Social outsourcing as a development tool: The impact of outsourcing IT services to women's social enterprises in Kerala

Abstract

Social outsourcing means the contracting out of goods or services to social enterprises. When used by government, it can be seen as a hybrid of the workfare outsourcing found in wage employment schemes, and the commercial outsourcing of government activities to the private sector. This paper focuses on a social outsourcing initiative operated by the government of Kerala State, India. Part of this outsources information technology (IT) services to dozens of cooperatives of women from below-poverty-line families. Interview and case study research was undertaken to assess the impacts of this initiative on five areas of livelihood assets-financial, human, physical, social and political capital. This scheme has Keralan specificities and research shows that social outsourcing may introduce vulnerabilities and questions of sustainability. Overall, though, this paper suggests that social outsourcing has the potential to deliver developmental benefits to marginalised groups. It is therefore worthy of greater attention from international development agencies and governments in developing countries. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Demystifying the Possibilities of ICT4D in the Mountain Regions of Nepal

“…In order to understand the multidimensional potential of the ICT4D project in the Myagdi district of Nepal, we deployed the Assets Pentagon Model [18,19]. The Assets Pentagon is a core component of the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework [18].…”

“…The Assets Pentagon is a core component of the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework [18]. It is composed of five capitals: financial capital, human capital, physical capital, social capital, and political capital [18,19]. Research shows that the implementation of ICT4D projects creates multiple opportunities [11,18,19].…”

“…Our findings show that political capital, such as government support, political stability, and social inclusion, are core challenges of ICT4D projects. Therefore, we explore the perspective of political capital rather than natural capital, in keeping with the argument made by Heeks and Shoba [19].…”

“…Social capital is the genre of social resources upon which community people draw in pursuit of their livelihood objectives; mainly conceived as networks and relationships based on trust, reciprocity and exchanges [19,20]. Social capital influences the other four capitals, for example, by improving the efficiency of economic relations.…”

“…Political capital can be formed by including women and marginalised groups in the villages [19]. ICT services such as eGovernment, eCommerce, and telemedicine projects can help to form political capital.…”