"Since The Seed Alliance started in 2012, the three program partners (FRIDA, FIRE and ISIF) have supported 151 projects throughout Africa, Asia Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, helping to strengthen and promote the Information Society within these regions. From the beginning of the program,
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a set of criteria was defined to evaluate the projects supported by Seed Alliance. The criteria work as a system of categories disaggregated into sub-categories which are evaluated both when the projects are initially submitted and when the final reports are presented by the supported organizations. The current report results from the consulting work by the FOCUS team, which was aimed at redefining Seed Alliance´s evaluation system (score card system) looking to improve the comparability among the different projects." (Introduction, page 3)
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"Billions of US dollars are invested each year by the public, NGO and private sectors in information and communication technologies for development (ICT4D) projects such as telecentres, village phone schemes, e-health and e-education projects, e-government kiosks, etc. Yet we have very little sense
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of the effect of that investment. Put simply, there is far too little impact assessment of ICT4D projects. In part that reflects a lack of political will and motivation. But in part it also reflects a lack of knowledge about how to undertake impact assessment of ICT4D. This Compendium aims to address that lack of knowledge. It presents a set of frameworks that can be used by ICT4D practitioners, policy-makers and consultants to understand the impact of informatics initiatives in developing countries. The Compendium is arranged into three parts: overview – explains the basis for understanding impact assessment of ICT4D projects, and the different assessment frameworks that can be used; frameworks – summarises a series of impact assessment frameworks, each one drawing from a different perspective; bibliography – a tabular summary of real-world examples of ICT4D impact assessment." (Introduction, page iii)
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"Acacia’s mission is very straightforward; it is to support research on ICTs that improve livelihood opportunities, enhance social service delivery, and empower citizens while building the capacity of African researchers and research networks. Towards that end, Acacia has identified three core res
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earch themes that will serve as a broad framework for the program. They are: People Empowerment: Understanding the individual and social changes that Africans are experiencing that are being brought about through the use of ICTs. Social Service Delivery: Research on how ICTs can help African governments with limited resources to more effectively deliver services to their citizens. Economic Development and Opportunity: ICTs in Africa are transforming both formal and informal economies. This theme explores the broader impact of ICTs on social and economic growth in Africa. Within each of these thematic areas, three or four key research issues have been targeted for investment. Acacia will support research networks (some existing and some emerging) that will pursue these areas of inquiry." (Executive summary, page 1)
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"This study presents preliminary findings of the mounting efforts to develop systematic evaluation frameworks for ICT for Development programs. The evidence from these findings shows that there is increasing interest for understanding the impacts that ICT initiatives are having in realizing socioeco
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nomic change. Efforts from diverse organizations -- academia, foundations, international research institutes, development organizations and practitioners in the field -- are generating valuable information that piece by piece will better inform not only future investments in the field, but most importantly, how these investments are making a difference in the lives of poor and underserved communities. This study presents preliminary findings of different approaches used to evaluate programs in the following areas: 1) E-government; 2) E-education; and 3) ICT and Civil Society. An additional set of evaluation frameworks for Telecenters, E-health, Gender, Poverty Reduction and Small and Medium Enterprises are included in the Annexes for reference." (Abstract)
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"IDRC has telecentre evaluation initiatives in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Each of these is in the process of establishing evaluation frameworks and each is adopting very different approaches. The current paper seeks to build on the outputs of IDRC's Far Hills Workshop on Telecentre Evaluation (
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September 1999) to explore the experiences in the two regions. These explorations will in turn contribute to IDRC's current initiative to develop a framework for ICTs evaluation. The Far Hills Workshop, and the resulting report entitled Telecentre Evaluation: A Global Perspective, had as objectives to explore challenges and opportunities for telecentre evaluation; understand and compare emerging evaluation frameworks and methodologies; assess needs and resources available; identify salient issues affecting telecentre performance; and provide an opportunity to exchange experiences and lessons across regions." (Abstract)
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"This book reports on an international research program investigating the impact of information on development. It presents a series of case studies and essays that describe practical, operational experience with methodologies to assess the impact of information. Amongst many issues, authors examine
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sampling and interview techniques, questionnaire design, survey instruments, data definitions, and approaches to identifying different user communities. The book will be of use to scholars, researchers, student, and practitioners in information sciences and development studies." (Publisher description)
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