Research papers

This case study is part of a research project that sought to analyse how different telecentre models approach development on the ground, proceeding to elaborate a typology based on the cornerstones of participation and equity. To conduct this assessment, four telecentre projects were examined: the Gujarat government’s e-Gram project, the corporate-led venture by ITC called e-Choupal, the private enterprise model of Drishtee, and the community-owned telecentres of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF).

This case study is a part of the broader research study Locating gender in ICTD projects: five cases from India, undertaken by IT for Change, which sought to understand how principles promoting women’s inclusion and gender sensitivity

This case study is part of a research project that sought to analyse how different telecentre models approach development on the ground, proceeding to elaborate a typology based on the cornerstones of participation and equity. To conduct this assessment, four telecentre projects were examined: the Gujarat government’s e-Gram project, the corporate-led venture by ITC called e-Choupal, the private enterprise model of Drishtee, and the community-owned telecentres of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF).

This case study is a part of the broader research study Locating gender in ICTD projects: five cases from India, undertaken by IT for Change, which sought to understand how principles promoting women’s inclusion and gender sensitivity can be incorporated into Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICTD) projects through an analysis of five interventions. These specific projects were selected on the basis of their representation of different development typologies, geographical coverage, scale, type of ownership (government or civil society sector) and their stated approach to gender and social justice.

The authors discuss the process of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) process and its positive outcomes in terms of Internet governance, and negative outcomes regarding the failure to establish a financing mechanism for Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICTD).

This paper, published in Women in Action (2, 2008) by Isis International – Manila, is a critique of the 'People's Communications for Development' (PC4D) framework that has been developed by Isis. PC4D seeks to rightly challenge the tendency of the dominant 'ICT for Development' (ICTD) frameworks to pull all existing development practice into a monolith that is centred on what may be called the 'revolutionary organising power' of the new ICTs, and attempts to put people back into the centre of development practice. Where PC4D is mistaken, this paper argues, is in taking the new ICTs as the main target of its critique.

This research, supported by the National Institute for Smart Government (NISG) and undertaken by IT for Change, seeks to understand how principles promoting women’s inclusion and gender sensitivity can be incorporated into Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICTD) projects through an analysis of five interventions: Abhiyan’s Mahiti Mitra kiosks, DHAN Foundation’s Village Information Centres, the E-Krishi application within the Akshaya project, rural eSeva kiosks and the Community Learning Centres and Trade Facilitation Centres of SEWA.

The 2008 report of the Global Information Society Watch surveys the national deployment of ICT infrastructure and its implications for development. It gives a detailed analysis of steps which need to be taken to improve ICT connectivity in rural areas. IT for Change wrote the chapter on India, which looks at the theme of access, focusing on the physical access to technology and the legal and regulatory framework, with special reference to community radio and ICTs in education policies.

This collection of papers is an attempt to build a body of critical work that offers analytical and conceptual tools to understand and engage with the structural changes that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are bringing about in society.