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This is the summary of the paper “Strengthening citizen agency through ICT: an extrapolation for Eastern Africa” by Giacomo Zanello and Paul Maassen
It deals with ICT in support to citizen agency which includes to involve & inform communities and interact with and influence authorities
The paper focuses on what is already happening and where the potentials lie - how can active citizens interact with society & authorities with the use of ICT tools
The geographical area covered is Eastern Africa (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda)
The research is based on an open questionnaire by Hivos
Key questions:
- Which conditions enable citizen agency in developing countries?
- How can ICT support citizen agency in order to influence the authorities?
- Based on technological projections, how will ICT support the efficiency and effectiveness of citizen agency in 5 years time?
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Summary:
Civil society: seen as essential actor for promoting democracy in developing countries
Citizen agency: broader definition of civil society including NGOs, labour & student unions, …
The main reason why new ICT can help citizen agency
- Bi- (or multi-) directional tools
- Real time
The two main uses of ICT
- Information and monitoring of authorities
- Organize citizen actions
Examples for information and monitoring
- Ushahidi: crowd-sourcing information on incidents and violence
- Bunge SMS: tool to report to members of the parliament about the actions of the local government
- Behind the mask: communication initiative for LGBTI activists
- Global Voices Online: participatory news platform for developing countries
- Mzalendo.com: volunteer run project to keep an eye on the Kenyan parliament
- Jamiiforums.com: East African platform for debates on various issues
Examples for organization
- Dgroups.org: provides groups working in international development with email lists and webspace
- Tactical Tech: international NGO providing human rights advocates with consultancy, tools, trainings & toolkits to increase the impact of their campaigns
- FrontlineSMS: free software to turn a mobile with a modem into a communications hub
- Nabuur: links online volunteers with local communities
Generally there is a big and vibrant civil society in East Africa and ICTs have huge potentials to assist these initiatives to reach their aim
It is no longer a question of technology - as technology is already there - but imagination, adaptability and time
The key is not complex devices, but usable and easy to understand technology - therefore it is important to focus on grass roots development instead of importing solutions
The prerequisites for a spread of ICTs in the next 5 years are
- Energy - there is a need for alternative sources of energy such as solar power
- Connectivity - the forecast in this study predicts a rise to about 70% coverage in Eastern Africa
- Literacy - easy to use systems, voice command and local languages in applications can overcome the current problems
- Income - new devices will cost less and be therefore better affordable
Another vital prerequisite is the need to find out about the desired use of ICTs for East African citizens - technology has to address the needs of the people
Therefore an interdisciplinary approach including anthropology would be useful
As seen above, for democracy and transparency ICTs have large potentials - including citizen journalism or election watch
The challenges of ICT in the near future are twofold
- Networking between people with similar goals and for sharing experiences on a national or even global level
- Give voice for global leaders and visionaries to give them visibility and connectivity
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The original article Strengthening citizen agency through ICT: an extrapolation for Eastern Africa
I think the article is a good overview over the issues of civil society initiatives in East Africa in particular and the conclusions and predictions of it can even be extended to a larger geographical area.
It is once again underlined that real innovation always comes from bottom-up and ICT can release huge potentials when meeting the needs of the people.
I also definitely support the call for more interdisciplinary research on the ground to find out the real needs of the people - combined with collaborating with grass roots initiatives and empowering people by giving them possibilities to access to the world and connect with like-minded people.
I feel like the international research scene has given up the top-down approach already a while ago - but still there are way too many projects out there preaching not fitting imported solutions to citizens in developing countries and driving them into dependence of Western assistance.
Tags: citizen agency, civil society, eDemocracy, ICT, ICT4D, paper, review, transparency
Paper: Strengthening citizen agency through ICT: an extrapolation for Eastern Africa was published on June 17th, 2009 by Florian Sturm.
It files under east africa.
