Learning to Be Sustainable in ICT for Development: A Citizen Engagement Initiative in South Africa

Pade-Khene, Caroline; Lannon, John

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-59111-7_39

Cited by 9 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Group member relations and conflict also occur among members of the implementation team of an e-governance project. This is typical, as such a project is transdisciplinary in nature, bringing together worldviews, cultures and multiple disciplines required to implement such a complex initiative (Pade-Khene and Lannon, 2017). The Co-Directors of the project provide such an example.…”

Section: Findings and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All these stakeholders interact in a web of complexity and uncertainty in an environment that is politically influenced, as well as marginalised. Conflicting perspectives exist between stakeholders, as well as within stakeholder groups – in this case, each group has a specific objective that they expect to achieve with the e-Government initiative (Pade-Khene and Lannon, 2017; Clifford-Holmes, 2014). A strategist needs to manoeuvre around these constraints, and devise strategies to engage all key stakeholders (either separately, or together), in an effort to learn whether or not an e-Government initiative can function within its context.…”

Section: Stakeholders At the Local Municipal Levelmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Group structural elements in e-Government strategy formulation at local municipal level in South Africa

Osah

Pade-Khene

2018

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Purpose This study aims to identify group structural elements that should be assessed in e-Government strategy formulation processes at local government level for service delivery in South Africa. These elements influence the success or effectiveness of the strategy formulation process. Design/methodology/approach The theoretical framework of group structural elements by Asplund and nine other strategy formulation-related approaches are reflected upon. Weick’s approach of theory development is used to guide the theoretical analysis. A pragmatic approach is applied to conduct the empirical investigation using a case study of a digital citizen engagement project in South Africa. Findings The paper highlights the following group elements that influence the strategy formulation process: group member relations, degree of differentiation within the group and resources of the group. Not addressing these structural elements may result in a lack of creativity or a reluctance to participate in the context of public sector engagement. Research limitations/implications The paper does not provide an exhaustive list of all aspects that necessitate assessment before and during a strategy formulation process, for example, organisational and environment structural elements. Practical implications Assessing group structural elements provides valuable knowledge on how to engage stakeholders in a joint problem-solving activity. This is particularly pertinent where citizen engagement is fundamental to addressing basic service delivery concerns. Originality/value In the South African local municipal context, there is no existing literature that discusses the need to assess group structural elements influencing the outcome of an e-Government strategy formulation process.

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Section: Findings and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Stakeholders At the Local Municipal Levelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Group structural elements in e-Government strategy formulation at local municipal level in South Africa

Osah

Pade-Khene

2018

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“…Such initiatives are often based on community projects that are sponsored by the government or non-governmental organizations or the private sector. However, there are concerns over such projects as their implementation and sustainability remains scarce [1,4,5]. Thus, cases have been reported of ICT projects implementations that have failed to make a meaningful contribution to marginal areas [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thus, cases have been reported of ICT projects implementations that have failed to make a meaningful contribution to marginal areas [3]. Community ICT projects are complex and their success often depends on various environmental and contextual factors [5] something that makes lessons learned from one case not easily transferable to the next [6]. It is against this background that this study presents a reflection of an ICT for Development (ICT4D) project that was implemented in Namibia.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Empowering Communities in Marginalized Surroundings: Opportunities from Collaborative Community-Managed Electrification and Advanced ICT

Fröhlich

Jain

Pinomaa

et al. 2021

CHI Greece 2021: 1st International Conference of the ACM Greek SIGCHI Chapter

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Marginalized communities in Africa present a challenge for sustainable and equal development. Opportunities for breaking out from poverty are scarce. Electrification has been seen to act as an important enabler for improving livelihood in such surroundings. However, the activities and services that are enabled by electricity are often the desired outcomes. Aspects of special importance relate to improved earnings: business development and entrepreneurial work. Such activities are usually supported with advanced ICT. However, the introduction and operation of such systems requires substantial resources. In this paper, we explore collaborative practices that may lower these resource demands. Accordingly, we present a case study conducted in an African marginalized community showing how collaborative introduction and operation of electricity and advanced ICT infrastructure were sustained by the local community members. We also show the processes that were followed in engaging ICTs. The study is based on a research and piloting project that seek ways to establish a community-centered ICT infrastructure for electricity and Internet connectivity enabling the members of the marginalized community to get access to digital services. We argue that the experimented infra-structure will give the community an opportunity to improve their livelihoods by using the Internet and access to information for eLearning, e-government services, and a wide market for selling local products. Importantly however, our findings include the collaborative remote support for the deployment and usage of the infrastructure improving sustainability. Such a new approach can be considered of importance given that traditional electrification and digitalization projects often degrade or even cease to exist soon after handing over everything to the community. CCS CONCEPTS • Human Computer Interaction (HCI) • Accessibility • Collaborative and Social Computing* Place the footnote text for the author (if applicable) here.

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“…Nevertheless, this does not imply that such projects do not have successful outcomes -these outcomes can only be fully realised when an effort is made to apply endogenous practices to understand institutional forces that support or hinder implementation and sustainability (Mansell 2011). The failures and challenges should be seen by researchers and practitioners as opportunities to learn from them, unlearn wrong practices and apply incremental changes or develop possible mechanisms and theories to address these specific failures (Dodson, Sterling & Bennett 2012;Pade-Khene & Lannon 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Embedding knowledge transfer in digital citizen engagement in South Africa: Developing digital literacy

Pade-Khene

2018

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Basic service delivery is a fundamental right for all South Africans, especially vulnerable groups. Effective and efficient channels of communication between multi-stakeholder groups involved and affected by service delivery are essential. Digital citizen engagement has recently emerged as a key approach for supporting two-way communication between citizens and the government. It is essential for building evidence-based data to engage with government and apply social accountability measures to lobby for the provision of basic services. Key to building capacities and learning, is developing the abilities of both local government and citizens to become digitally literate (including civic and responsiveness literacy), in order to realise and action the true benefits of digital citizen engagement. This research set out to identify the roles of digital literacy in digital citizen engagement, and how it may be embedded in knowledge transfer processes for implementing digital citizen engagement initiatives. A pragmatist philosophical approach was applied: studying, observing and reflecting on actions in the MobiSAM case study. Using Szulanski’s four-stage model of knowledge transfer, key focus areas for developing digital literacy were identified, contributing to a Quadruple-E process of: (1) explore, (2) enable, (3) engage and (4) embed. Practices identified in the MobiSAM case study are provided as suggestions for each phase, with an indication of possible constraints that may be experienced in the knowledge transfer and digital literacy development process – a potential guideline for developing digital literacy in digital citizen engagement initiatives. The process for knowledge transfer and developing digital literacy that was identified in this article provides a guideline for future implementation of digital citizen engagement initiatives in resource-constrained contexts.

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Learning to Be Sustainable in ICT for Development: A Citizen Engagement Initiative in South Africa

Cited by 9 publications

References 23 publications

Group structural elements in e-Government strategy formulation at local municipal level in South Africa

Group structural elements in e-Government strategy formulation at local municipal level in South Africa

Empowering Communities in Marginalized Surroundings: Opportunities from Collaborative Community-Managed Electrification and Advanced ICT

Embedding knowledge transfer in digital citizen engagement in South Africa: Developing digital literacy

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