By Making All Voices Count | Communication between the state and citizens is an essential element for an equal and just society. Growing social inequalities, lack of proper public services, and denial of basic human rights all act to widen existing communication gaps.
Key to bridging these gaps is ensuring not only that citizen voices are heard, but also that states have the capacity and incentive to listen and respond. As much of the literature on accountability focuses on citizen voices, a group of researchers from Ghana, Kenya, South Africa and Tanzania – in collaboration with the Institute of Development Studies – decided to look at state responsiveness. Continue Reading →
Tag: governance
Online Civility Will Matter More Than Ever in 2017
By John Walubengo |
The 2017 electioneering period has really and truly kicked in. Is the country ready to deal with the discourse that is emerging in the blogosphere and spilling into the real world?
With a large number of Kenyans, most of them young people, actively online, a large part of next year’s general election is likely to be fought online.
Unfortunately, the online agenda is likely to mirror the offline agenda, which is characterised by retrogressive, tried-and-tested tribal contours.
As a generation that has failed to live up to the Kenyan Project, as Dr Ndii so provocatively described it, the least we can do is to try and inspire future generations to succeed where we failed.
Video: ICT and Governance in East Africa
iHub Research, undertook a study in 2014 to assess how ICT tools are being used, for and in various aspects of governance in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. In 2015, following the completion of the study, the iHub team went around the three countries to share the findings and engage the stakeholders who participated in the study in a bid to find ways of using the research. This short video is a summary of those sessions.
Video sourced from the iHub Youtube Channel
ICT and Governance in East Africa: Dar es Salaam Dissemination
By Varyanne Sika |
In July, iHub Research went to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to discuss findings from out ICT and Governance in East Africa study. This was the second of our dissemination forums outside Kenya. Before Tanzania, we went to Kampala in Uganda to share findings from the same study (read a brief recap blog on the Kampala dissemination here). The purpose of these events in the cities where the study was conducted, is to take back the findings from the data we got, to the people and organizations who gave it to us.
Promoting inclusive use of ICT in monitoring service delivery in Uganda
By Lillian Nalwoga |
For true democracy to flourish there is need for government transparency, greater access to public information, and inclusion of citizens’ voices in decision-making processes. The use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) can aid in increasing awareness and empowering citizens to meaningfully participate in governance processes such as monitoring public services delivery. Continue Reading →
ICT and Governance in East Africa: Preliminary Fieldwork Findings (Part 2) Mwanza, Tanzania
BY VARYANNE SIKA.
The last week of August 2014 was an opportunity for the iHub Research team to explore the various ways in which ICT tools have/can successfully facilitate or hinder two way interaction between government and citizens towards effective public service delivery, curbing corruption, enhancing access to information and increasing transparency and accountability in Tanzania. The team visited Mwanza and Dar es Salaam to identify some of the innovative ICT initiatives that have facilitated the interaction between citizens and government as well as the (de)motivations for utilizing ICT tools among the various stakeholders (citizens, governments, civil society). While in Mwanza region we visited Magu district and Ilemela district.
READ ON THE PRELIMINARY FINDINGS IN DAR-ES-SALAAM HERE.
ICT and Governance in East Africa: Study Sites
By Varyanne Sika
There might be unanimity in the excitement about ICTs in Africa but there remains little empirical evidence on the ways of actual use of ICT and in particular, for our study, in governance. Governance, as we approach it in this study, has a political and social component, and is responsive to the present and future needs of society. Information and Communication Technologies are anticipated to improve governance. One of the key things we want to investigate is HOW they can, and are doing so, for where they have been adopted in East Africa.
iHub Research, as part of the ICT4Democracy East Africa network, seeks to study the innovative initiatives leveraging ICT for and in governance in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. The ICT and Governance study in East Africa seeks to identify, describe and analyse conditions under which ICT tools can or have successfully facilitated or hindered two way interaction between government and citizens.
iHub Research releases Water Governance draft report
Use of mobile technology in promoting transparency issues in water governance
This report details our M-Governance study, which aimed to understand the use of mobile technology in promoting transparency issues in water governance. The report targets mobile developers, water sector specialists, key stakeholders involved in policy-making, regulation and water service development and provision in Kenya drawn from the government sector, civil society organizations, academia and the media.