This document discusses the successes and challenges of using information and communication technologies (ICTs) in Africa to promote development. Some key successes highlighted include the rapid expansion of mobile phone access across Africa, the transformative impact of M-Pesa mobile banking in Kenya, and the use of mobile phones to support activism campaigns. However, the document also notes challenges such as ICTs only being part of the solution and not addressing other needs like capacity building; institutional contexts sometimes constraining what can be achieved; and systems not benefiting the poorest groups. The implications discussed for the ICT4D community include the need for multidisciplinarity, having a strategic agenda, and adopting strong ethical norms.

1. Are We Making a
Better World with ICTs?
Geoff Walsham
Judge Business School
University of Cambridge

2. Contents
• Some successes in Africa
• Some challenges
• Implications for the ICT4D community

3. Some Successes

4. Mobile phone explosion
• More than 635 million mobile subscriptions
in sub-Saharan Africa by end 2014
• Predicted to rise to 930 million by late 2019
with 75% internet-enabled [Guardian 5 June 2014]
• Supporting capability of people to live the
lives they value (Sen 1999)

5. M-Pesa
• Used by over 17 million Kenyans, two thirds
of the adult population [Economist 27 May 2013]
• Banking for the poor and unbanked
• Transformational effects: easier remittances,
more money being sent, ability of poor to
deal with shocks (Morawczynski 2009)

6. Mobile activism in Africa (Ekine 2010)
• To support campaigns e.g. Fahamu – petition on
women’s rights in Africa
• To monitor human rights violations e.g. Ushahidi –
locating post-election violence in Kenya
• To provide information e.g. Kubatana – civil society
resource in Zimbabwe

7. Some Challenges

8. ICTs only one part of need for change
• Example: public health information systems (see Braa
et al (2004) on the HISP initiative)
• ICTs an important component of ‘information for
action’ to provide better health care
• But must also tackle human capacity building, better
financing, attitudinal and institutional change
• Need to integrate ICTs in wider sociotechnical
interventions

9. Institutional contexts often constrain
what can be achieved
• Example: ‘African women and ICTs’ (Buskens and Webb 2009)
• Strong evidence that mobiles ‘empower’ women in a number
of ways, such as enabling economic activity and facilitating
contact with relatives and friends
• But old gender-based hierarchies persist and use of mobiles
for economic activity does not necessarily enhance women’s
status in the community nor their influence in decision
making processes

10. Systems not of benefit to the really poor
• Example: telecentres, bill payment systems, SMS …
• Many ICT-based initiatives in India but beneficiaries
almost never the poorest or most disadvantaged
groups (Walsham 2010)
• ‘There is no substitute for human, social and
political organising, and technical tools are just that
– tools’ (Ekine 2010, p95)

11. Implications for ICT4D Community

12. Embrace multi-disciplinarity
• Relevant disciplines for ICT4D include:
anthropology, computer science, geography,
economics, political science, information systems,
development studies, sociology ….
• Can’t be an expert on all of these but we need to
create a ‘trans-disciplinary’ space of productive
encounters between disciplines

13. Need for strategic agenda
for research and practice
• Building information infrastructures e.g. health
information systems
• Promoting social justice e.g. mobile activism
• Supporting economic activities of the poor e.g. M-Pesa
• Addressing issues of hierarchy and institutional
persistence e.g. African women and ICTs

14. Adopt strong ethical norms for
research and practice with ICTs
• Who benefits and who loses out?
• How to promote ‘good’ use of ICTs and challenge
'bad’ use?
• How to address institutional constraints?
• Need for inspirational agenda for young and old
(Walsham 2012) :
Are we making a better world with ICTs?

15. References
• Braa, J., Monteiro, E. and Sahay, S. (2004). Networks of action: sustainable health
information systems across developing countries. MIS Quarterly 28(3):337-362.
• Buskens, I. and Webb, A. (Eds.). (2009). African Women and ICTs. Pretoria: Unisa Press.
• Ekine, S. (Ed.). (2010). SMS Uprising: Mobile Activism in Africa. Cape Town: Pamzabuka
Press.
• Morawczynski, O. (2009). Exploring the usage and impact of ‘transformational’ mobile
financial services: the case of M-Pesa in Kenya. Journal of East African Studies, 3(3): 509-525.
• Sen, A. (1999). Development as Freedom. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Walsham, G. (2010). ICTs for the broader development of India: an analysis of the
literature. Electronic Journal of Information Systems for Developing Countries, 41(4): 1-20.
• Walsham, G. (2012). Are we making a better world with ICTs? Reflections on a future
agenda for the IS field. Journal of Information Technology, 27(2): 87-93.