Current Projects
1. From Openness to inclusion: Framing policy questions in the age of platform power (2017-ongoing)
In April 2017, IT for Change with support from the International Development Research Centre, Canada is initiating a multi-country research study to map the key issues/concerns for the rights and inclusion agenda, stemming from pervasive platformisation, in three key domains – economy, knowledge and governance. Through a detailed analysis of digital platforms in these three domains across 8 country-contexts, the project seeks to garner insights about key policy implications for critical areas of governance, such as : data governance, access to knowledge, and economic opportunity and innovation.Read more...
2. Online freedom for all = No unfreedom for women, a project on technology-mediated violence against women (2017-ongoing)
In January 2017, IT for Change and the WWW Foundation initiated “Online freedom for all = No unfreedom for women”,a project that intends to trigger national-level policy dialogues on balancing the right to free speech online with women’s right to freedom from technology-mediated violence, in 2 South Asian countries: India and Bangladesh. In the current conjuncture, online violence against women has acquired pandemic proportions, and women’s full and free participation in digital spaces is increasingly being thwarted by intimidation and violence. A recent global study by UN Women found that 73% of women have experienced violence online, and women are 27 times more likely than men to be harassed online. Governments, especially in countries in the global South, are yet to bring their laws and institutions up-to-speed, to effectively respond to this issue. Against this backdrop, the project seeks to address key gaps/lacunae in existing legal-institutional frameworks on technology-mediated violence against women in India and Bangladesh. Read more...
3. Voice or Chatter? Using Structuration Framework Towards a Theory of ICT mediated Citizen Engagement (2016-ongoing)
IT for Change is spearheading a multi-country research study on mapping the conditions under which ICT mediated citizen engagement can have a transformative impact on governance structures and processes. This is supported by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), and the Making All Voices Count (MAVC) consortium. As part of this, a state-of-art-analysis and a case study of a micro-level initiative is being carried out in each of the following countries: Brazil, Colombia, India, Kenya, Netherlands, Philippines, South Africa, Spain, and Uruguay. The research is currently underway, and at the end of the process, the collaborating researchers aim at explaining the shifting terrain of governance in these times of flux, drawing attention to policy issues and governance practices that matter for meaningful citizen engagement. Read more...
4. Open Educational Resources (2014-ongoing)
IT for Change is carrying out a participatory action research of the Karnataka Open Educational Resources(KOER) programme, to understand whether and how, a bottom-up approach, where participants collaboratively and actively co-create contextual resources ('embedded' within a 'community of learning'), can support effective OER model. The objective of this study is to collate insights for policymakers on how to build a sustainable environment for OER access-creation-curation-publishing as well as become a systemic method of teacher professional development in the public education system. It is part of the Research on Open Educational Resources for Development (ROER4D) network anchored by the University of Cape Town. Read more...
5. Research Study on E-government and gender equality in the Asia-Pacific (2014-ongoing)
IT for Change initiated a 5-country research study on gender and e-government in the Asia-Pacific, in partnership with UNESCAP and UNPOG. This study examined how e-government norms, rules and practices impact institutional shifts towards gender equality and women’s empowerment by focusing on its key components – service delivery, citizen uptake and connectivity architecture. It adopted an institutional analysis framework to map the state of play with respect to e-government policies and interventions in five countries in the region (Australia, Fiji, India, the Philippines and the Republic of Korea) and conduct an in-depth analysis of twelve good practices in gender-responsive e-government. The key findings of the study are accessible here. The second phase of the study is currently in progress. As part of this, a state of play analysis is being undertaken in two more countries in the region: Malaysia and Sri Lanka. Additionally, an online training toolkit and modules on e-government for women’s empowerment are being developed, based on the key findings. Read more...
6. Policy series on "Developing countries and global Internet governance" (2011-ongoing)
IT for Change has been a key resource centre supporting developing country engagements in global Internet governance forums, in the post-WSIS phase. Through periodic policy briefs, we have examined the rapidly evolving social, economic and cultural implications of Internet related debates most relevant to developing countries. Read more...
Past Projects
1. Women’s Rights Online- Phase 1, Study on ICTs for Empowerment of Women and Girls-A research and policy advocacy initiative on empowering women on and through the web in 10 countries (2014-15).
In 2014, the World Wide Web Foundation (WWW) in collaboration with SIDA launched 'ICTs for Empowerment of Women and Girls', a 12-month research and policy advocacy initiative with the vision of empowering women in and through the Internet, across ten countries in Africa, Asia and South America. IT for Change contributed to framework development and provided inputs to the background report of the study prepared by WWW Foundation. IT for Change also led the India component of the research. The global report of the study was released at the Stockholm Internet Forum 2015. Read more...
2. Round table on Inclusion in the Network Society (2014)
IT for Change and International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canada, jointly organised a Round Table in Bengaluru titled inclusion in the network society – mapping development alternatives, forging research agendas'. It was designed to facilitate field building that deepened theoretical inquiry on 'inclusion and equity in the network society' and to build networks for further work to build a systematic body of knowledge. The Round Table brought together research scholars, development practitioners and thinkers, interested in the theoretical and policy aspects of equity, inclusion and participation in the 'ICTs and development' domain, for three days of intense debate and dialogue. Read more...
3. Women-gov (2012-14)
Women-gov(2012-2014) was a feminist action-research project supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), that aimed at enhancing marginalised women's active citizenship and their engagement with local governance, across three sites in India, Brazil and South Africa. The partnering organisations were IT for Change in India, Instituto Nupef in Brazil and the New Women's Movement in South Africa. At each of the three sites, the project aimed towards developing a sustainable techno-social intervention model for enabling marginalised women's collectives to enhance their active engagement with governance structures and the collective articulation and negotiation of their interests; and building peer-to-peer networks for increasing their political participation. Read more...
4. CITIGEN – Asia (2010-12)
The Gender and Citizenship in the Information Society (CITIGEN) programme, coordinated by IT for Change and supported by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), aimed at exploring the new opportunities and challenges for women’s citizenship in the emerging digital context, and the implications of these changes for rethinking women’s rights frameworks. Towards this, the project created an Asia-wide network of six action research projects led by scholar-practitioners in the region and promoting conversations between theory and practice by convening periodic dialogues between women’s rights scholars and practitioners from the development domain and those working on digital rights. Read more...
5. Information Society for the South (2005-10)
The Information Society for the South was an umbrella project of IT for Change, that aimed at pushing the boundaries of Southern scholarship on the information society and ICTD domain. We successfully built a body of knowledge critiquing dominant ICT policy frameworks, and moving towards evolving alternatives that move beyond one-size-fits-all solutions. Key outputs from the project are: