Towards a structured approach for evaluating the ICT contribution to development

Undoubtedly Information and communication Technologies (ICT) contribute to development; however there is a need to know how and the extent to which development occurs. Moreover the evaluation of the ICT contribution to development has been challenged from theoretical, ethical and methodological angles. This paper addresses some of these challenges by proposing a model that enables systematic evaluation of the ICT contribution to development. The proposed model is conceptually motivated by Amartya Sen’s capability approach that defines development as freedom. Development is a process that involves the provision of opportunities (capabilities) from an ICT resource, as well as actually exploiting the opportunities to realize development benefits. The conversion of resources to opportunities and opportunities to development benefits is facilitated or inhibited by various contextual factors. Development from the capability perspective is both peoplecentered and multidimensional. This requires consideration of both instrumental effectiveness and intrinsic importance. Consequently five evaluation dimensions concerning social and economic development are proposed; namely research and education opportunities, healthcare, economic facilities, political freedoms and psychological wellbeing. ICT4D evaluation indicators are suggested for each dimension and a Multi-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) structured evaluation process is proposed to guide the evaluation. The application of a structured evaluation approach is illustrated through the example of an online learning environment at a University in a developing country. Future research is underway to further apply and validate the model in practice. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4038/icter.v7i1.7152 International Journal on Advances in ICT for Emerging Regions (ICTer), 2013;v.7(1); p.1-1