Assessing Outcome and Impact: Towards a Comprehensive Evaluation Approach in ICT4D

Date

2015-05

Advisors

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

Association for Computing Machinery

Type

Conference

Peer reviewed

Yes

Abstract

It is well documented that ICTs are tools for development. However, there is still a need to comprehensively demonstrate the tangible and intangible effects that ICTs have towards development. A framework for the assessment of the outcomes and impacts of ICT4D is proposed, which provides guidelines for the critical aspects of a project that should be assessed and taken into account when conducting an outcome and impact assessment of rural ICT4D. This framework is based on a comprehensive approach to evaluation and forms part of continuous research on the rural ICT comprehensive evaluation framework (RICT-CEF). From this study five key themes have been identified based on a theoretical analysis and field observations. These themes include strategic value', 'empowerment', 'livelihoods', 'most significant change' and 'sustainability'.

Description

Keywords

ICT4D, evaluation, comprehensive evaluation, outcome and impact assessment, critical themes

Citation

Hafeni Mthoko and Caroline Khene. 2015. Assessing outcome and impact: towards a comprehensive evaluation approach in ICT4D. In Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD ’15). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 50, 1–4.

Rights

Research Institute