The value of ICT intervention in rural areas can only be assessed if that provides some tangible opportunity to the rural people which meets their socio-economic needs.There is a need to analyse the value of ICT impact as the acceptability by the rural people will be there if those analysis are shown to them.An objective methodology should be designed for a concurrent evaluation of all the ICT in Rural Areas projects so that corrections can simultaneously be carried out along with the implementation.
I share your opinion. Why do we have left rural areas in countries. This leads to an unprecedented migration to urban areas, leaving land and wealth by a lack of support. The introduction of ICT must serve the development of rural areas, but it is important to take into account the geographical, infrastructure (roads), economic and social. Rural areas should be integrated into the context of development of a region or country, because if we treat it individually, it does not work. For example the creation of a technological center in rural areas, would be a great support optimal functioning of ICT.
Do we need a new set of indicators and new methodology, or can we use an existing one? Have you conducted ICT related impact assessment. It would be useful if colleagues on this forum could share the methodology and their experience in conducting ICT related assessments
I am Dr (Mrs) Janaki Krishna working as Associate Professor and Coordinator for PGDM- Biotechnology Programme at the Institute of Public Enterprise, Hyderabad, India.
Both 'The Value' and 'Value Addition' are amazing if we conduct 'Ex Post' Impact assessment for the ICT projects that are already implemented and/or being implemented, as these studies give us leads and directions for conceptualising new proejcts by way of bridging the gaps or by way of circumventing the old problems. The lessons learnt through these projects after analysing the impacts that were created whether socially or economically coupled with 'Ex ante' impact assessment studies for new ICT projects give objective directions and will definetly have a value on improving socioeconomic conditions in rural areas.
i see the value in analyzing the socio-economic impact of icts in rural areas in many different ways:
- "real-time" managemenent/adjustment/steering of projects
- identification of the major impact areas (and also linked to specific technology (e.g. mobile - financial and social impact, radio - political and educational impact))
- identification of positive and negative side effects
- learning from failures and best practices with analytical proof which leads to improvement of livelihoods due to concrete informationen and not guessing
- means to promote use of icts where applicable
- justification of ict use
in general the analysis would also help to categorize ict use and its impact and could lead to some sort of ict handbook or toolbox in later stages.
Thank you for these comments. In fact there are some ICT handbooks/tookits available or in development. We will talk more about these when discussion starts under question 2 of this forum.
some benefits of impact assessments have already been listed here in this discussion.
Such assessments can show whether an ICT4D project really has an impact (economic, socio-economic, or other) on the lives of people.
Sometimes, though, it seems that impact analyses are primarily conducted for the benefit of the donor, to proof that the investment in the project was money well spent and to be able to list positive figures in donor reports. Quite some time and effort go into generating these reports to satisfy donors.
But are these results then really used to improve project design, to focus on aspects that have a clear impact, and to abort projects that don't work? Or would it be better for beneficiaries if resources spent on impact assessments were used for the project directly?
So, in short:
Are impact assessments of value for the donor or for beneficiaries?
As I mentioned earlier impact should be appraised by the users/beneficiaries and from their own perspective. From the donor point of view a good project/programme should be a project/programme that has a positive impact in the eyes of the users/beneficiaries. The impact assessment should be made in a collective, participatory and continuing learning process among all stakeholders. We at IICD measure impact at satisfaction-, awareness-, empowerment and economic level on an annual base over a period of at least five years. Questionnaires are being disseminated to project/programme staff, the project/programme users and beneficiaries. A focus group discussion is followed in order to discuss the findings with the stakeholders and to agree on necessary adjustments and improvements. Consequently the teams are aware on how their project/programme is being perceived and for IICD to what extend the project/programme objectives have been reached.
If the impact assessment of any innvoaton is solid & positive for the beneficiaries, there would remain littles doubt on the effectiveness of the spend made by donors. Development Impact assessment and Donor benefit assessment is more or less aligned, if the Key Performance Indicators are agreed before hand.
ICTs are touching our lives like never before.Even a few years ago it was difficult to imagine how quickly & deeply they would penetrate rural&isolated areas.The jury is still out on whether ICTs drive rural prosperity of not, however, there is no getting away from the fact that they are there&in our faces.Does it then not make sense to study how they change and influence our societies?In Asia largest number of the world's rural poor reside though it has also seen tremendous increase in mobile phones,it would be useful to see what role ICTs play in the process of rural transformation.How can their power be leveraged to make information a key driver of positive change? ENRAP, a collaborative initiative of IFAD and IDRC, supported ex-post evaluations and action-research pilots in Asia over 2009-1010.A set of interesting findings has just come out and these are available in 6 papers at http://www.enrap.org/research/icts-for-livelihoods-research/icts-for-liv...
The value of ICT intervention in rural areas can only be assessed if that provides some tangible opportunity to the rural people which meets their socio-economic needs.There is a need to analyse the value of ICT impact as the acceptability by the rural people will be there if those analysis are shown to them.An objective methodology should be designed for a concurrent evaluation of all the ICT in Rural Areas projects so that corrections can simultaneously be carried out along with the implementation.
I share your opinion. Why do we have left rural areas in countries. This leads to an unprecedented migration to urban areas, leaving land and wealth by a lack of support. The introduction of ICT must serve the development of rural areas, but it is important to take into account the geographical, infrastructure (roads), economic and social. Rural areas should be integrated into the context of development of a region or country, because if we treat it individually, it does not work. For example the creation of a technological center in rural areas, would be a great support optimal functioning of ICT.
Do we need a new set of indicators and new methodology, or can we use an existing one? Have you conducted ICT related impact assessment. It would be useful if colleagues on this forum could share the methodology and their experience in conducting ICT related assessments
I am Dr (Mrs) Janaki Krishna working as Associate Professor and Coordinator for PGDM- Biotechnology Programme at the Institute of Public Enterprise, Hyderabad, India.
Both 'The Value' and 'Value Addition' are amazing if we conduct 'Ex Post' Impact assessment for the ICT projects that are already implemented and/or being implemented, as these studies give us leads and directions for conceptualising new proejcts by way of bridging the gaps or by way of circumventing the old problems. The lessons learnt through these projects after analysing the impacts that were created whether socially or economically coupled with 'Ex ante' impact assessment studies for new ICT projects give objective directions and will definetly have a value on improving socioeconomic conditions in rural areas.
i see the value in analyzing the socio-economic impact of icts in rural areas in many different ways:
- "real-time" managemenent/adjustment/steering of projects
- identification of the major impact areas (and also linked to specific technology (e.g. mobile - financial and social impact, radio - political and educational impact))
- identification of positive and negative side effects
- learning from failures and best practices with analytical proof which leads to improvement of livelihoods due to concrete informationen and not guessing
- means to promote use of icts where applicable
- justification of ict use
in general the analysis would also help to categorize ict use and its impact and could lead to some sort of ict handbook or toolbox in later stages.
Thank you for these comments. In fact there are some ICT handbooks/tookits available or in development. We will talk more about these when discussion starts under question 2 of this forum.
some benefits of impact assessments have already been listed here in this discussion.
Such assessments can show whether an ICT4D project really has an impact (economic, socio-economic, or other) on the lives of people.
Sometimes, though, it seems that impact analyses are primarily conducted for the benefit of the donor, to proof that the investment in the project was money well spent and to be able to list positive figures in donor reports. Quite some time and effort go into generating these reports to satisfy donors.
But are these results then really used to improve project design, to focus on aspects that have a clear impact, and to abort projects that don't work? Or would it be better for beneficiaries if resources spent on impact assessments were used for the project directly?
So, in short:
Are impact assessments of value for the donor or for beneficiaries?
As I mentioned earlier impact should be appraised by the users/beneficiaries and from their own perspective. From the donor point of view a good project/programme should be a project/programme that has a positive impact in the eyes of the users/beneficiaries. The impact assessment should be made in a collective, participatory and continuing learning process among all stakeholders. We at IICD measure impact at satisfaction-, awareness-, empowerment and economic level on an annual base over a period of at least five years. Questionnaires are being disseminated to project/programme staff, the project/programme users and beneficiaries. A focus group discussion is followed in order to discuss the findings with the stakeholders and to agree on necessary adjustments and improvements. Consequently the teams are aware on how their project/programme is being perceived and for IICD to what extend the project/programme objectives have been reached.
If the impact assessment of any innvoaton is solid & positive for the beneficiaries, there would remain littles doubt on the effectiveness of the spend made by donors. Development Impact assessment and Donor benefit assessment is more or less aligned, if the Key Performance Indicators are agreed before hand.
ICTs are touching our lives like never before.Even a few years ago it was difficult to imagine how quickly & deeply they would penetrate rural&isolated areas.The jury is still out on whether ICTs drive rural prosperity of not, however, there is no getting away from the fact that they are there&in our faces.Does it then not make sense to study how they change and influence our societies?In Asia largest number of the world's rural poor reside though it has also seen tremendous increase in mobile phones,it would be useful to see what role ICTs play in the process of rural transformation.How can their power be leveraged to make information a key driver of positive change? ENRAP, a collaborative initiative of IFAD and IDRC, supported ex-post evaluations and action-research pilots in Asia over 2009-1010.A set of interesting findings has just come out and these are available in 6 papers at http://www.enrap.org/research/icts-for-livelihoods-research/icts-for-liv...