1. George Ditsa Faculty of ICT Tshwane Uni of Tech Ditsage@tut.ac.za Issue of ICTs and Development in Less Developed Countries: A Case of Africa and A View Towards Bridging the Digital Divide Slide 1 George Ditsa IRMA2005 – San Diego

2. Presentation Outline  The Digital Divide, Policies & Tech intake in Africa  Tech Breakthroughs & Poverty Reduction  Challenges Faced by ICT Projects in Africa  ICT Initiatives in Development in South Africa & Ghana  Formulating ICT Strategies for Africa  Further Suggestions Conclusion Slide 2 George Ditsa IRMA2005 – San Diego

3. Slide 3 George Ditsa IRMA2005 – San Diego  The Digital Divide:  The disparity that exists in the access to and use of information and communication technology between countries, and between groups within countries (Bridges.org, 2001)  “The gap between individuals, households, businesses and geographical areas at different socio-economic levels with regard both to their opportunities to access information and communication technologies (ICTs) and their use of the Internet for a wide variety of activities” (OECD, 2001, p. 5) Slide 3 George Ditsa IRMA2005 – San Diego The Digital Divide, Policies & Tech Intake in Africa

4. Slide 4 George Ditsa IRMA2005 – San Diego  Strategic Policies on ICTs & Development:  ICTs into development in 70s and facilitated by international orgns such the UNDP & World Bank  Support for large number of IT projects in 70s & 80s  Top-Down strategies  “Push” rather than “Pull” resulting in failures that worsen development states of LDCs (Heeks, 2002; Brohman, 1996; Berman, 1992) Slide 4 George Ditsa IRMA2005 – San Diego The Digital Divide, Policies & Tech Intake in Africa

5.  Intermediate Tech for Africa:  £1-technology vs £1,000-technology (Schumacher, 1999 - first published in 1973)  Need for £100-technology first instead leapfrogging as some authors advocate ( Fontaine, 1999) Slide 5 George Ditsa IRMA2005 – San Diego The Digital Divide, Policies & Tech Intake in Africa

6. Slide 6 George Ditsa IRMA2005 – San Diego WealthQuality of Life  ICTs and creation of Wealth & rise in Quality of Life in industrialized countries in the 20 th century (Zachary, 2003) bridging gap  Promises of Tech Breakthroughs bridging gap between “have” & “have-nots” social amenities  Failures of Tech as result of pressing social amenities Slide 6 George Ditsa IRMA2005 – San Diego Tech Breakthroughs and Poverty Reduction

7. Slide 7 George Ditsa IRMA2005 – San Diego  Lack of basic amenities  Lack of adequate national information infrastructure  Tech know-how and support  Tech beyond means of most  Understanding principle underlying ICT sector  Dealing with culture  Political stability and good governance Slide 7 George Ditsa IRMA2005 – San Diego Challenges Faced by ICT Projects in Africa

8. Slide 8 George Ditsa IRMA2005 – San Diego  ICT initiatives in developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, dominated by three prevalent ones currently (Bridges.org 2001; Benjamin 2000; Burton 2000)  Online information resources (providing relevant content);  School computer programs & distance learning program;  Telecenters. Slide 8 George Ditsa IRMA2005 – San Diego ICT Initiatives in Development in South Africa & Ghana

9. Slide 9 George Ditsa IRMA2005 – San Diego  Telecenter initiatives in South Africa  Govt embraced idea & set up Telecenters across country  Studies indicate widespread but impact not significant (Benjamin & Dahms 1999; Benjamin 2000 & 2001; Burton 2000; Trusler, 2004)  “It is clear that while existing telecentre facilities offer a variety of services that are both desired and needed by many communities, these facilities remain under-utilized by the majority of communities in which they are located. Reasons for this range from cost and pricing issues to mere awareness of the facilities” (Burton 2000). Slide 9 George Ditsa IRMA2005 – San Diego ICT Initiatives in Development in South Africa & Ghana

10. Slide 10 George Ditsa IRMA2005 – San Diego  “… it appears that the attempt to use ‘£1,000-technology’ presented an impossible transition, not in terms of use – but rather in terms of ownership. We could see the computer training conducted by the PM as an attempt to ‘leap-frog’ certain developmental stages. Intuitively, if we had substituted the £1,000- technology (the MPCC) with a more intermediate technology (say a small-scale hydroponics plant) ownership and empowerment could have been significantly greater” (Trusler, 2004). Slide 10 George Ditsa IRMA2005 – San Diego ICT Initiatives in Development in South Africa & Ghana

11. Slide 11 George Ditsa IRMA2005 – San Diego  Telecenter initiatives in Ghana  Two Telecenter initiatives:  The Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence on Information and Communication Technology or simple called Kofi Annan ICT Centre  The Ghana Technology Park  No current research to determine success or failure Slide 11 George Ditsa IRMA2005 – San Diego ICT Initiatives in Development in South Africa & Ghana

12. Slide 12 George Ditsa IRMA2005 – San Diego  Formulation of ICT Strategies for Africa must start from “here!”  Use of ICT Growth Stage Models, eg. Sutherland & Galliers Model to: ICTs Stages  Identify ICTs Stages in organizations Matured Stages  Formulating strategies based on identified stages to move to Matured Stages  Important also to identify the sectors that the firms or organizations belong to and use, eg. McFarlan & McKenny’s Strategic Grid in the strategy formulations Slide 12 George Ditsa IRMA2005 – San Diego Formulating ICT Strategies for Africa

13. Slide 13 George Ditsa IRMA2005 – San Diego  Further suggestions towards bridging the Digital Divide  Africa countries must be willing to invest in ICT to bring about the much needed change;  To avoid pitfalls, components of ICTs must be properly laid out to resolve all ambiguities;  Training/awareness drive must be properly coordinated and implemented;  Consultants of repute must be engaged from onset to ensure international standards are conformed to and enforced;  The notion that once a computerization project starts it must produce results immediately should be discarded; and  Attempt must not be made to solve all problems all at once: as doing so will almost likely result in project failures. Slide 13 George Ditsa IRMA2005 – San Diego Further Suggestions & Conclusion

14. Your Questions Comments&Suggestions Slide 14 George Ditsa IRMA2005 – San Diego