ICT4DEV

This study focuses on the Responsibilities of various stakeholders in e-waste management in Kenya, how the various stakeholders dispose of e-waste and challenges they face. It further explores how other countries namely Switzerland, South Africa and India manage e-waste and what lessons Kenya can learn. It explores the background to e-waste problem and how it impacts on human health and environment. E-waste poses serious negative health and environmental impacts. In spite of this, e-waste generated in Kenya is not properly managed. This study outlines and examines e-waste disposal practices by various stakeholders in Kenya and challenges they face. It also examines the responsibilities of various stakeholders in e-waste management in Kenya. Chapter 3 presents the research methodology used. Data for this study was collected using questionnaires, interviews and discussions with key policy officers in government agencies, recyclers, producers, consumers and collectors in Nairobi. Additionally secondary data was collected from review of literature. In Kenya no policies and procedures were found to be in place to enable the management of electronic waste whereas these were present in Switzerland. In Kenya gaps were identified in awareness levels, technology to manage e-waste, e-waste financing, collection, disposal, ewaste policy and collaboration. It was found that Kenya does not have clearly laid out strategies for managing electronic waste whereas such strategies do exist in Switzerland. Amongst the three countries, Switzerland emerged as a good model of a country that has updated its legal provision to enable the management of electronic waste. In India e-waste management systems has organically developed from the informal sector and has created employment opportunities and income. In spite of the challenges faced, South Africa has taken great strides towards developing policies, procedures, strategies and legislation for the management of electronic waste. Kenya is seen as lagging behind in these areas.

Today more than ever, smallholder family farmers and rural communities require access to information and communication to make their voices heard and change their lives for the better. “Family farming,” the predominant form of agriculture in the world, refers to agricultural, forestry, fisheries, pastoral and aquaculture production that is managed and operated by a family and relies predominantly on family labor. In developing countries, smallholder farms account for 80 percent of all farm holdings and their output feeds billions of people. International research shows that enhancing the efficiency and productivity of family farms is one of the most effective ways to reduce poverty.

Design of data marts is a fundamental task when preparing data destined for implementation of a Decision Support System (DSS). To answer questions on the underlying users information needs, a data-mart designer is challenged to distill the relevant information from various data sources, enable in-depth data analysis and provide ease of access of information to targeted DSS users. This paper presents the design of data marts for analysis of livestock datasets using dimensional modelling techniques. The designed data marts are then implemented for supporting information and knowledge extraction, leveraging large quantities of livestock data from livestock data source that was identified in the case study environment. Appropriate data mart dimensions and facts were modeled in order to ease data analysis and queries in a role-based information decision support model that was adopted in studied context. Data models based on dimensional modelling (star schema model) are provided and discussed. A comprehensive example showing how a piece of data is loaded from livestock data repository to ‘fact’ and ‘dimension’ tables using an open source CloverETL Designer tool is also given. The paper concludes with an overview of the overall detailed schema for the livestock data mart that will serve as a backend engine for On-Line Analytical Processing (OLAP) analysis, reporting, data visualization and information querying via mobile and web access. It is anticipated that the overall DSS once implemented, can be used for improving information delivery, sharing and decision making process to smallholder livestock keepers and livestock experts in Tanzania.

Building a useful and responsive Decision Support System (DSS) requires a deep understanding of the pertinent application domain before starting the system design. In this paper we report about an attempt to develop a mobile-based DSS for smallholder livestock keepers with Arusha region as a case study. The objective of the reported study is to provide an information tool for decision making to the smallholder livestock keepers. The development process involved: 1) employing information gathering techniques to understand smallholder livestock keepers’ information needs 2) studying the current methods that are used for information flow among livestock stakeholders. (i.e. smallholder livestock keepers, extension officers and livestock researchers) 3) analysis of the current situation within Arusha: located in the northern parts of Tanzania in terms of mobile phones penetration, with prospects of leveraging the high mobile phone penetration rate for enhanced information sharing among the smallholder livestock keepers and 4) exploration of options for the platform/model to be used for information access and delivery. The outputs of the above four activities were used to inform the requirements elicitation, and design phases of the mobile-based DSS system development. In addition, the mentioned four activities were supplemented by an extensive literature review of related works on requirements engineering in DSS development. It is anticipated that once the system has been developed, it will be of help to livestock keepers, improving farm-level productivity and decision making process. Findings from the study indicate that majority of smallholder livestock keepers in the selected area possess mobile phones and are in need of access to specific information to support their livestock related decision making. However, information access platforms/models that are currently in place do not cater for a satisfactory solution to their needs. Analysis of various options for designing a DSS platform has shown that a model that considers the administrative, organizational structure, as well as roles of relevant stakeholders in the livestock information flow will be useful for the studied context. The proposed Role-based Information Decision Support (RIDS) Model will facilitate data querying, analysis and information delivery based on users’ information requirements for the design of the DSS’s data marts. This will, in turn, be the basis for implementing a system of information sharing and delivery mechanism that will improve the decision making process and livestock management for smallholder livestock keepers in the studied geographical environment.

E-learning has become one of the primary ways of delivering education around the globe. In Somalia, which is a country torn within and from the global community by a prolonged civil war, University of Hargeisa has in collaboration with Dalarna University in Sweden adopted, for the first time, e-learning. This study explores barriers and facilitators to e-learning usage, experienced by students in Somalia's higher education , using the University of Hargeisa as case study. Interviews were conducted with students to explore how University of Hargeisa's novice users perceived e-learning, and what factors positively and negatively affected their e-learning experiences. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model was used as a framework for interpreting the results. The findings show that, in general, the students have a very positive attitude towards e-learning, and they perceived that e-learning enhanced their educational experience. The communication aspect was found to be especially important for Somali students, as it facilitated a feeling of belonging to the global community of students and scholars and alleviated the war-torn country's isolation. However, some socio-cultural aspects of students' communities negatively affected their e-learning experience. This study ends with recommendations based on the empirical findings to promote the use and enhance the experience of e-learning in post conflict Somali educational institutions.

Creating inter-professional education (IPE) projects is exciting and fun; running them can often be fraught with frustration and concern. Triune-Uganda-2009 was a project designed to emphasise the importance of multidisciplinary collaboration in addressing global health issues by inviting students and mentors from the disciplines of medicine, pharmacy, nursing, sociology and anthropology to participate in a fully online environment for seven weeks. Through the production of written reports and subsequent key health messages for a community in Uganda, Triune aimed to promote proactive involvement worldwide amongst these disciplines. This paper reflects back on the challenges and pitfalls of running this voluntary project and provides key messages and tips on what might work to powerfully promote online engagement amongst participants so that they are motivated to contribute effectively. Judging by participant feedback through an anonymous questionnaire and focus group discussions, Triune’s strengths included its aims, collaborative approach and the opportunity of exposure to a dynamic, diverse and multicultural environment. Significant drawbacks of the project included lack of online presence of certain disciplines, high student dropout rates and lack of participation from mentors, particularly Ugandan representatives. Fluctuating networks in developing countries were also problematic. Whilst Triune demonstrated that inter- professional disciplines are able to come together to achieve a common goal relating to a global health issue via an online medium, there are a number of challenges that need to be addressed to transform a project from a great idea to one that generates extraordinary results.

The Technological Acceptance Model (TAM) and its extensions propounded by Fred Davis and other authors respectively, has broadly been applied on various technological novelties worldwide and has been very fruitful in predicting various technological acceptance behaviors in so many settings. On the basis that TAM may not hold true for some cultures including Sub-Sahara Africa, the expanded TAM for the Sub-Saharan African environment was developed. To ascertain expert opinion on it and assess its performance, this study examined the expert opinion and performance of the developed expanded TAM in the Sub-Saharan African context. Conducting telephone interview with six information systems and human computer interaction experts and administering questionnaire to 308 students in five public universities (using e-learning systems) in five Sub-Sahara Africa countries in the five Sub-Saharan Africa regions, data was collected and multiple regression analysis applied to compute variance (R2) of the independent and dependent constructs (PU, PEOU, PP, PB and BI respectively) in the developed expanded TAM model in the Sub-Saharan African context. Based on the validation of the model by the six experts, its constructs resulting variance were compared to the existing TAMs constructs variance. Results of the comparison showed that, the developed expanded TAM in the African context, outperformed the existing TAMs. Though this research was able to reach findings, it had a limitation of not being able to collect primary data on existing TAM models to compute their variance: future research in this area should work at overcoming this.

Globalisation and technological advances have affected workers' livelihoods. This study analysed how capital investment in ICTs at the workplace affected marginalised low wage workers in a large sample of firms (n=632) in Singapore. We found that social investment by the state for ICTs investments in workplaces led to a significant negative, albeit marginal, reduction in wage growth. We argue that these findings are supported by economic theory, and propose that government investment balance towards higher-order digital skills. We advocate for further research to measure the impact of worker ownership in enterprises on productivity growth, and hence equality objectives.

A unique Participatory Entrepreneurship Development (PED) project was implemented in an informal settlement (Zandspruit) in South Africa. The purpose of the project was to stimulate, among local members of the community, the establishment of innovative, needs-based ICT-related businesses. Training was offered in participatory methods, the process of business development (including needs assessment, business idea generation, business modelling, feasibility analysis, and business plan writing), and sensitization to possible ICT solutions as inspiration for innovation. Participants were expected to propose ICT business solutions for the community, by the community. Results were mixed, with perhaps the most important insight that lack of in-depth ICT knowledge might be the crucial inhibiting factor for community-driven pro-poor ICT-related entrepreneurship.