An Explorative Study of ICT for Developmental Impact in Rural Areas of Bangladesh

Abstract

Helena Grunfeld has over 30 years of experience in the ICT sector. Her research interests focus on understanding how ICTs can contribute to development, particularly related to capabilities, empowerment and sustainable livelihoods. Roger Harris has a PhD in Information Systems from the City University of Hong Kong and works in Asia as a consultant, researcher and advocate for the use of ICTs in rural development and poverty reduction. Md. Nabid Alam is a graduate of University of Dhaka and majored in Management Information Systems. Sanjida Ferdousi is Research Assistant at Brainstorm Bangladesh and works in the fields of ICT for underprivileged communities and rural development. Bushra Tahseen Malik is Researcher in the field of development economics and market analysis.The interest of the World Bank, various agencies of the United Nations and other donor organisations, which in the past supported information and communication technology for development (IcT4D) initiatives under the broad telecentre umbrella, seems to be waning somewhat. There are several reasons for this lack of interest. With the increasing ubiquity of mobile services, those who considered telecentres useful, mainly because of the connectivity they provided, may no longer see a need for them. Many initiatives were considered failures, as they were not financially sustainable beyond the initial funding period. There was also a lack of adequate evaluations to show whether and how these centres had contributed to development objectives. While there are several evaluations of shared facilities, there is no generally recognised framework for such appraisals, which exhibit various approaches, derived from different disciplines, mainly from information systems and to a more limited extent from development studies. Approaching an evaluation of an IcT4D project in a rural setting in Bangladesh from a development perspective, this study, which is informed by the seminal work of Amartya Sen (2001), "Development as Freedom" (DaF), adopts an interpretive qualitative research style and illustrates the importance of understanding the local context. Our findings demonstrate that the two IcT interventions studied in this research had significant impacts on the five freedoms espoused in DaF.

Quantitative Analysis of Amartya Sen's Theory

“…It has also been believed that developing countries have unprecedented opportunities to enhance educational systems, improve policy formulation and execution, and expand the range of opportunities for income generation and social change among poor rural and urban communities through the use of ICT. Despite our and others previous attempts (Ashraf, Hanisch & Swatman 2007;Heeks 2002, Ashraf et al 2011aAshraf et al 2011b;, Heeks 1998Mansell & Wehn 1998;Huerta & Sandoval-Almazan 2007), one questions remains still further understanding: how far the intervention has reached its desired audience, and to identify effects or changes.…”