DOCSLIB.ORG

Investigating Telecentre Implementation Through the Lens Of

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Investigating Telecentre Implementation Through the Lens Of Investigating Telecentre implementation through the lens of Design-Reality Gap framework and Postcolonial Theory: the case of the Ghana Community Information Centre (CIC) initiative. By Daniel Azerikatoa Ayoung Submitted as partial fulfilment of the Requirement of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Computer science Brunel University, London May 2016 Daniel Azerikatoa Ayoung An evaluation of Telecentre implementation in Ghana DEDICATION This thesis is dedicated to my wife, children, my parents of blessed memory and God almighty. i Daniel Azerikatoa Ayoung An evaluation of Telecentre implementation in Ghana ACKNOWLEDGEMENT My greatest appreciation goes to my supervisor, Dr. Pamela Abbott, for her guidance, support, patience and meticulously reading my thesis. This journey would not have been complete without her enduring professional guidance. I am thankful to my second supervisor, Professor Mark Lycett, for his advice. Also, I wish to thank my internal (Dr. Anastasia Papazafeiropoulou) and external (Prof. Brian Nicholson) examiners for their time and suggestions. Many thanks to the participants of the study who made this investigation possible. Special thanks to GIFEC officials, Ayamdor Alexis Adugdaa (DCE, Bongo), Edward Abambire Bawa and Regina Akasumah for their selfless support during the fieldwork. Special appreciation also goes to my sponsor, the Ministry of Energy and Petroleum, Ghana, for the confidence and support they gave me to make this programme a success. I also use this opportunity to say thank you to all Rubicon members for their support and encouragement and the ‘Special Artistic Director’ for his invaluable advice. I am grateful to all staff of Computer Science department for the support and encouragement. Ultimately, I thank almighty God for the gift of life. ii Daniel Azerikatoa Ayoung An evaluation of Telecentre implementation in Ghana TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................................. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ............................................................................................................................. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................................................. iii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES ................................................................................................................ ix LIST OF PUBLICATIONS ........................................................................................................................... xi ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................................................. xii ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ........................................................................................................xiv CHAPTER ONE - INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY .................................................................................... 1 1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Background to the Research ................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Research Motivation ............................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Research Objectives and Questions ........................................................................................ 4 1.4 Research Approach ................................................................................................................. 5 1.5 Theoretical Approach .............................................................................................................. 6 1.6 Expected contributions ........................................................................................................... 7 1.7 Research Overview and Structure .......................................................................................... 8 CHAPTER TWO - LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................................................. 11 2 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 11 2.1 Overview of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Developing Countries (DC) 11 2.1.1 Government .................................................................................................................. 14 2.1.2 International Funding Organisations ............................................................................ 15 2.1.3 ICT Companies - Vendors .............................................................................................. 16 2.2 Who Benefits (‘Cui Bono’) from ICT Initiatives ..................................................................... 17 2.3 ICT4D and ICT in Development ............................................................................................. 18 2.4 ICT and Human development ............................................................................................... 20 2.5 Universal Access to ICTs ........................................................................................................ 21 2.5.1 Performance of Telecentre Initiatives .......................................................................... 24 2.6 Evaluation of Telecentres Initiatives ..................................................................................... 30 2.6.1 Types of ICT4D Evaluations ........................................................................................... 31 2.6.2 When to Evaluate an ICT Initiative ................................................................................ 32 2.6.3 Who Evaluates? ............................................................................................................. 33 iii Daniel Azerikatoa Ayoung An evaluation of Telecentre implementation in Ghana 2.6.4 ICT Evaluation Methods ................................................................................................ 34 2.6.5 What should be evaluated? .......................................................................................... 35 2.7 Sustainability ......................................................................................................................... 36 2.7.1 Sustainability Failure Factors ........................................................................................ 37 2.8 Research Gap ........................................................................................................................ 43 2.9 Research Question ................................................................................................................ 45 CHAPTER THREE - THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .................................................................................... 46 3 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 46 3.1 Relevance of Theories in the Research ................................................................................. 46 3.2 Theoretical and Conceptual Frameworks used in Telecentre Evaluation Research ............. 47 3.2.1 ICT4D Studies ................................................................................................................ 47 3.2.2 Development Studies .................................................................................................... 50 3.2.3 Social, Psychology studies ............................................................................................. 52 3.3 Conceptual Frameworks Guiding this Research ................................................................... 57 3.3.1 Design-Reality Gap (DRG) framework ........................................................................... 57 3.3.2 Postcolonial Theory (PCT) ............................................................................................. 65 3.4 Significance of the Assessment Tool/Theoretical Frameworks to this study ....................... 71 3.4.1 Design-Reality Gap ........................................................................................................ 71 3.4.2 Critique of DRG ............................................................................................................. 73 3.4.3 The use of complementary theory ................................................................................ 74 3.4.4 Postcolonial Theory (PCT) ............................................................................................. 75 CHAPTER FOUR - RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................... 77 4 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................. 77 4.1 Philosophical Perspective ..................................................................................................... 77 4.1.1 Realist Approach ........................................................................................................... 78 4.1.2 Critical Realist Research Approach ............................................................................... 80 4.2 Methodological Perspectives ...............................................................................................
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The ICT Opportunity for a Disability-Inclusive Development Framework September 2013
    THE ICT OPPORTUNITY FOR A DISABILITY- INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT FRAMEWORK Synthesis report of the ICT Consultation in support of the High Level Meeting on Disability and Development of the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly September 2013 The ICT Opportunity For A Disability-Inclusive Development Framework September 2013 Disclaimer The information contained in this publication was provided by authors of and contributors to the case study, and does not necessarily represent views of the Broadband Commission for Digital Development, G3ICT, IDA, ITU, Microsoft, the Telecentre.org Foundation or UNESCO, their membership and/or staff. All rights are reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, by any means whatsoever, without a prior written authorization of the previously mentioned organizations. Denominations and classifications used in this publication do not imply any opinion concerning the legal or other status of any territory or any endorsement or acceptance of any boundary. Where the designation “country” appears in this publication, it covers countries and territories. The ICT Opportunity For A Disability-Inclusive Development Framework September 2013 Preface More than a billion people live with some form of disability, and 80% of them live in developing countries. Disability is both a cause and a consequence of poverty: poor people are more likely to become disabled, and people with disabilities are among the poorest and most vulnerable groups of the global population. Regrettably, disability was not included in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) or in their operationalizing targets and indicators. As a result, disability has largely been invisible in their implementation, and is rarely included in national policies, programmes, or in monitoring and evaluation efforts related to the MDGs.
    [Show full text]
  • A Guidebook for Managing Telecentre Networks
    A Guidebook for Managing Telecentre Networks en.wikibooks.org January 25, 2014 On the 28th of April 2012 the contents of the English as well as German Wikibooks and Wikipedia projects were licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported license. A URI to this license is given in the list of figures on page 157. If this document is a derived work from the contents of one of these projects and the content was still licensed by the project under this license at the time of derivation this document has to be licensed under the same, a similar or a compatible license, as stated in section 4b of the license. The list of contributors is included in chapter Contributors on page 155. The licenses GPL, LGPL and GFDL are included in chapter Licenses on page 161, since this book and/or parts of it may or may not be licensed under one or more of these licenses, and thus require inclusion of these licenses. The licenses of the figures are given in the list of figures on page 157. This PDF was generated by the LATEX typesetting software. The LATEX source code is included as an attachment (source.7z.txt) in this PDF file. To extract the source from the PDF file, you can use the pdfdetach tool including in the poppler suite, or the http://www. pdflabs.com/tools/pdftk-the-pdf-toolkit/ utility. Some PDF viewers may also let you save the attachment to a file. After extracting it from the PDF file you have to rename it to source.7z.
    [Show full text]
  • The Role of Telecentres in Bridging the Digital Divide
    The Role of Telecentres in Bridging the Digital Divide Presentation to Development Symposium for Regulators, ITU, Geneva, 21 November 2000 Guy Girardet Special Development Advisor, CTO [email protected] (C) COMMONWEALTH TELECOMMUNICATIONS ORGANISATION Overview qCTO’s role in DFID’s “bridging the digital divide” programme. qThe need for public-access strategies in developing countries. qImpact of different types of telecentres on poor populations. qPolicy recommendations. (C) COMMONWEALTH TELECOMMUNICATIONS ORGANISATION DFID’s Digital Divide Programme q Funded by British Government through the Department for International Development (DFID). q CTO’s role is “to strengthen local capacity in developing countries, to address the policy and regulatory issues that are key to increasing private investment in, and equitable access to, Information Communication Technologies” . q Policies should have a specific poverty focus, i.e. identify ways that (ICTs) can improve the quality of life for poor people. (C) COMMONWEALTH TELECOMMUNICATIONS ORGANISATION Need for Public Access Strategies q The cost of individual Internet access is too high for the majority of users in developing countries. In Peru, cost of monthly access is US$ 40 a month (20 hours). q Represents 10% of national monthly average salary and does not include the investment in hardware. q Cost of the same number of hours in a Cabina is just 4% of monthly income. q Identifying sustainable public access models strategies is therefore of critical importance for regulators and policy makers. (C) COMMONWEALTH TELECOMMUNICATIONS ORGANISATION Public Access Case Studies qTelecentres made their debut in Sweden in the 1980s and are a relatively recent phenomenon in the development landscape.
    [Show full text]
  • N. 1/2006 Piazze Telematiche
    PIAZZE TELEMATICHE Periodico dell’Associazione Piazze Telematiche a carattere tecnico, professionale e scientifico Anno X - N. 1 - Dicembre 2006 Dal canto suo l’Associazione Piazze Telematiche Questo piano è stato finanziato con £ 350,000 (sterline) http://www.piazzetelematiche.it, in collaborazione con Il futuro dell’Associazione su base annua fino al 2008-09 quando sarà soggetto ad DIDASCA - The First Italian Cyber Schools for una revisione per adeguamento ed è perfettamente in LifeLong Learning http://www.didasca.it, metterà a Piazze Telematiche linea con i principi e i valori del più ampio piano UN disposizione delle Istituzioni coinvolte nello sviluppo Decade of Education for Sustainable Development dell’iniziativa Piazze Telematiche tutto quanto utile e Il riposizionamento strategico dell’Associazione positivo e in negativo su sviluppo sostenibile, (2005 – 2014) necessario all’avvio della stessa in tempi brevi, in par- deciso ed avviato a fine 2003 trova ora due ulteriori coesione sociale, ecc.. http://portal.unesco.org/education/en/ev.php- ticolare: e importanti punti di riferimento nei due movimen- URL_ID=30111&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SEC ti internazionali dell’Open Source e dei Telecentri, - Stesura di un nuovo statuto adeguato ad un’impre- TION=201.html 1) Supporto e assistenza alla trasformazione di Piazze monitorati rispettivamente in una sezione del sito sa sociale o cooperativa web based le cui attività si Telematiche da un’associazione non profit in un’impre- dell’UNESCO e di www.telecentre.org. svolgeranno tutte ed unicamente sul web. Gli ade- Emerge in tutti i progetti, sia che si tratti di progetti sa sociale costituita e gestita da studenti delle Scuole renti dovranno essere esclusivamente individui che governativi supportati da una visione politica della primarie e secondarie e dell’Università, iniziando dalla Free Software and Open Source Technology per aderire versano tutte quote uguali e possibil- Società dell’Informazione, sia che si tratti di progetti stesura di un nuovo Statuto adeguato all’era digitale movement mente tramite telefonino.
    [Show full text]
  • Telecentres Are an Innovation Which Recently Enters the World of International Cooperation, and Even More Recently Became a Ma
    What do local people think about telecentres? A key issue for sustainability A dissertation presented by Isabella Rega Supervised by Prof. Edo Poglia Submitted to the Faculty of Communication Sciences University of Lugano for the degree of Ph.D. in Communication Sciences February 2010 Abstract This PhD thesis embraces the field of research that focuses on the application of information and communication technologies (ICT) to socioeconomic development in transition or developing countries. The subject of the study are telecentres, public places where people can access information through ICT, and which should fulfill the communication needs of the communities in which they are located, in particular, networked telecentres belonging to a wider regional or national system will be analyzed. The central question of this thesis sprang from the study of the available literature and from nine exploratory field studies carried out in West Africa (in Burkina Faso, Benin, Guinea and Mali). The literature brings to light that, to reach sustainability, it is important to take into consideration not only technological factors thwarting the use of ICT, but also psychological, economic and sociological issues which are reflected in the need to create awareness of the contribution that access to information (through ICT) can have in improving living conditions. However, few guidelines and theoretical models have been used or developed to assess extra-technological issues, shaping a gap in the research field. The nine studies in West Africa highlighted discrepancies in the conceptualization of telecentres in terms of activities and functions between the founding organization and the local staff; and between the the founding organization and the rest of the community.
    [Show full text]
  • The Community Telecentre Cookbook for Africa
    THE COMMUNITY TELECENTRE COOKBOOK FOR AFRICA RECIPES FOR SELF-SUSTAINABILITY How to Establish a Multi-purpose Community Telecentre in Africa by Mike Jensen and Anriette Esterhuysen United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization The information in this document is placed in the public domain. It is hoped that users will acknowledge the authorship of the document and UNESCO as publisher in disseminating it, in whole or in part. Recommended catalogue entry: [see with Joie] PREFACE People living in developing countries are becoming increasingly aware of the powerful role that new information and communication technologies can play to help them in their struggle for education, democracy, and economic and social development. However, with six billion people on the planet and only about 800 million telephone lines, more than half of the world’s population have not yet made a telephone call, let alone accessed the Internet. If this digital divide is not closed, there could be an even greater gap between the rich and poor of the world. So how can this challenge be met? One solution is public access communication and information services, commonly known as Telecentres. Telecentres are being established through private and public programmes across Africa, through special projects, or by adding PCs to telephone shops, schools, libraries, community centres, police stations and clinics. Costs can be kept low by taking advantage of the fact that communication and computing technologies allow voice, fax and Internet data to travel over the same telecommunication link. Sharing the expense of equipment, skills and access amongst an ever-increasing number of users also helps to cut costs and make these services viable in remote areas.
    [Show full text]
  • Information Communication Technologies As Tools of Socio-Economic & Political
    INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AS TOOLS FOR SOCIO- ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT: THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES OF KENYA (NCCK) HURUMA COMMUNITY TELECENTRE AS A CASE STUDY A dissertation presented to the Faculty of the College of Communication of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy Juliet Emali Evusa November 2005 © 2005 Juliet Evusa All Rights Reserved This dissertation entitled INFORMATION COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AS TOOLS FOR SOCIO- ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL DEVELOPMENT: THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF CHURCHES OF KENYA (NCCK) HURUMA COMMUNITY TELECENTRE AS A CASE STUDY by Juliet E. Evusa has been approved for the School of Telecommunication and the College of Communication by Norma O. Pecora Associate Professor of Telecommunications Gregory Shepherd Interim Dean, College of Communication EVUSA, JULIET EMALI. Ph.D. November 2005. Mass Communications Information Communication Technologies as Tools of Socio-Economic & Political Development: The National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) Huruma Community Telecentre as a Case Study. (333 pp.) Director of Dissertation: Norma Pecora While Africa is confronted with the urgency to provide its citizens with the basic requirements of life, the rest of the world is heading towards a ‘globally-networked’ information economy. Many communication scholars believe that without access to information resources and telecommunication services, an understanding of its significance, and the ability to use it for social and economic growth, Africa is facing an unavoidable predicament. This dissertation presents a case study of the National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) Huruma Community Telecentre as an arena where governmental, non-governmental and other private organizations are collaborating to test the contribution that a Community Telecentre can make towards providing universal access to telephony and other telecommunications and information services to a disadvantaged community.
    [Show full text]
  • Telecentre Evaluation: a Global Perspective
    This IDRC working document ptesents the results of a recent IDRC-supported research activity. Unless otherwise stated, copy- right is held by rhe authors. To obtain additional copies, please con- tact the authors or the contact person listed on the title page. This document is also available from the IDRC Library. Le present document présente les résultats d'un travail de recherche recent qui a bénéfIcie du soutien du CRDI. A moms d'indication contraire, les aureurs détiennent les droits d'aureur. Pour obtenir des exemplaires supplémentaires, prière de communiquer avec les auteurs ou 'a personne-ressource dont le nom figure sur page de tirre. On peut se procurer egalemenr d'autres exemplaires auprès de la bibliotheque du CRDI. Este documento de trabajo del GIlD presenta los resultados de una reciente actividad de invesrigación financiada pot el GIlD. A menos que se indique lo contrario, los derechos de autor corresponden a los autores. Para obrener copias adicionales, sirvase contactar a los autores o a la persona cuyo nombre aparece en la portada. Este doc- umento rambién esta disponible en la biblioreca del GIlD. IDRC. Lib. TELE CENTRE EVALUATION A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE PAN GLOBAL NETWORKING INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT RESEARCH CENTRE (IDRC) TELECENTRE EVALUATION A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE Report of an International Meeting on Telecentre Evaluation Edited by Ricardo Gómez and Patrik Hunt, IDRC FAR HILLS INN, QUEBEC, CANADA SEPTEMBER 28-30, 1999 CONTENTS CONTENTS .1 PREFACE 3 REPORT ON THE MEETING 5 Guiding Princifiles of Telecentre Evaluation 5 Key issues and concerns ... Synthesis and Direction 7 Telecentre Evaluation and Research: a global perspective (R.
    [Show full text]