The Promise of E-Development? A Critical Assessment of the State ICT for Poverty Reduction Discourse in South Africa

Moodley, Sagren

doi:10.1163/1569150053888254

Cited by 41 publications

(34 citation statements)

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“…Yet, in over a decade of e-government research, most government information systems projects in the developing world have ended in either partial or total failure (Moodley, 2005;Heeks, 2003). Systems failure is ascribed to enforcing unwanted or contentious change in organisational processes, or because the technology requirements, such as hardware and connectivity, did not exist or were not maintainable due to limited human, technical and financial resources.…”

Section: Observations and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Monitoring drinking water quality in South Africa: Designing information systems for local needs

Rivett¹,

Champanis²,

Wilson-Jones³

2013

WSA

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In South Africa, the management and monitoring of drinking water quality is governed by policies and regulations based on international standards. Water Service Authorities, which are either municipalities or district municipalities, are required to submit information regarding water quality and the management thereof regularly to the national Blue Drop System (BDS). Since 2009, a trend has emerged in which urban municipalities have been shown to consistently improve their water quality management whilst some of the rural and under-resourced municipalities are falling behind. A major concern has been that rural municipalities are failing to report the required information and are not complying with some of the regulator's requirements that speak to the overall management of water quality monitoring rather than the actual water quality itself. This paper reflects on a case study undertaken in four rural municipalities in South Africa where a cellphone-based information system was implemented to collect information relevant to the municipality. The study was conducted by the Information for Community Oriented Municipal Services (iCOMMS) research team based at the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of Cape Town. The hypothesis for the research was that improved information flow within rural municipalities -from water supplies in outlying areas to the municipal government office -can improve the efficiency of existing monitoring, if the design, development and implementation of such a system are based on collecting appropriate and locally relevant information. Water service authorities at the four field sites managed the process of monitoring in very different ways due to limited resources as well as structural challenges within each government department. The variety of stakeholders involved in water quality monitoring programmes, and the alternative methods and processes used, challenges the current understanding of information system design as well as the notion of developing a single national information system. The decentralisation of national water quality monitoring to municipal level was assessed in this research, which concluded that the BDS was of limited usefulness to water quality monitoring in the rural municipalities partaking in this research.

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Section: Observations and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Monitoring drinking water quality in South Africa: Designing information systems for local needs

Rivett¹,

Champanis²,

Wilson-Jones³

2013

WSA

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“…They consist of hardware and software, network appliances, radio, television, cellular phones, as well as services and applications associated with, for example, e-learning, e-health, and e-governance (USAID 2003). ICTs are key tools essential for the distribution of information and knowledge that support development activities (Moodley 2005). When these tools are seen as a component essential for contributing to economic, societal, and environmental sustainability for human well-being in developing countries, it is commonly referred to as ICT for development (ICTD; Moodley 2005).…”

Section: Stakeholder Interaction In Applied Research: Ictd Tp and Nrmmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…ICTs are key tools essential for the distribution of information and knowledge that support development activities (Moodley 2005). When these tools are seen as a component essential for contributing to economic, societal, and environmental sustainability for human well-being in developing countries, it is commonly referred to as ICT for development (ICTD; Moodley 2005). In ICTD, stakeholder interaction is required across the disciplines that support it, as well as between academia, government, private organizations, and the local marginalized community that will benefit from the initiative.…”

Section: Stakeholder Interaction In Applied Research: Ictd Tp and Nrmmentioning

confidence: 99%

Complexity of Stakeholder Interaction in Applied Research

Pade-Khene¹,

Luton²,

Jordaan³

et al. 2013

E&S

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ABSTRACT. Applied research in complex integrated settings should be recognized as an endeavor that requires transdisciplinary and multisectoral stakeholder interactions. The problems faced in society are quite complex, requiring participation and knowledge from diverse aspects of society, including different disciplines (academia), communities, civil society, and government. Successful applied research relies on nurturing these key stakeholder relationships and interactions. This paper explores the key challenges of stakeholder interaction in applied research in three disciplines in the South African context, based on literature and the experience of authors in their disciplines. The three disciplines include information and communication technology for development, town and regional planning, and natural resource management. We attempt to also compare and contrast these challenges across the disciplines, to identify any commonalities and differences. After considering the mutual challenges and adaptive solutions to address these challenges in the different disciplines, we identify that all three areas in relation to stakeholder interaction appear to exhibit characteristics of complex systems, hence motivating to view applied research as a complex system. In this sense, complexity theory may provide a common language between the different disciplines examining transdisciplinary stakeholder interaction in applied research from a shared perspective.

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“…However, the benefits and challenges associated with ICTs in rural areas need to be questioned in terms of the relevance and actual impact of such projects on rural development [3; 7; 11]. The role of ICTs as powerful tools to fight poverty, are still at best, a "working hypothesis" [13].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Proposed stages of a rural ICT comprehensive evaluation framework in ICT for rural development projects

Pade-Khene

Sewry

2011

Proceedings of the South African Institute of Computer Scientists and Information Technologists Conference on Knowledge, Innova

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The evaluation of rural ICT for development projects is indispensable as it determines the need, effectiveness, impact, sustainability and extent of the awareness of the contribution such projects or programmes can make in poverty alleviation and development. Evaluation in this case, needs to be comprehensive to capture relevant impact and effectiveness throughout the life of these projects in marginalised communities. This paper presents a high level description of the Rural ICT Comprehensive Evaluation Framework (RICT-CEF). The RICT-CEF is comprised of 1) An Overall Evaluation Plan, 2) An Evaluation Lifecycle consisting of seven domains of evaluation, and 3) An Iterative Design. These all encompass the key components essential for a comprehensive evaluation of rural ICT projects in developing countries.

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The Promise of E-Development? A Critical Assessment of the State ICT for Poverty Reduction Discourse in South Africa

Cited by 41 publications

References 0 publications

Monitoring drinking water quality in South Africa: Designing information systems for local needs

Monitoring drinking water quality in South Africa: Designing information systems for local needs

Complexity of Stakeholder Interaction in Applied Research

Proposed stages of a rural ICT comprehensive evaluation framework in ICT for rural development projects

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