Revisiting the Role of ICT in Development

This 12-page paper presented at the 9th International Conference on Social Implications of Computers in Developing Countries, São Paulo, Brazil, discusses how information and communication technology (ICT) is conceptualised in development. This paper intends to contribute to the building of ‘descriptive’ (explanatory) knowledge, and it intends to be useful as the basis for developing ‘prescriptive’ (actionable) knowledge. The authors evaluate two conceptual frameworks: 1) a framework conceptualising the role of ICT in national development, and 2) a framework that illustrates the assumptions and perspectives of the range of actors in any given development project that involves ICT. The document analyses the case of an e-Government initiative called e-Seva in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, using the two frameworks in conjunction, and states in its conclusions that combining different frameworks can provide a sharper lens for understanding why ICT for development projects may fail or succeed.


The e-Seva project is a public-private partnership that offers a range of government-to-citizen services (G2C) at a single location. Based on an independent audit report from the International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI), the paper notes evaluation results indicating a more than 15-fold increase in transactions between August 2001 and February 2003, but describes problems in management of the project and technical irregularities affecting users. "These audit criticisms seem to indicate that the project appears to have been implemented in haste without adequate consideration for good information systems development and management practices." The audit found these problems had the potential to negatively impact the project objective: "e-Seva was intended as a service to improve substantially the citizen’s transaction experience with the government." In answer to the audit, the state government responded that “e-Seva was innovative and a new concept having no precedents and [that] the progress was made through a constant process of experimenting”.


The authors use their frameworks to analyse the project and its criticism, and in doing so, test their frameworks of analysis. The authors suggest amending the frameworks to include foundational applications such as infrastructure and e-Government, and developing means to identify the catalysts for tertiary effects of ICT projects (i.e., the generation of new technology-related businesses and societal change), as well as revisiting the paradigms that name the actors in implementation of ICT projects to account for potentially competing priorities among stakeholder groups. In their conclusions they suggest using multiple frameworks for evaluation, including the United Kingdom Department for International Development's (DFID’s) Sustainable Livelihood framework (for its focus on poverty reduction and meeting meeting millennium development goals.)