Kathleen Diga

Progress Towards Resolving the Measurement Link Between ICT and Poverty Reduction

This chapter provides a review on the debate and latest literature around Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and its connection to poverty. The review first acknowledges the trend of global poverty, which today can be measured in a multitude of dimensions. This multidimensional poverty measurement approach has emerged within ICTs and Development (ICTD) research alongside a new contribution called “digital poverty”. When looking at the empirical linkages between the concepts of poverty and ICTs, the literature reveals heterogeneity in the measurement choices as to who are the poor and whether the poor have ICTs across developing countries. Yet in various cases where the poor have ICTs, some are found to be sensitive to changes of price and see variability within equity of affordability. Furthermore, only few studies have been able to show causal inference to make the micro-level impact linkage between ICTs and poverty. In reviewing this literature, we provide some of the major themes, gaps, and recommendations towards improving the understanding of ICTD and poverty.

The ICT Ecosystem: The Application, Usefulness, and Future of an Evolving Concept

Although we are almost a generation apart in age, with Julian cutting his digital teeth on a Univac 1108 and Kathleen hers on a Commodore 64, our recollections of using ICT are very similar. The ne...

'Asijiki' and the capacity to aspire through social media: the #feesmustfall movement as an anti-poverty activism in South Africa

South Africa has been a democratic country for 21 years, yet racial and economic transformation appears to have stagnated. Recently, the accumulation of frustration and injustice amounted to a wave of student-led protests, the scale of which is unprecedented in the democratic period. This paper, while contributing to broader literature on student protests, focuses on a field that has received little scholarly attention; that of social media as a tool for anti-poverty activism. This paper presents a social media and personal narrative analysis of the October 2015 #feesmustfall student protests to highlight the value of social media in poverty reduction. We locate this paper within Appadurais theory of cultural capacity -- capacity to aspire [7]. The research findings illuminated the aspects of the politics of recognition, compliance and future orientation within the student narratives. The capacity to aspire framework further advocates for strengthening the capability of the poor and to cultivate their voice.

Poverty Reduction Co-benefits through Indigenous Knowledge in Climate Change Adaptation: A Study within the eThekwini Municipality

Abstract The research utilizes mixed methods to discuss the incorporation of concepts of sustainable livelihoods for climate change adaptation in the eThekwini municipality, South Africa. The municipality identified and implemented climate change adaptation programs incorporating biodiversity, human elements of local economic development and poverty reduction. In poverty reduction co-benefits, the intervention incorporated communityfocused incentives, which mix local biodiversity awareness and efforts to compensate community members who are serving to protect their surrounding natural habitat. Although there is a noted shift in the inclusion of human development, little is reported around the utilization of indigenous knowledge in the project’s sustainability and future continuation within the community. The study recommended that climate change adaptation programs for environmental protection can be holistic if local communities’ cultural practices are incorporated for effective and sustainable interventions.

Facing the African ICTD academic divide

This article stitches together the current journey of ICTD researchers based in Africa who formed a virtual network, which hopes to contribute toward the enhancement of representation within the academic ICTD community.