Document details

The ICT Roundtable Process: Lessons Learned from Facilitating ICT-Enabled Development

The Hague: International Institute for Communication and Development (IICD) (2004), 48 pp.

Contains illustrations

Signature commbox: 70-Cooperation-E 2004

"Over the last six years, IICD has facilitated Roundtable processes in each of its nine Country Programmes in Burkina Faso, Bolivia, Ecuador, Ghana, Jamaica, Mali, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia. A Roundtable workshop is usually the first activity to be held at the start of a Country Programme and, as such, represents the first step towards facilitating ICT-enabled development in developing countries. Once a Country Programme is underway, a Roundtable workshop is generally held each time a new sector is added. During the period 1998 to 2003, a total of 22 Roundtable processes were facilitated. They generated ideas for 139 locally owned ICT projects in the health, good governance, education, livelihood opportunities, and environment sectors. This booklet is the result of an evaluation of the Roundtable process between 1998 to 2003 based on quantitative and qualitative indicators. The findings are relevant for all those involved in facilitating ICT for development initiatives, particularly decisionmakers in organisations for development cooperation, local policy-makers, practitioners in organisations working with ICTs for development, and the donor community. Following an introduction to the concept of ICT-enabled development and an acknowledgement of the growing recognition in development circles of the important role that ICTs can play in Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers, the booklet goes on to describe how the Roundtable process works. The Roundtable process is then placed within the context of the seven guiding principles that guide IICD’s holistic approach to ICT-enabled development: Demand-responsiveness; multi-stakeholder involvement; local ownership; capacity development; partnerships; learning by doing; and embedding ICT projects at the sector level. Empirical examples from different countries are also provided throughout the booklet. The main findings of the evaluation of the Roundtable process are then presented, followed by lessons learned and recommendations." (Foreword)
HOW DOES THE ROUNDTABLE PROCESS WORK AND WHAT ARE ITS GOALS? 6
Organising a Roundtable workshop, 7
Generating ideas for ICT projects and policies, 7
Project formulation and implementation, 8
Capacity development, 15
Networking and knowledge sharing, 19
Monitoring and evaluation, 20
MEASURING THE RESULTS 23
Demand-responsiveness, 24
Multi-stakeholder involvement, 25
Local ownership, 28
Capacity development, 32
Partnerships, 32
Learning by doing, 34
Embedding ICT projects at the sector level, 36
LESSONS LEARNED AND RECOMMENDATIONS, 42