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POSITION PAPER: Experiences & Challenges of ICTD research in Africa
Kathleen Diga (MDev)International Development Research Centrekdiga@idrc.or.ke(Submitted Feb 27, 2009 to the Young Researchers Workshopfor the ICTD Conference, Doha, Qatar, April 2009)As a young researcher living in Africa and specializing in African economicdevelopment through ICTs, I have invariably seen great enthusiasm for multi-disciplinary ICTD research. However, such eagerness has occasionally beenobscured by major obstacles, such as weak capacity, gender inequality andresearch isolationism. Nevertheless, the exponential growth of the usage of newlyavailable information and communication devices, applications and processes inAfrica, enables computer science professors and economists to converge onfascinating studies in unwritten terrain. The space and opportunities for such trans-disciplinary interaction by young researchers are vital for the future of ICTD work, asis the concerted effort towards gender equality and the advocacy for improvedfunding for secondary and tertiary education for Africans. The above interventionshave allowed me to be involved with a diverse group of African research colleaguesinvestigating the economic and social implications of technologies on thecontinent’s society. In the last two years, I have focused upon addressing povertyeffects through technology by measuring indicators in two areas: 1) substitutionsmade for mobile phone ownership and 2) the reaction to and cost of vulnerablesituations with regards access to emergency hotline systems. Despite the limitationof resources and expertise in Africa, the measurement of poverty through adoptionof ICTs has emerged as an alternative African perspective of development, withmore than willing academics and practitioners converging upon this rapidly evolvingfield of study.I finally figured that the field of behavioural economics could be my niche researcharea, as little previous exploration has been done within the African context. Myinterest was piqued after reading Research ICT! Africa’s 2003 e-usage survey whichstated that Africans were spending 10 % of their expenditure budget on ICTexpenses while the rest of the world was spending an average of 2-3 % in the samearea (Gillwald, 2005: 13). I was drawn to research which examines how this highspending could be possible for the poor and what African citizens were willing tosubstitute in order to gain access to mobile phone services. My recent Ugandancase study (Diga, 2007) revealed household substitutions for low income familieswere uneven. Low-income household respondents with property in their asset
portfolio substituted store-bought food with food grown in their gardens. On theother hand, landless apartment-block tenants were going without food on certaindays in order to ensure some airtime credit remained on their phone. Ultimately,daily spending decisions and weighing out household strategies for a service orgoods are negotiated in hopes of deriving the greatest value in the long-run. Mobilephones, and in some cases internet access, have ensured a future healthy debateas to what we can identify as true developmental needs in the context of ruralcommunities.While my dissertation work is still a small piece of the puzzle that is poised to revealthe exorbitant costs of communications in Africa for low income households, muchmore rigorous research and effort is required to influence policy change calling foruniversal affordable communication access. Since my Uganda case study, a morerecent 2007-08 survey of 17 African countries (23,000 households), found thathouseholds’ monthly mobile telephony expenditure as a share of their income wasbetween 7.1 % (in Ethiopia) to 16.7 % (in Kenya) (RIA! 2008). Another forthcomingstudy in East Africa will also review panel data over an 18 month period as to howICTs have changed the poverty levels for poor households in urban and ruralcommunities (PICTURE Africa, 2006). Active dialogue and trust building betweenresearchers, policy makers, telecommunication regulators and the media are mostnecessary to build a platform for debate on research recommendations. Onlyevidence combined with other strategies will help change-makers convince policy-makers to drive regulation for affordable access.Besides evidence to affordable access, my new area of study is the costeffectiveness of technology in assisting the disadvantaged to alleviate vulnerabilityand risk. I looked at how existing emergency hotline (911) systems have gainedperceptions of ineffectiveness to rural communities. Such systems are designed toprovide citizens with immediate access to and assistance from the police, fire orambulance services if an accident or acute emergency occurs. In my recent 2008Ghana study, initial findings reveal perceptions of a highly inefficient and ineffectiveemergency hotline system. Respondents stated uncertainty as to the correctnumber for emergency services. Others would call the emergency number but onlyexperience busy signals when trying to reach the operator. During a visit to thelocal fire station, one senior respondent stated that nearly 30 prank or false callsare received daily at the station. Further rigorous research on the effectiveimplementation and of policy surrounding emergency hotlines would help to provideimproved policy choices for more effective systems.While having this opportunity to do the above research with a funding institutionbased in an African regional office, I have also had the privilege to encounter themany challenges of ICTD research, including capacity building of young ICTD Africanresearchers, breaking isolationism of research, and gender discrepancy.
When senior researchers are squeezing in as many activities as possible intonormally limited donor funded projects, particularly during this financial crisis, onecan see programs overlooking the need to train younger African academics in thisnew multi-disciplinary field. Many over-worked and sought after African academicshave not had opportunities to transfer their knowledge to younger students, whichwould thus alleviate the burden of over-subscribed researchers in the ICTD area. The history of development for tertiary institutions has not helped the causes of these professors. During the time when international agencies concentrated effortson the top priority areas of health and primary school education programs, littlemoney filtered through to secondary and tertiary institutions. African universityprofessors saw their infrastructure deteriorate as well as the quality of graduatedsecondary students. At this point, we see a worst case scenario when finding poorquality students arriving into the university system and trying to build anappropriate resource-intensive training program, which will eventually see themundertake major ICTD projects.Secondly, the art of breaking from the isolated silos of one’s institution (anddepartment!), and starting to engage and work together with respected colleaguesin Africa can be a challenge. There is a perception of an extremely fierceenvironment of limited resources among and within tertiary education institutionswhich can be the cause of jealousy of highly contentious and resourceddepartments. This resentfulness can most definitely build a non-collaborative“empire-building” environment. The attempt in developing a multi-disciplinaryenvironment may also not always fit into the university environment. Such achange in university culture may not be accepted, to the point of resistance forinnovation that “does not fit into the box”. Thus the gains to reach student anddepartment collaboration can be an uphill battle. This environment of isolatedoffices will be difficult to breach, particularly for younger researchers who are moreopen to idea exchange and diversity.Gender discrepancy in Africa also finds fewer women than men in this field. Thisimbalance may feed from the poor mentorship continuum mentioned above. Howthen does one ensure that significant intervention effectively guarantees that ICTDdoes not become a male-dominated field in Africa? As progressive academicsexamining the area of development using new technologies, are we in factstrengthening particular groups for the marginalized to become worse off. Areversal of the status quo of capacity building for whoever just happens to beavailable is required, and I would like to see targeted ICTD training programs for themost vulnerable groups including women, the disabled and the elderly. Allowingdue course to take place no longer makes gender justice sense in this case. These three major challenges of gender justice, research isolationism and capacitydeficiency are threatening the successful collegiality and collaboration that I earlieridentified in the field of ICTD research. Given the historical context of developmentin Africa, we are left in a resource-limited environment, which results in low capacity
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