ICTworks by Inveneo

Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICTD) research brings together a community researchers from such varied fields as computer science, cognitive and social psychology, design, anthropology, development theory, economics and public policy.

That ICTD is inherently interdisciplinary nature is its main weakness in the academic world, as interdisciplinarity is viewed suspiciously by academic disciplines that believe they are pursuing "pure" research in a well-circumscribed field. Therefore it is important to decide which university department is best suited to leverage the entire resources of the university to impart ICTD education.

This decision may seem insignificant, but it also has important consequences in the broader context, for e.g. limiting ICTD research to a particular department may limit the amount of funding available for such research, it may limit the category of journals and conferences this research can be published in, and it may limit the number and discipline of researchers interested in conducting such research.

But these problems are associated with any interdisciplinary field, and as the field grows and has its own tier 1 conferences and reputed journals, these problems become easier to resolve.

I am Mustafa Naseem and in ICTD Education in Traditional Universities, I highlight a few challenges of ICTD research in the academic world and then list a few current ICTD teaching practices in global universities. From there I analyze the strengths and issues associated with hosting ICTD programs in a few traditional departments, moving on to outlining the content that should be taught in undergraduate ICTD courses versus graduate ICTD courses.

This was an amazing and surprising year for ICT4D, as evidenced by how off the 2011 predictions look now that the year has passed.

Rather than analyzing each prediction and what went awry with crystal balls, here is the list of the top topics on ICTworks in 2011. The top 10 list is indicative of the overall trends in the technology industry through the lens of the ICTworks readership, which is mainly ICT4D practitioners in the US, Africa, and Europe (in that order).

While you review this past year, be brave and send in your predictions for 2012 - we'll be publishing those in the new year.

1. AED's Demise

The year started with the biggest story of 2010: USAID's nuclear option - the suspension of Academy for Educational Development. AED was one of the top USAID contractors, with over $400 million in contracts and a key ICT4D benefactor. By March, AED was out of cash and up for sale and by June, AED was no longer, merged into FHI360 and its corporate shell sued into oblivion. The impact of this move is still being felt with AED staff scattering to new organizations and ICT4D ideas and contacts spreading across the entire international development community.

2. Kenya ICT Board

For a government agency, the Kenya ICT Board is very innovative organization. They started off 2011 with Wezesha: subsidized laptops for over 15,000 Kenyan university students to seed the next generation of ICT experts. Then they rolled out Ksh 320 million in Pasha Center loans. Look for more Kenya ICT board activity in 2012 with over 1 billion Ksh in ICT innovation in the 2011-12 budget.

3. Broadband Internet Costs in Tanzania

We've all see the stunning impact of the many fibre optic cables in Kenya - mobile phone companies using fibre backbones now offer the cheapest mobile services in Africa. But just to the south, Tanzania is in a whole different world. Even with SEACOM, TEAMS, and EASSy, Tanzanian Internet access prices have not decreased and domestic broadband Internet infrastructure policy may be to blame, as we pointed out in 2010.

4. USAID Funding

Money always interests everyone, and with over 1.5 billion for Africa, USAID carries outsized presence in ICT4D. Offering everything from $10 million in opportunities for Global Development Alliances, $15 million Grand Challenge for Saving Lives at Birth, and $5 million Grand Challenge for All Children Reading, the latter not without their own challenges. If you want to join in USAID's efforts, be sure to learn how to find USAID contracts and grants funding opportunities and study USAID's long history in ICT4D.

5. Konza Technology City

In what is the most surprising entry for me, the Konza Tech City idea actually has a solid following. I still think its a boondoggle as Silicon Valley and iHub Nairobi show - ICT success comes from a concentration of the right people, not fancy real estate investments. But there is something to be said for big dreams to motivate youth, and I hope they're right.

6. Facebook's Rise

Facebook arrived in Africa in 2011, doubling its African users, becoming the #1 or #2 website in every country, and even getting Africans to go Google for Facebook. Thankfully, Facebook took notice and hired a Growth Manager for Africa, to focus on where there are still Facebook-less Africans.

7. Kenyan Mobile Services

With the 99% of all Internet access via mobile phones, $100 Huawei Android Smartphone breaking all sales records, and mobile money better than cash, the Kenya mobile phone market is the most dynamic in Africa and possibly the world. Don't just look in Nairobi for proof, check rural Kenya's mobile explosion, and when you do, note that Michael Joseph was told that the entire mobile phone market in Kenya would be about 400,000 customers when he started at Safaricom.

8. Failure is an Option

We've always had an Oscar Night Syndrome in ICT4D - the resistance to show any problems or failure in our work. We recognized that back in 2009 with a Twitter Chat on Failure, which spawned Fail Faires. We hosted the 2011 Fail Faire DC, which created a renaissance of failure in ICT4D, partially also inspired by the World Bank's transparency in its own ICT4D failures. May this trend continue within the better of 10 levels of failure.

9. $35 Aakash Tablet

Overall, 2011 was the year of the tablets, with many people asking themselves what is the potential impact of tablet computers on education systems in Africa? So far the results are impressive and in October, a small Indian company shook up the scene with Aakash, a "$35" Android tablet. While I don't see it as an educational device, and others question student ICT in India's educational system, the Aakash does have promise for universal access and presages a 2012 tablet vs. laptop hardware battle.

10. ICT Conferences

Enough of all these links and online chatter. Real connections and impact happen in the real world, and that borne out by the last big trend on ICTworks in 2011: the need to meet in person. Our 2011 comprehensive ICT4D conference calendar and the educational technology conference lists for Jan-June and June-Dec were all popular guides on where to meet and greet. You can already get a head start on 2012 edutech conferences with ICTD2012 being a signature event for next year.

Until the new year, enjoy this synopsis of 2011 ICT4D trends on ICTworks and have yourself a happy holiday season.

We have often focused on Open Educational Resources (OER) in the Educational Technology Debates. We talked about the need for creating digital content and examples of existing Open Educational Resources. But this month we're going to ask a controversial question:

Does OER actually expand the digital divide?

The proponents of Open Educational Resources are right to point out the need for digital content. There are few if any locally relevant resources for educators in the developing world - local language being a major issue. So is access - to the hardware required to view content and often the Internet access to reach it. In addition to content, and the access to reach it, teachers need the skills and training to convert good content into great lessons.

But let us say that all these prerequisites exist - content, access, training:

1. Does that mean teachers will actually use it?
2. And who will they use it with? Students already advantaged with socio-economic resources or the underprivileged learners that are the ostensible focus of many educational technology interventions?
3. Most importantly, regardless of the benefits for the privileged, how can we create better OER benefits for the poor?

Please join us this month for what we all expect to be a lively and informative conversation – your input can start right now with your opinion in this Educational Technology Debate.

Recently leaders from the United Nations Foundation (UNF) and Vodafone Foundation gathered at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C. to discuss their projects and key lessons learned after nine years of working together in partnership.  The discussion focused on the broader implications for other public-private-partnerships (PPPs) hoping to contribute to global development.

Drawing on the “Mobilizing Development” report of the partnerships efforts, UNF CEO Kathy Calvin stressed that the partnership slowed down project implementation, at least initially, but made for greater efficiency and long-term impact.  Discussions about how to orchestrate the partnership lasted two years, and it took another two years to decide on the actual projects that the partnership would complete, she stated.

William Kennedy, a senior official from the United Nations Office for Partnerships in New York, discussed the “cultural divide” between business and development.  “I don’t think you can underestimate the effort it takes to bridge the cultural divide between a big company and a foundation.” 

One example is the business mindset to immediately scale projects as large as possible, as opposed to the development mentality of respecting local culture and adapting solutions for particular communities.  He added that what makes this partnership different from other less successful development PPPs are the relationships between the leaders on each side.  Also, they had consistent evaluations of the development projects, which was important in business culture.  Leaders were willing to address the UNF’s needs and shortcomings, and to make extra efforts to complete the work.

Members of the audience voiced questions about the “shared value” and motivations for each organization to partner with the other.  Vodafone had recently bought other telecommunications companies, becoming a global brand right before its partnership with the UN.  Before partnering with the UN on this philanthropic initiative, Vodafone was able to attach its own brand to the UN’s global appeal. 

Other UNF leaders, however, voiced their concerns with this opinion, stating that Vodafone officials took particular care to separate business and philanthropic motivations, citing their willingness to allow service providers to run mHealth initiatives set up by the program as evidence of their philanthropic motivations in their efforts with the UNF.

As for the future of PPPs hoping to meet global development goals, Calvin expressed her opinion that the age of partnerships between one private company and one public organization is coming to an end.  Instead, she said that what the UNF is learning is that alliances, made up of a variety of government, private, and non-governmental organizations, are the future of philanthropy. 

She pointed to the formation of the mHealth alliance, which stemmed from the original UNF-Vodafone partnership, but currently is able to increase scale and efficiency as an alliance with other organizations contributing to different aspects of the program.

While ICT continues to advance in western and Asian countries, African countries still experience a lag in its implementation, and that continues to widen the digital and knowledge divides. In a recent study by Kiptalam et.al (2010), observed that access to ICT facilities is a major challenge facing most African countries, with a ratio of one computer to 150 students against the ratio of 1:15 students in the developed countries.

Whereas results indicate that ICT has penetrated many sectors including banking, transportation, communications, and medical services, the Kenyan educational system seems to lag behind. Further, recent report by the National Council for Science and Technology (2010) indicated that computer use in Kenyan classrooms is still in its early phases, and concluded that the perceptions and experiences of teachers and administrators do play an important role in the use of computers in Kenyan classrooms.

I am Martin Mungai, a secondary school teacher in Kenya, but currently on study leave at Hokkaido University of Education in Japan. I see a dozen challenges facing implementation of computer education in Kenya. They are:

1. Lack of qualified teachers to teach ICT in schools; The demand for ICT learning has been tremendous and the number of teachers who are trained to teach ICT cannot meet the demand. There are more students willing to be taught computing skills than there are teaches to transfer the skills.




2. Lack of computers; Computers are still very expensive and despite spirited efforts by the government agencies, NGO, corporate organizations and individuals to donate computers to as many schools as possible, there still remains a big percentage of the schools unable to purchase computers for use by their pupils.




3. Lack of electricity; Many schools are still not yet connected to electricity; Kenya being a developing country, the government has not been able to connect all parts of the country to the national electricity grid. Consequently those schools that fall under such areas are left handicapped and may not be able to offer computer studies.




4. Computers are still expensive in Kenya, in a country with a GDP of $1600, majority of the individuals and schools cannot afford to buy a computer and consider it as a luxury item, more expensive than a TV. While 2nd hand computers cost as little as $150 and branded new computers being sold at $500 or higher.




5. Broken down computers; while a good number of schools have benefited from donated used computers, they have not been adequately equipped with the same on maintenance and repair, hence its very common to see a schools computer lab full of broken down computers, some repairable and some not. This has actually been a major problem, and the government has now put strict measures on any person, NGO or corporate bodies willing to donate 2nd hand computers. (It is seen as a dumping ground); e-waste management.




6. Burglary; the fact that computers are still very expensive in Kenya, makes them a target for thieves who usually have ready markets to another party at a much less figure. This has made many schools to incur extra expenses trying to burglar proof the computer rooms. This extra expense makes some schools shy away from purchasing computers for their students.




7. Fear by the administration; there is still a strong perception especially by the older generation that computers require highly skilled personnel to operate them, while this may not be the case, some school administrators also fear that their students will be exposed to adult sites and other undesired sites, through the use of the internet. Some also fear the infection of viruses to their computers leading to data loss, while this may be true to some extent, proper education on the safe use of computers and help alleviate some of this fears.




8. Fear by the teacher, the teacher may fear being rendered irrelevant by the introduction of computers in his/her class. The ‘feel’ that the teacher still remains an authority and a ‘know it all’ in class is something that most teachers cherish, and anything that makes them otherwise is deemed an enemy of the classroom.




9. Lack of internet or slow connectivity; most schools are not able to connect to the world wide web, due to the high costs involved in the connectivity. On average, it may cost approximately $120 per month to connect to about 15 computers on a bandwidth of 128/64kbps. This is considered as very expensive for a very slow speed.




10. Lack of initiative by the community leaders; the community leaders who are charged with looking at the interests of a given community do not see the need to purchase and subsequent installations of computers to their schools as a priority. They consider health care, provision of water and other amenities as more important than buying computers for their schools.




11. Obsolete computers lower the morale of both the teacher and the student; it is very common to find some schools using very old computers running on win98 or win 95.




12. Increased moral degradation – internet pornography, cyber bullying and other anti-social behaviors is a worrying emerging problem.

The dilemma which arises in providing educational technology stems from a lack of financial resources and a limited distributive capacity. In addition, many African countries have not been able to employ teachers, and provide resources to keep up with this demand. This brings about compromised quality of education. Further, many African governments face the predicament of educational expansion that corresponds with economic development. Despite the setbacks, access to education is a strong focus of most governments.

Kenya as has put in place an ICT policy that aims to improve the livelihoods of Kenyans by ensuring the availability of accessible, efficient, reliable and affordable ICT services. The national policy addresses several sections, among them includes; Information technology, Broadcasting, Telecommunications and Postal services. However, it is the section on information technology that sets out the objectives and strategies pertaining to ICT and education.

The relevant objective in this section states that government will encourage:

“…the use of ICT in schools, colleges, universities and other educational institutions in the country so as to improve the quality of teaching and learning.”

ICT can play a significant role in equalizing opportunities for marginalized groups and communities. But the paradox is that for those groups that are unable to cross the technology divide, ICT is yet another means to further marginalize them. Education has a major role to play in resolving this problem. Thus, unless ICT becomes part of both the delivery and content of education, the disadvantage will deepen and development will suffer.

But the failure to use ICT is itself a result of the digital and knowledge divides that exist, and their causes are deeply embedded in the complex historical and socio-cultural context of the country. Fortunately, with the Vision 2030 goals, the Kenyan government has begun to implement strategies that will address these paradoxes.