice and derive strategy for the development of ICT access in rural Zambia. Access to ICT services is important, also in rural areas of Africa. The challenges are many. There is a distinct void in tangible descriptions of the realities of ICT Access in rural areas or actionable guidelines for practitioners. This study involves a case study in the rural areas of Zambia. It does so through ethnography involving 10 years of observation of aspects of ICT access in rural Macha, Zambia. In this community, emerging from an articulated vision, ICT access in the form of the Internet arrived in 2004. Macha Works with its ICT unit LinkNet provides the basis for this interpretive approach from within the rural cultural setting. The purpose of the study is to benefit the local rural community, addressing the fundamentals of reality to add to the body of knowledge. The study involves cross cultural interaction and takes a trans-disciplinary view on science. It involves Participative Action Learning and Research aimed at recognising the complex adaptive systems while being aligned with the ethics of the rural African environment. Emphasis is on the needs of the community, rather than of the individual utilising empirical evidence. The good practices in Macha that inform strategy to make ICT accessible in rural areas are • engaging the community, building relationships • workforce development, unlocking productivity • thought leadership, establishing authority

International Journal of Learning and Teaching

The paper attempted to bring out the challenges that hinder sustainable implementation of Information communication Technology (ICT) as a subject in rural Zambian schools. The methodology employed in carrying out the exercise included the review of relevant literature published from printed and electronic sources including research studies, evaluation reports, government policy documents, donor policy documents and project reports, newspaper reports and so on. Among the most notable factors that emerged as challenges that hinder sustainable implementation of ICT as a subject in schools in rural Schools in developing countries such as Zambia are; Lack of electricity, Inadequate ICT teachers to teach the subject, high pupil-computer ratio and lack of enough ICT learning and teaching materials. Given the challenges above, the paper proposes an implementation framework. The framework reflects the four players that might influence the successful implementation of ICT as a subject in the rural schools of Zambia. These players are the Government, School administration, Cooperating partners and Colleges and Universities. 

Proceedings of Africomm 2012, Yaounde, Cameroon, 2012

Introduction and use of Information and Communication Technologies in rural sub-Saharan Africa face a particular array of chal- lenges. Often, challenges interrelate with context, tradition and culture. This poster presentation identifies constraints during sensitisation, introduction and operations of ICT in rural Zambia. Although quantitative engineering aspects play a role, a multitude of qualitative constraints feature prominently. These involve environmental, skills, and cultural ingredients. Research, planning and evaluation has to be sensitive to these challenges if all rural areas are to receive proper inclusion and benefit from the growing penetration of the Internet worldwide.

The spotlight on ICTs for development emerged in the last decades of the 20th century when the Internet and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were developed. The confluence of these two phenomena resulted in “a new tool in search of a purpose”(ie the Internet and ICTs), and the MDGs “were new targets in search of a delivery mechanism”(Heeks 2008, p. 27).

The Government in developing countries are implementing the Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) projects for common man through various departments, with the help of various stakeholders and partners. However, they are unable to achieve the project objectives at community and individual level. This lack of understanding has led to many failures of ICT projects reported in the literature. The ICT promoters should understand the impacts of ICT projects in their local context considering the participants' perspectives at the community level.

ICT projects in Sub Sahara Africa have a high failure rate due to inadequate (participatory) approaches and contextual differences. This study evaluates the outcomes of a participatory and multi-stakeholder approach to develop ICT applications in education in Tanzania, called the Roundtable (RT) process. This process is an interpretive approach grounded in Constructive Technology Assessment (CTA). The outcomes are measured in terms of sustainability, scalability of projects and impact on users. Sense making and learning-by-doing are key words in order to 'grow' ownership. At sector level it turns out difficult to create a 'paying' market and to stimulate relevant policy making. The study compares the outcomes against a 'norm' on success and failure of ICT projects. Some difficulties with CTA are discussed. Based on this study we conclude that the CTA approach is a promising avenue, but further research is needed.

Based upon over 10 years ethnographic observations from within rural Zambia and Zimbabwe, the presenter proposes the African components 'ubuntu, orality, relatio, dominatio and animatio' as drivers of content, and 'community engagement, skill development and thought leadership' as an implementation strategy involved with ICT access in (rural) Africa. Gertjan van Stam was born in the Netherlands. From 2003 up to and including 2012, he and his family lived in the rural village of Macha, in the Southern Province of Zambia. Before that he stayed for 2 years in rural Murambinda, Zimbabwe. He has been involved with strategic developments in ICT, in Africa, since 1987. Currently, he is Research Fellow at the Scientific and Industrial Research and Development Centre in Harare, Zimbabwe. His goal is to identify and inspire local talent and introduce appropriate technologies to build the necessary capacity for community-led activities to yield sustainable human development outcomes. His quest is for a logical framework for understanding dynamics of change in African communities and engendering leadership capable of inspiring, initiating, implementing, operating, and scaling up sustainable progress and the use of technology in the local community. Since 2011, Gertjan has volunteered in strategy-making in the IEEE, the largest professional institute in the world. He works on Social Innovation, specifically in ’thought leadership and advocacy’, and is actively involved in serving and providing guidance for students in academic studies. His activities in Zambia were featured in IEEE’s The Institute, and his career was documented in an award-winning IEEE video at TryEngineering. The activities in Zambia were shown worldwide though BBC Clicks. Gertjan authored the book Placemark and has published over 30 peer-reviewed papers on findings and lessons learned in rural and urban Africa.

Information and Communication Technologies for Development

Telecenters are meant to provide public access to information and communication technology (ICT) services to contribute to the development of the masses. The government of Malawi is implementing a telecenter project to provide ICT services to rural areas. However, most of the telecenters are not meeting the expected goals. The aim of this study was to explore how telecenter projects in rural areas are conceptualised and implemented. The study sought to understand who was involved in the project and how that influenced the sense of ownership of the telecenters. The research used the Stakeholder Theory as a theoretical framework. It was found that the telecenters faced challenges in the management of stakeholders. Although the projects identified stakeholders at the initiation of the project, they failed to keep the stakeholders engaged in the later phases of the project. This led to a low sense of ownership. Due to these occurrences, the telecenter projects have worked in isolation of the key stakeholders.

11th Prato CIRN Conference , 2014

This paper reviews the framing - sets of concepts and perspectives - of the components involved with how one communicates the framings of the words “ICT access in rural Africa”. It focuses specifically on the indigenous views. These views are derived from 14 years socio-techno ethnographic research on ICT access in rural Zambia and Zimbabwe. The realities in rural Africa are particular. Local modalities affect long term local adoption and respectful integration of technologies in African rural areas. Lack of pioneering, indigenous African research does affect and hamper mutual understanding, especially between the local community and specialists. There appears to be a rift between the framing from the Western/urban worldview and those aligned with the indigenous African perspective. ICT access in Rural Africa is not only a matter of the essential availability of functionality through physical ICT infrastructure and equipment. It involves a much wider range of issue, e.g. a relationality, that needs a holistic approach and appreciation of the local understanding of reality. Framing African realities in a foreign perspective is inappropriate to convey the meaning and value of these realities to Africans themselves. Such re-framing of African realities in Western-cast definitions and philosophies leads to marginalisation of the African perspectives. Local framing of ICT access, sensitive to history, context and culture, are crucial ingredients for respectful and inclusive sensitisation, education, implementation and maintaining ICT access for sustainable progress in rural Africa.

Abstract- The study intended to analyze the optimum solution to enhance utilization of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services to the grassroots community in Dodoma Municipal Council (DMC) in Tanzania. The specific objectives of this study were to: identify the availability and use of ICT infrastructures for service delivery at grassroots level; identify possible Local Government Authorities (LGAs) services/products offered through the use of ICT services; identify challenges that LGAs face in using ICT infrastructures for service delivery and recommend the best solution to enhance utilization of ICT services to the grassroots community for efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery to the grassroots community.