Development as Freedom in a Digital Age : Experiences from the Rural Poor in Bolivia

doi:10.1596/978-1-4648-0420-5

Publication:
Development as Freedom in a Digital Age : Experiences from the Rural Poor in Bolivia

dc.contributor.author	Gigler, Björn Sören
dc.date.accessioned	2015-03-26T20:11:28Z
dc.date.available	2015-03-26T20:11:28Z
dc.date.issued	2015-04-01
dc.description.abstract	Under what conditions can new technologies enhance the well-being of poor communities? The study designs an alternative evaluation framework (AEF) that applies Amartya Sen’s capability approach to the study of information and communications technologies (ICTs) in order to place people’s well-being, rather than technology, at the center of the study. The AEF develops an impact chain that examines the mechanisms by which access to, and meaningful use of, ICTs can enhance people’s “informational capabilities” and improve people’s human and social capabilities. This approach thus uses people’s individual and collective capabilities, rather than measures of access or use, as its principal evaluative space. Based on empirical evidence from indigenous communities’ use of new technologies in rural Bolivia, the study concludes that enhancing poor people’s informational capabilities is the most critical factor determining the impact of ICTs on their well-being. Improved informational capabilities, like literacy, do enhance the human capabilities of poor and marginalized peoples to make strategic life choices and achieve the lifestyle they value. Evaluating the impact of ICTs in terms of capabilities thus reveals no direct relationship between improved access to, and use of, ICTs and enhanced well-being; ICTs lead to improvements in people’s lives only when informational capabilities are transformed into expanded human and social capabilities in the economic, political, social, organizational, and cultural dimensions of their lives. The study concludes that intermediaries are bound to play a central, even fundamental, role in this process. They help poor communities to enact and appropriate ICTs to their local socio-cultural context so that their use becomes meaningful for people’s daily lives, enhances their informational capabilities, and ultimately improves their human and social capabilities.	en
dc.identifier.doi	10.1596/978-1-4648-0420-5
dc.identifier.isbn	978-1-4648-0420-5
dc.identifier.uri	https://hdl.handle.net/10986/21631
dc.language.iso	en_US
dc.publisher	Washington, DC: World Bank
dc.rights	CC BY 3.0 IGO
dc.rights.uri	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo
dc.subject	agency
dc.subject	beyond access
dc.subject	capability approach
dc.subject	digital divide
dc.subject	digital inclusion
dc.subject	empowerment
dc.subject	human development
dc.subject	ICT and poverty
dc.subject	impact evaluation
dc.subject	indigenous peoples
dc.subject	information literacy
dc.subject	internet access
dc.subject	internet use
dc.subject	poverty
dc.subject	rural development
dc.subject	social exclusion
dc.subject	well-being
dc.title	Development as Freedom in a Digital Age : Experiences from the Rural Poor in Bolivia	en
dspace.entity.type	Publication
okr.date.disclosure	2015-04-01
okr.doctype	Publications & Research
okr.doctype	Publications & Research::Publication
okr.globalpractice	Transport and ICT
okr.globalpractice	Poverty
okr.guid	571021467997862773
okr.identifier.doi	10.1596/978-1-4648-0420-5
okr.identifier.report	95490
okr.language.supported	en
okr.region.administrative	Latin America & Caribbean
okr.region.country	Bolivia
okr.topic	Governance
okr.topic	Information and Communication Technologies::Digital Divide
okr.topic	Information and Communication Technologies::ICT Policy and Strategies
okr.topic	Information and Communication Technologies::Poverty Reduction & ICT
okr.topic	Poverty Reduction::Poverty Impact Evaluation
okr.topic	Rural Development::Rural Development Knowledge & Information Systems
okr.topic	Social Development::Social Inclusion & Institutions
okr.unit	World Bank Institute’s Open Governance Practice (WBIOG)