Résumé du rapport de l'examen externe de l'initiative de programme ACACIA II : rapport au Conseil des gouverneurs du CRDI

Version anglaise disponible dans la Bibliothèque numérique du CRDI: PI external reviews : summary of report; Acacia II, report to IDRC Board of Governor

PI external reviews : summary of report; Acacia II, report to IDRC Board of Governors

French version available in IDRC Digital Library: Résumé du rapport de l'examen externe de l'initiative de programme ACACIA II : rapport au Conseil des gouverneurs du CRDIThe action and applied research of Acacia II has enhanced understanding of the complex and constantly changing dynamic interaction between ICTs and poverty reduction in Africa. By improving the capacity of individuals and institutions, and by undertaking applied research, Acacia II has improved Africa's ability to formulate and implement ICT policies and thereby to support the adoption of affordable and functionally relevant technical solutions. For this External Review of the Program Initiative (PI) Acacia II, field visits were made to a purposive sample of nine research projects (four in West Africa, three in East Africa and two in South Africa)

Gender and agriculture in the information society

Excitement about new information and communication technologies (ICTs) is tempered by long-standing problems of gender inequality in development processes. In most developing countries, women make up the majority of the population working in agriculture, but they are marginalized with respect to access to ICTs for economic and social empowerment. Moreover, two-thirds of the world’s 876 million illiterates are women, most of whom live in rural areas of developing countries

Designing for designers: Towards the development of accessible ICT products and services using the VERITAS framework

Among key design practices which contribute to the development of inclusive ICT products and services is user testing with people with disabilities. Traditionally, this involves partial or minimal user testing through the usage of standard heuristics, employing external assisting devices, and the direct feedback of impaired users. However, efficiency could be improved if designers could readily analyse the needs of their target audience. The VERITAS framework simulates and systematically analyses how users with various impairments interact with the use of ICT products and services. Findings show that the VERITAS framework is useful to designers, offering an intuitive approach to inclusive design.The work presented in this article forms part of VERITAS, which is funded by the European Commission's 7th Framework Programme (FP7) (grant agreement # 247765 FP7-ICT-2009.7.2)

Dengue Fever Seroprevalence and Risk Factors, Texas–Mexico Border, 2004

High seroprevalence of dengue was found on both sides of the border

Problematizing ‘Knowledge-for-Development’

This article argues that measures designed to improve the availability and accessibility of information as a key strategy to facilitate development have become ends in themselves, de-linked from their potential to have an impact on Southern knowledge systems that may lead to improved development outcomes. The production and dissemination of ever-greater volumes of information in response to concerns about the uneven availability of infor- mation, particularly for individuals and intermediaries based in the global South, are unable to address the persistent problem of the fragmentation of knowledge systems that result from knowledge for development (K4D) initiatives in which information and knowledge are treated as isolated enti- ties. The article presents the findings of a study into the K4D practices of a network of women/gender information intermediaries. It reveals that at- tempts to strengthen Southern knowledge systems are forestalled by efforts that merely improve the supply of information rather than engaging with knowledge processes in their entirety, thus limiting their potential to pro- mote improved development outcomes. Proxy measures of success are used that fail to challenge the typically neoliberal underpinnings of the dominant knowledge infrastructure. The author concludes that, if knowledge-based development interventions are to be made more effective, K4D stakeholders need to find ways to engage not just with the supply but with the demand for information, as part of broader efforts to strengthen entire knowledge systems in ways that take account of concerns around hegemony