Sociotechnical Transformative Effects of an ICT Project in Rural Bangladesh

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to provide lessons from the field about an Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) project (Participatory Research and Ownership With Technology, Information and Change [PROTIC]) concerned with the use of mobile phones by women in remote villages in Bangladesh. The Bangladeshi government considers that the role of ICT in social and economic transformation is significant for the country’s development. International nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) also regard ICT as important but are challenged as how to use them effectively for their programs and how to deal with long-term sustainability, digital divides, gender, and cultural issues. This article considers the PROTIC project as a modeling force for innovation and pressure on established sociotechnical structures. In this analysis, we follow what Donner defines as the “interrelationship” perspective, as applied to ICT4D. In particular, the notions of niche, regime, and landscape will be used to frame the changes that a village-level project may activate or respond to at the micro, meso, and macro levels of sociotechnical interaction. A mixed methods approach has been implemented during the 4 years of the project to monitor its outcomes, including interviews with project participants, reports of monthly consultations and training with villagers, extensive surveys, analysis of the Facebook profile of the project, and field notes and interviews with local NGOs and international NGO staff. Results show that the women villagers have undergone a transformation in attitudes, skills, and practices associated with mobile phone use. Transformations at individual and community niche levels have in turn influenced the conceptual framework of local and international NGOs and have also contributed to the reorientation of other regime actors, such as universities, major NGOs, and the government. Methodological constraints as well as the complexity of conducting international fieldwork with multiple actors will also be discussed.

Collective aspects of information literacy in developing countries: a Bangladeshi case

“…We know that the PROTIC women have been able to make effective use of information, for instance about modern agricultural practices in their farming and livestock production, and that they have been using both their newly acquired knowledge and traditional agricultural knowledge to solve problems (Stillman et al , 2020). The workshop showed that participants have some basic IL skills.…”

Sustainable Rural Development through Union Digital Center: The Citizen Empowerment Perspective

“…In the Bangladesh context, StillmanSarrica [26] have recently found that mobile phone usage has facilitated the transformation in attitudes, skills, and practices associated with rural women. On the other hand, due to a lack of infrastructure and other issues, rural people are easily subjected to the digital divide.…”

The use of notebooks by Bangladeshi rural women to preserve information

“…The PROTIC project was a collaboration between Australian researchers and Oxfam in Bangladesh, which aimed at empowering Bangladeshi women working in agriculture in remote communities through access to information (Stillman et al. , 2020).…”