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Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are believed to hold much potential to empower women, both socially and economically, in low-income and rural communities. In this paper, we focus on rural women who mediate ICT use as telecenter operators in India and as helpers and enablers for family members in rural China. We explore under what circumstances they may be able to renegotiate existing gendered power structures. We argue that acts of reconciling or confronting the different spaces they inhabit can allow intermediaries to remake their own identities and positions in their community. This process, rather than the potential associated with ICTs, is where spaces for empowerment often lie.

PurposeThis study aims to assess the contribution of telecenters in expanding the capabilities of rural women to achieve their development outcomes in three rural districts in Tanzania.Design/methodology/approachThe study conducted 12 focus group discussions with 37 rural women users and 36 rural women non-users of telecenters and semi-structured interviews with telecenter managers in the selected districts. The framework for the study is based on Sen’s capability approach.FindingsThe study noted that telecenters may enable rural women to build some capabilities (social, financial, human and political capabilities), and inhibit others, resulting in diverse development outcomes, based on the choices made and conversion factors. These conversion factors included institutional factors (inadequate computers, space and personnel, unreliable electrical power and slow internet connectivity) and individual factors (multiple responsibilities, status, low-level of education, language barrier, lack of information and communication technology (ICT) skills and technology efficacy and inability to afford ICT short courses). Other conversion factors (e.g. availability of affordable ICTs) enabled rural women to build their capabilities.Originality/valueThis is a comprehensive study that provides findings for rural telecenters to plan and allow rural women to expand their capabilities and achieve their development goals in Tanzania or other settings with similar conditions.

Amartya Sen’s capability approach has become increasingly popular in development studies. This paper identifies controllability and operationalisability as two key stumbling blocks which prevent the capability approach from being used even more widely in development practice. It discusses the origins and application of the Choice Framework, a conceptual tool designed to help operationalise the approach. The framework can be used to deconstruct embedded ideologies and analyse the appropriateness of development goals, to map development as a systemic process, and to plan interventions which can result in increased freedom of choice for people. Three examples of the application of the Choice Framework in the field of information and communication for development (ICT4D) are given. The three technologies which are examined, telecentres (Infocentros), Chilecompra and Fair Tracing, can be placed at different places of a determinism continuum, some reducing the spectrum of choices a user has. The paper argues that while frameworks such as the Choice Framework can be developed further to increase the operationalisability of the capability approach, it is up to development funders to accept the fact that people’s choices are never fully predictable and thus Sen’s ‘development as freedom’ will inevitably be a dynamic and open-ended process.

La red de infocentros de Ecuador constituye el eje vertebrador de los procesos de alfabetización informacional del país, siendo un punto esencial en el desarrollo de las Políticas TIC, por su fuerte inversión y capacidad de conectar todo el territorio. Por ello, se analiza a través de esta red la situación actual de los procesos de empoderamiento digital de la población ecuatoriana. Asimismo, este estudio evalúa su capacidad de intermediación en el proceso de empoderamiento ciudadano, especialmente orientados a colectivos específicos como mujeres, minorías indígenas y personas con diversidad funcional. Los datos para el estudio se han obtenido de la aportación de los propios responsables de los centros. Para ello, se aplicó un cuestionario a una muestra de 829 infocentros del país. La tasa de respuesta obtenida fue del 35,8%. Los resultados muestran: su grado de desarrollo, capacidad formativa e implicación en favorecer el empoderamiento en función de distintos colectivos. Asimismo, permitió detectar problemas reales en su gestión y tendencias o líneas de acción futuras. El estudio concluye la importancia vital de estos centros para la reducción de la brecha digital en el país mediante evidencias de su utilidad formadora. Se plantean varios retos para su supervivencia: la necesaria colaboración con los agentes locales y el desarrollo de programas de empoderamiento digital para colectivos específicos. El presente estudio destaca por su carácter único y revelador y puede servir de soporte para la toma de decisiones por parte de los responsables políticos, o bien, como instrumento de reflexión y análisis para los agentes sociales implicados.

Telework could potentially offer significant savings on fuel, office space, and carbon emissions, improve productivity and morale and even reduce the outflow of US jobs overseas. Many companies have enthusiastically embraced it, but pitfalls loom. It appears that the public sector, especially the federal government, is behind on deploying telework opportunities. The challenges of setting up office system replicas in homes or telecenters are significant. Yet the payoffs, measured in productivity gains and real estate savings alone, could make the investment pay off handsomely.

Apresenta resultados de pesquisa de mestrado sobre o projeto de inclusão digital Telecentros de Informação e Educação , conhecidos por Estações Digitais, investigado sob a perspectiva da Ciência da Informação e de seus estudos sobre competência informacional e inclusão digital. Os objetivos específicos trataram da análise dos conceitos que orientam o projeto, suas condições de funcionamento e a proposição de diretrizes para proporcionar melhorias e sanar problemas existentes nas Estações Digitais. O percurso metodológico incluiu análise de conteúdo, pesquisa documental, entrevistas e questionários com os participantes do projeto. Os resultados apontaram a necessidade de melhor planejamento, capaz de redefinir o projeto para que as conexões entre competência informacional, cidadania e inclusão social sejam efetivamente realizadas nas Estações Digitais. Por fim, foram elaboradas diretrizes como proposta de melhoria para o funcionamento do objeto investigado, embasadas no referencial teórico discutido no âmbito da Ciência da Informação.

Recent evidence suggests that increasing overall service coverage and promoting access to telecommunications services have a high economic benefit. Overall, it is estimated that a ten percent increase in mobile telephony penetration could increase economic growth by 0.81 percent in developing countries, whereas a ten percent increase in broadband penetration could increase economic growth by 1.4 percent. In rural and low-income areas in particular, not only do basic telephony services and broadband access allow population to connect with relatives and friends, but they have also introduced a dramatic increase in productivity and in many cases have become the only way for small and medium enterprises in rural areas to access national and, in some cases, global markets. Moreover, the impact of access to telecommunications in rural areas on health, education, disaster management, and local governments has allowed better and more rapid responses, improved coordination, and more effective public management. It is therefore worthwhile to take a second look at all possible policy options, both conventional mechanisms (some of which underutilized) as well as new approaches, to determine whether some of them may be relevant for the emerging agenda of universal broadband access. This paper will first address the necessary conditions required to adopt a more ambitious universal access policy in developing countries. After that, a brief account of the main relevant trends in the industry will be made, followed by a description of twelve different mechanisms for project implementation and six different mechanisms for funding of universal access strategies. Then, an evaluation of the mechanisms will be carried out to identify the most suitable ones. Finally, some recommendations to policy makers on implementation of the preferred mechanisms are also drawn from the analysis.

Access to information, and communications technologies has become crucial to a sustainable agenda of economic development, and poverty reduction, and yet access remains concentrated in a few regions and population groups, with the contours of this new \" digital divide \" closely following, and supplementing existing income, and economic divides. However, technological innovations, economic pressures, and regulatory reforms, are making access to information, and communications technologies more affordable, and, providing opportunities to close the digital divide. This discussion paper outlines a number of policy, and regulatory measures, including incentives to attract investors to high cost, or challenging areas, that can be used under different scenarios, to close the digital divide. While Bank Group experience shows an increasing number of projects with specific universal access components, this paper proposes alternatives for Bank Group support for universal access policies, through an appropriate mix of technical assistance, and investments.

China's recent economic growth has expanded industrialization and urbanization, upgraded consumption, increased social mobility, and initiated a shift from an agricultural-based economy to one based on services and industry. However, more than half of China's population still lives in rural areas, where the average per capital income is less than a third of the urban average. The government of China has increased its commitment to rural development and poverty-reduction programs, with attention to narrowing the rural-urban divide. Informatization—defined as the transformation of an economy and society driven by information and communications technology (ICT)—is increasingly being explored as a way of helping poor people. Rural Informatization in China presents an overview and in-depth analysis of rural ICT initiatives in China. This study reviews the present-day status of China's rural informatization infrastructure, examines and summarizes by organizational model the key initiatives in the past decade, and provides policy recommendations to address current challenges. Case studies of different financing models of rural ICT initiatives from China and other countries are included.

It is increasingly recognized that broadcasting has an important role to play in development – as a widespread tool of information transfer, as a method to improve governance, as an important economic sector in its own right and as a potential access point to new information and communications technologies. Sector reform is long overdue, with the state domination radio broadcast in approximately 75 percent of the world, for example. Reform in the broadcasting sector can have significant development impact –especially in improving governance and transparency. The World Bank has taken the lead in the reform of a range of other sectors. It is time for the institution to turn its attention to broadcasting, where many of the same lessons of reform apply, land where the unmet need for assistance is great. The Bank Group’s potential activities in the sector might include:· Basic Reform, involving the opening up of the broadcast sector to private and community involvement, and deconcentrating private media ownership. Convergence regulation, involving the harmonization and integration of regulations covering broadcast and telecommunications infrastructure.· Support for community radio stations to improve access for the poor to the tolls of information and communications technologies; and · Pilot projects involving digital television to assess the potential of broadcast as a tool to widen.