This paper adds to the debate on the contribution of ICT towards improving the quality of local governance. The data presented were collected during the scoping phase of an ICT‐based participation platform aimed at improving local governance in Togo. We combine original data from a social network analysis and a representative household survey. Based on these data, we conclude that the success of ICT interventions to transform local power structures depends on their adequate adaption to the political and technical environment. Decisions about the stage of the public policy cycle at which ICT projects intervene must be informed by the nature of local power relations and the distribution of access to ICT and participation opportunities across the intervention's target population.

We would like to thank everyone who agreed to be interviewed for this study and offered us their time and expertise. We are also deeply grateful for the indispensable support of our Togolese counterpart LaDySIR, in particular Professor Kokou Folly Lolowou Hetcheli, Edem Gnamatchi, Ifa Adanto, Koffi Adaba, and Georgina Afiwavi. Furthermore, we would like to thank our translators, Edem Defly and Yawovi Kokouvi, without whose support we would not have been able to complete this study. Furthermore, we are very grateful to the German Embassy in Lomé, especially Rafael Teck, for his continuous support during our field research.