The comments about cyber-revolution in India's slums have prompted me to add
into the discussion, though I've been following erratically and not
contributing up to now. I would welcome learning about and contributing to
more research into the use of ICTs by/with low-income communities. I agree
that it should ideally be done in a context of empowering development.
We're experimenting with the use of Internet technologies for improving the
sharing of knowledge between peri-urban community development practitioners,
and hopefully in time, between "residents". For example, we will hold a
workshop in hygiene promotion with staff from several CARE projects in
Southern Africa, and then hold followup meetings each month thereafter. On
the Internet you can have synchronous, cheap communication, either through a
string of accumulating text messages, Internet voice or video communication.
You can also have Natalie from Angola give a PowerPoint presentation which
Alex from Zambia and Willy from Madagascar then respond to, and Joy from
London School of Hygiene can chip in as well. Let's see if it works in
reality!
The Urban INSAKA website/portal will provide a repository of knowledge for
urban programming, both documentation of the work of CARE and a few other
organizations, as well as a specialized search engine. So a typical
university-educated CARE staff member in Togo can log in and find a number
of the best websites for Third World urban development, without having to
spend days (weeks) bouncing from Yahoo to Amazon to who knows what...
There are a number of good resource sites out there and it's helping people
learn from others experiences and from up-to-date research. Believe me,
after having invented approaches for peri-urban water supply, microfinance,
community governance etc, it would be a big plus to have some collated and
digested - though not formulaic - guidelines to browse through. For those
who are interested, check www.insaka.org, and please realize that it is
constantly under development.
And though it sounds bandwagonish, this is in some ways more democratic or
participatory than a lot of the knowledge management mechanisms now in use.
Unlike when we do consultancy work, for example, with this web knowledge
repository we are displaying what work is being done out there, and
encouraging people to contribute their documented experiences. If you ask a
Zambian or Kenyan NGO employee or community leader, I think they will always
prefer to take part in a learning experience that is more one of sharing
among equals than being heavily led by an expert.
A few issues spring to mind in terms of what it may take to have effective
use of computers/Internet in development (in the way I'm referring to):
1. Context of development, training and technical support: although I won't
dismiss the potential of shantytown Internet cafes on their own, I can see
much more clearly how adding Internet communication on to development
projects could work, which is what we're doing. In other words, there's a
context of engaging people in learning and development of livelihoods,
gender relations, improved governance and physical environments, etc. Then
the specialized training is more to help shape an existing demand to share
and access knowledge/information. Otherwise, you would waste a lot of
resources empowering people, but they don't actually use it to much effect.
And if the computer/Internet component is added on to something else, the
costs can be minimal.
2. Dynamic interplay between identified needs and a "technology": it's not
a linear process of first identify a need, then go and find the appropriate
"technology", whether by "technology" we are talking about computers or
other methods, exercise, intervention, approach. Sometimes, you will think
of a need for a technology after learning about that technology, and that's
not necessarily bad. For example, PRA/PLA and stakeholder consultation
models partly emerged in response to a need, but once people saw what they
could do, they started thinking of other applications, and greatly benefited
from them. It may be that there is a latent need which the technology
surfaces... So, to some extent it's useful to get some of the technologies
extended out to people who may be able to think of applications.
3. Appreciation of mixed motives in development: probably most of us have
both altruistic and selfish interests in our various roles in development,
and I think computer/Internet corporations are among them. It's probably
best for us to be aware of this, take this into account, but see what we can
do in partnership. Sometimes even when there are raw commercial interests
driving a process, it's better to try to mitigate the damage and harness it
for some positive end, than to leave it to run off uncontrollably.
4. Infrastructure and technology environment: obviously some places have
less infrastructure base than others. In cities in the South, even Somalia
I believe, ISPs and electricity are in place. Villages are different, in
many cases. But if the enabling conditions are already there, it makes it
much more conducive to get started. People like me shouldn't be fussing
around trying to get those conditions in place, leave it to engineers and
quite possibly to companies to follow the mysterious invisible hand (!).
Darren Hedley, Urban INSAKA
tel. 2601-293962/294044, cell 752818, fax 292184
[EMAIL PROTECTED]; http://www.insaka.org
CARE International, P.O. Box 36238, Lusaka, Zambia
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