[SPAM] - [Telecentres] School-based telecentres - Uganda - Email found in subject

[Edmond Gaible]

Hannah, hello,
I couldn't agree more with your statement that impact is ultimately 
related to power and power relations. As mentioned, we are looking at 
social networks resulting from access to the ICTs. One of the 
underlying rationales for this is precisely that power is related to 
the ability to organize -- whether such organization involves creating 
a regional market or participating in fair-trade agricultural 
initiatives. The ability to extend or intensify participation in social 
networks may NOT be in itself related to economic development. But this 
capacity is, I believe, "self-similar" with one of the key factors in 
power relations.

I will be off-line for the next several days, I believe, but will look 
forward to seeing if / how this discussion advances.

Warm regards,

Edmond




On Sep 22, 2004, at 1:43 PM, Hannah Beardon wrote:

> Dear Edmond,
>
> This is an area of particular interest to me, and perhaps we need to
> throw it back to the group.
>
> I think the area of impact assessment is really important, as without 
> it
> there is no formal downwards accountability and we can carry on
> convincing ourselves we are doing great things for the poor and
> marginalised without really having to consider what they think and feel
> about it.  However it is also the most difficult area, and there are no
> right/ wrong ways of doing things.  Instead it is a set of skills
> applied and values adhered to.  A recent paper on evaluation of Reflect
> (adult literacy and empowerment) argued that evaluation is just a
> reflection of the researchers prejudices - who we ask, what we ask and
> how we edit the responses - as well as the problem of power
> relationships between researchers and participants - with the latter
> telling the former what they think they want to hear in order to curry
> favour.  I attach the summary of the research with some key issues in
> there to provoke more debate.
>
> I think that a large part of the impact we are looking for / at with
> telecentres relates to power and power relations.  Information is power
> after all! This relates to the relationship people have with the
> technology - can they own it and use it to meet their own needs and
> motivations, or are they just using it in the way they have been told
> to.  If the latter, there may be great initial impacts on livelihoods 
> or
> health but the dependency on guidance makes sustainability 
> questionable.
>
> There is much more I could say, but I'll leave it here for now!  Good
> luck with your task ahead!
>
> Hannah
>
> Hannah Beardon
> Reflect and ICTs Coordinator
> www.reflect-action.org
> Tel: +44 (0)20 7561 7568
>
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Edmond Gaible [mailto:egaible at natomagroup.com]
> Sent: 20 September 2004 22:07
> To: Hannah Beardon
> Subject: Re: [SPAM] - [Telecentres] School-based telecentres - Uganda -
> Email found in subject
>
> Good question. And you're touching on probably both the most difficult
> and, frankly, the weakest aspect of the evaluation effort. At schools
> that have significant use by community members, we will be getting
> information from three non-randomly selected focus groups. These will
> differ depending on the nature of the school's community-use patterns.
> In one of the more active and more remote schools, we're requesting a
> group of Karamajong women users, another group of doctors from the 
> local
> hospital who use the telecentre, and yet another group selected by the
> head teacher at his discretion.
>
> Indicators will be users' communications patterns and networks,
> primarily, as well as any self-reported impacts in specific areas
> including health and enterprise. Of course we'll also look at the
> numbers of users over the course of the project in each school, and
> whether the schools have made any outreach efforts targeting specific
> groups.
>
> In a few of the schools, the main impetus for initiating community-use
> programs is financial. We'll also be looking at the various services
> offered and the revenues that these generate.
>
> Edmond
>
>
>
>
> On Sep 20, 2004, at 3:03 PM, Hannah Beardon wrote:
>
>> I would be really interested to know more/ discuss about how you are
>> planning to evaluate the impact on the community...
>>
>> Hannah Beardon
>> www.reflect-action.org
>>
>> ________________________________
>>
>> From: telecentres-bounces at wsis-cs.org on behalf of Edmond Gaible
>> Sent: Fri 17/09/2004 15:21
>> To: telecentres at wsis-cs.org
>> Subject: [SPAM] - [Telecentres] School-based telecentres - Uganda -
>> Email found in subject
>>
>>
>>
>> Colleagues,
>> Greetings from Uganda.
>>
>> With my colleague, Meddie Mayanja, we are currently engaged in an
>> intensive evaluation of 10 school-based telecentres operating VSAT
>> connections in Uganda. We are investigating financial sustainability,
>> impact on learning, and impact on the community. Our data collection
>> and analysis will be ongoing through December. I look forward to the
>> forthcoming discussion on this list.
>>
>> Best regards,
>>
>> Edmond Gaible
>>
>>
>> Edmond Gaible, Ph.D.
>> The Natoma Group
>> 610 16th Street, ste 506
>> Oakland CA 94612
>>
>> +1.510.444.3800 phone and fax
>>
>> www.natomagroup.com
>> egaible at natomagroup.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
>
>
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> <final version - edit.doc>



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