Localize-It: Co-designing a Community-Owned Platform

One of the most difficult, yet undocumented, aspects of information and communications technologies and development (ICTD) projects is that of establishing partnerships around which researchers’ interventions will develop, be tested and grow. Constraints on timing and funding usually lead to short-term projects, in which benefits are biased towards researchers rather than the partner community. In order to avoid empty and unethical promises and to increase the potential benefit for the community, we consider the process of developing participatory partnerships in ICTD projects. The objective is to make the project community owned, allowing the participants to develop what they value as important. Using the case of a township-based wireless community content sharing network, we describe the potential and some of the challenges with this approach. The paper highlights building blocks, such as ethical behaviour and trust, to avoid recreating the dichotomy between research and practice, and building a constructive collaboration

Refugees and ICTs: Identifying the Key Trends and Gaps in Peer-Reviewed Scholarship

Part 3: ICT for Displaced Population and Refugees. How It Helps? How It HurtsInternational audienceThe goal of this paper is to identify existing literature in the field that encompasses one contemporary crisis and one prevailing developmental implement: refugees, and the use of ICT in the development arena. A total of 35 research studies were identified that address these two topics. In the process, several main themes that dominate the field are identified. These themes are the assessment of refugee status and position, education, empowerment and identity, health, and risk of ICT for refugees. Subsequently, a discussion of the missing areas in this research domain is presented. In the authors’ opinion, the missing themes that are urgently needed are ethics of ICT for refugees, longitudinal studies, gendering of ICT, comparative research, and entrepreneurial aspect of refugees. This missing research would help humanity to get a better understanding of this immense challenge and to design appropriate solutions that leverage ICT to alleviate the current refugee crisis