Exploring functional dynamics of innovation for inclusive development: Event history analysis of an ICT4D project

Abstract

Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) projects aim to improve the living conditions of marginalized communities. However, ICT4D interventions have high failure rates. We draw on the Technological Innovation for Inclusive Development Systems (TI4IDS) framework, which argues that ICT4D projects are embedded in a system affected by many different actors, stakeholders and institutions. We analyze this through a qualitative exploratory case study of an ICT4D project for Elderly Rural Women in Mafarafara in Limpopo, South Africa. We map a set of TI4IDS functions through event history analysis (EHA) to explore how ICT4D projects may be implemented. We draw conclusions regarding the dynamic exhibited in the projects and show how the focus shifted from the development of knowledge and guidance of search to knowledge diffusion during the uptake of the technology with a more significant focus on resource mobilization and market formulation towards the later phases.