IDPM Working papers
This Working Paper is part of the Development Informatics series
Deconstructing Community Participation in Telecentre Projects
Savita Bailur
Abstract
This paper critiques the assumed link that telecentre literature makes between community participation and telecentre success. Several authors (Colle, 2005; Colle and Roman, 2001; Kanungo, 2003, 2004; Whyte, 1999, 2000) call for community participation in telecentre projects, stating that this will make the telecentre more sustainable, but with no further detail on what is meant by the terms “community” or “participation”. The emphasis on participation is traced back to stakeholder involvement as a measure of a successful project in the fields of both information systems and international development.
However, critics in both fields also emphasize that there is no simple causality between participation and success. This paper finds that a) the notion of a “community” in telecentre literature is problematic, b) stakeholder analysis may be suggested as a part of an interpretive evaluation but is difficult to enact, and c) if these stakeholders are identified, there is no hard evidence that their participation will lead to greater telecentre success. The paper therefore calls for more research on the notion of community participation and telecentres, and asks that telecentre policy-makers and implementers treat this causality in more complex terms than at present.
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