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 ...............................................................................................