Just when I thought there was almost nothing
Tactical Tech is a group focused at helping NGOs build capacity. Also found this list of other organisations doing work in the same area.
Quote from the Economist
The poor are not shunning the Internet because they cannot afford it: the problem is that they lack the skills to exploit it effectively. So it is difficult to see how connecting the poor to the Internet will improve their finances. It would make more sense to aim for universal literacy than universal Internet access.
ICT Capacity building for poverty focused NGO Void
Am I doing something to simple?
There seems to be almost no mention in the literature I am reading about using ICT to build the capacity of NGO’s to administer their organisation better. Whilst their is some material on capacity building most of it is focussed on whole communities, rather then within poverty focused organisations. The only exception to this is hospitals but most of these projects seem rather grandiose.
Why do I think that building the capacity of poverty focused organisations is important?
- I think that the workers of these organisations usually have some education and literacy which makes it cheaper to train them.
- ICT can help them provide services more efficiently and more cheaply to the poor.
- Through the better use of ICT they can communicate local needs of the community to donors and partners.
- Having their own online presence can let the local organisation represent themselves to the outside world, rather then relying on partners to promote. Opens the doors to recruiting more volunteers and securing more direct funding.
- Limiting volume of users makes it easier to train people and create focused systems.
- Can increase transparency of the organisation.
- Creates new opportunities for poverty focused NGO’s to network and share ideas and experiences.
Strangely of all the places I have looked Linux Journal an IT magazine has had the most on this area. There are some quite enlightened articles about simple interventions and systems setup to help these local organisations. Sadly none of these articles will be read by many people who actually could use them.
Research Progress
I have recently found a lot of papers using the key term ICT4D which is Information and Communications Technology for Development. It’s amazing the difference a good key word can make to your searching.
So far I have found that a lot of research has been done using <a href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Action_research”>Participatory Action Research</a>(PAR) on technology projects targeted at the poor, on educating people about technology. There is also a lot of research on infrastructure. I have though found little research on how computers are used by aid and development organisations though. I think the whole idea appears too mundane for most researches. Which is both good and bad for my project. It means that I have satisfied the original work/novel idea requirement for a thesis.
During my research I even found a journal that I might try and publish my findings in, if it is actually still active. It is a peer reviewed journal though, so if my work isn’t thorough enough I don’t think I’ll do that.
I went to the library today and checked out some books on PAR. Should be interesting to read.
The only thing now is that I really need to check out some organisational research, and other research methods because I need to be a good little academic and actually have a literature review detailing why I chose PAR. Who knows maybe I’ll even change my mind, but I doubt it.
Negotiations
My talks with TEAR on selecting partners is going well. It seems like I should be able to visit three partners in an Africa country. Each organisation is a different size which should make for interesting research. One of the organisations does not currently have an Internet connection and has been relying on a newly opened Internet Cafe.
When I first found this out I wondered if I could actually do meaningful research on an organisation with little or no ICT infrastructure of their own. As I thought about it though it became clear to me that using an Internet Cafe really was the ultimate in terms of leasing ICT services and could actually be a fantastic example of appropriate use of technology. By using an Internet Cafe the organisation doesn’t have to own, maintain and power a PC nor pay for an Internet connection. They build up networks with locals whilst using the Internet Cafe, and support a local business. Sure there are a few down sides, but there always is.
I even decided that in terms of assisting an organisation working out of an Internet Cafe there were lots of things that could be done. Simple things like setting up mailing lists, using pendrives to backup data, setting up their own website to name just a few.
My biggest problem at the moment is that my negotiations with TEAR are going faster then my research and so I am making some premature decisions and plans. None of these are final though so it’s all good.
The start of a project and a blog
Welcome to my thesis blog. I don’t know if there will be much of interest here for anyone other then myself, and perhaps my supervisor. You never know though so I am going to keep this blog open.
So what is my thesis?
It is “an evaluation of the use of Information and Communications Technology(ICT) by TEAR partners in the majority world.”
If you were saying huh now I would not blame you. Although I think at least as far as the English in the title it’s not to bad.
TEAR partners are poverty focused organisations that are locally based and run by local Christian’s. These organisations are doing great work but are often under resourced. They often work in rural locations where local IT support is largely non-existant even if there is some electricity and telephony.
I experienced this first hand in my time as a TEAR fieldworker on the Indian Sub Continent. There I did some work for a charitable hospital group which required me to travel around, run workshops, mentor local IT staff, evaluate ICT systems and design the ICT systems. I did this in one 6 month and one 12 month placement. My most recent placement I finished in February of 2007.
Whilst I was working there I aware that I needed to find a thesis topic to finish off my engineering degree. I often asked people if they had any ideas for projects that would be useful that I could work on. I really wanted to create a widget that would help the poor in someway. Sadly I failed to find anything of the correct size that I felt was useful.
In my time back in Australia I reflected on how the most important things I seemed to do was actually training and helping to build the confidence of the people responsible for the computers. This was particularly clear when I found that the ICT system I spent over six months designing was being abandoned. This was because they failed to hire a programmer to maintain the software(not mine). I am disappointed that in the rush to get this one system online I did not spend enough time training my replacement. Admittedly he join the project late in its design and was taking on the role of two people, but I still know I could of done better there. As a result my replacement there is now far to dependent on me for comfort.
How though does this relate to my thesis?
I have very little desire now to rush in and create a system that may or may not be used. It isn’t that there isn’t a need for new systems they just need a longer term commitment then I am willing to give at this point of time. I also feel as though I do not have sufficient understanding to solve the most pressing real organisations have.
I suspect many of these organisations have very simple pressing needs. Such as updating Windows and removing any viruses. Or learning how to do a mail merge, or sharing files in there office, or backing up their machines. None of these are the topics of a grand thesis, at least not as far as I can see.
I began thinking a while ago that what I really needed to be doing was evaluating the ICT systems the organisations are using and looking for simple improvements to suggest the organisations make. Also this would let me see the funky cool things some of these groups are doing. I know from experience that limited resources sometimes makes you create some very interesting and useful solutions. I could then share this information with all the partners. So I decided that what I really needed to do for my thesis was an evaluation.
I soon though struck a problem, as people at TEAR reminded me.
How would I get organisations to let me in to do an evaluation?
How could I make it worth their precious time and resources?
Could I simply bribe them with my “great” ICT knowledge offering to fix any problems they had?
But what about objective research? How can you do this without changing the group you are researching?
Thankfully this is where supervisors are very useful to have around. My supervisor suggested I look into participatory action research. This form of research is pretty fun, it’s all about the researching working with and identifying with the researched people. It’s used a lot in community development and it’s meant to be pretty good at empowerment. I loved the sound of that.
So I decided that it was doable. I have now completed a proposal and am now learning about research methods.
Today I found a very interesting research method called Developmental Research. It is looking like it could be just the thing for my thesis. I’ll have more to say about it and other research methods in my next post. For now I think I have written enough..