ICTs for Democracy: Information and Communication Technologies for the Enhancement of Democracy

This 94-page report examines the potential of information and communications technologies (ICTs) for advancing democracy and empowerment, with a special focus on Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. Conducted by the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) at the request of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), the study intends to offer evidence to Sida and other stakeholders in Swedish development cooperation - that is, to demonstrate that access to and the strategic use of ICTs have the potential to help bring about economic development, poverty reduction, and democratisation - including freedom of speech, the free flow of information, and the promotion of human rights.

In the Foreword of the report, Sida's Department of Empowerment explains what commitments led the organisation to request that APC carry out this investigation. As explained here, the overall objective of Swedish development cooperation is to help create conditions that enable people living in poverty to improve their lives - by addressing not only economic poverty and lack of physical resources, but also lack of information, possibilities, and power. To this end, globally, "huge investments are made in ICT as an undisputed and essential component of almost all state and corporate activities and international development cooperation." In addition to "making information available instantly and at low cost to a degree unprecedented in history", ICT "can be used to seek, receive, create and impart information by anyone, at any time and for any purpose." Furthermore, "[t]he innovative use of the media has created new forms of citizen journalism which give space to a diversity of voices. In this way, ICT enhances freedom of expression and the right to information, and increases the possibilities for citizen's participation in decision making processes."

The study that follows is composed of 2 distinct parts: a theoretical overview and 3 country studies illuminating the possibilities and challenges of ICTs in advancing democracy in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania.

The theoretical overview of democracy and ICTs in Africa begins on page 18 of the document. This review sets out key arguments about democracy and its processes, their relationship to media and to ICTs, and how these issues have been examined and debated in relation to the global project of democratisation in Africa. It also examines arguments about the role and value of ICTs, specifically with respect to their value in advancing development and democracy.

In brief, the theoretical overview "underscores the importance of public debate and deliberation on political choices in a viable public sphere - that is, an active and critical public domain - for the full realisation of a democratic culture. It is especially important to cultivate the capacity for public deliberation among a cross-section of civil society actors in order to nurture an open dialogic space in which social groups with divergent interests can have a voice and opportunity to hold government - the public service - accountable to its mandate."

To support this vision, APC first addresses the "supply-side" actions that governments should take to advance democratic practice. Governments need to "cultivate and embrace a culture of openness and transparency at the different levels of operation - national, regional and local - rather than being threatened by dissent and critical debate." In this context, "ICTs for e-government and e-governance provide possibilities for more efficient administration and better targeted service delivery as well as government engagement with citizens and civil society." However, APC's theoretical exploration finds that sustaining democracy over the long term requires simultaneously developing a "demand" from civil society for adherence to democratic practice and culture. "It is therefore crucial to support initiatives that - from an empowerment perspective - build the capacity of citizens to take a critical stance within the political space."

The theoretical review further points to the increasing potential of new and hybrid ICTs to advance democracy. In brief, "[t]he combination of traditional and new ICTs can help bring about an inclusive public sphere where all citizens can participate equally in critical debate - without fear of repercussion - using a multitude of communication platforms. Most importantly, the new technologies allow civil society organisations, activists and ordinary citizens to circumvent geographical, financial, social and cultural barriers to voice and erode bottlenecks and monopoly control - including government control - over information and communication channels."

At the conclusion of this theoretical chapter is a list of factors that need to be considered in the use of ICTs for the promotion of democratic empowerment:

• Analyse structures determining access to resources and power, including the impact of gender and ethnicity.
• Understand the democratic context, particularly the state of democratic engagement in the country.
• Identify and support already-existing democratic practices and initiatives with the potential to empower citizens to make decisions about their daily lives and communities.
• Consider the ways in which people (already) communicate. Which channels and fora are used, by whom, and under which circumstances?
• Support civil society groups that are actors of change and function as watchdogs. ICTs can, APC argues, be used to support democratic practices and organisational structures by enhancing communication, networking, discussion, and consensus-building.
• Understand the media context. For instance, is the society media-rich and media-literate enough to constitute a public space for discussion that goes beyond narrow elites?
• Understand the ICT context, including not only infrastructure issues (e.g. bandwidth) but also the existence (or lack thereof) of an ICT culture. How widespread is a familiarity with and access to computers, mobile phones, and other ICTs?
• Consider the ways in which people understand and use technologies.
• Invest in existing technology sectors or media that is already familiar, if possible, and expand on those using combinations of old and new media.

The report then presents a context-specific description and analysis of the implications, possibilities and challenges of ICTs in advancing democracy in Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, which includes:

• A country-level analysis of the context that considers the factors that shape access to ICTs, including ICT infrastructure, costs of access, skills and capacity to use the technology, ICT policy, and policy changes.
• Factors that define and shape the democratic culture, including access to civil and political rights and other human rights more broadly (such as access to information and freedom of expression).
• Social-cultural norms and practices. For example, for each country, the report looks at access to education, the rural-urban divide, and how these shape different social and economic groups’ access to resources and the fruits of democracy. This analysis integrates a gender perspective.
• A discussion of the main opportunities and risks of supporting the use of ICTs for the advancement of democracy, as well as what kinds of interventions will be most strategic for advancing democracy and empowerment through the use of ICTs.

Two perspectives are central throughout the research and the analyses of the situation in the 3 countries: a rights-based perspective and the perspective of people living in poverty.

Regarding the state of democratic engagement, in brief, the APC study finds that governments in the 3 countries are currently not adequately equipped for - and in the cases of Uganda and Tanzania, are actually disinclined towards - critical engagement with civil society and public efforts to deliberate with government around issues of national importance. Furthermore, the country studies reveal that - with the exception of Kenya - "civil society structures are largely silent on critical policy and governments' debate and track record of stifling the emergence of a democratic society." Civil society in Uganda and Tanzania "lack sufficient awareness of processes for participation in a democratic society, as well as knowledge, access and capacity for strategic use of ICTs and of their constitutional rights." In all 3 countries, "stakeholders in general have low confidence in governments' will to consistently move towards greater democracy." In APC's estimation, the challenge lies in increasing civil society capacity and scope to use the political and public space to engage and influence their governments' decision-making and democratic practice. This entails both acting horizontally as citizens, with other civil society actors, as well as with government. "...[I]t is therefore imperative - a priority - that initiatives to advance democracy on the region and specifically in the three countries target both civil society and parliaments in their roles as representatives of citizens to stimulate the demand for democracy."

Regarding access to and effective use of ICTs in the 3 countries, in brief, the APC study finds various types of unevenness - across the rural/urban divide; between better educated men (with better access to resources) and lesser educated and often non-literate women; and between the rich and the economically poor. Across both urban and rural populations, the predominant tool for communication is the mobile phone, while access to the internet is largely limited to urban areas. APC attributes the slow growth of internet uptake and usage in the 3 countries to: the high cost of international internet connectivity; limited infrastructure, including fibre-optic cable and electricity in rural areas; low internet usage by government, schools, and health and agricultural institutions; low ICT literacy; a lack of local content on the internet; and low income levels. Several fibre-optic cable projects already underway and planned in the next 2 years may alleviate these changes to some extent. "In all these countries, access to broadband must be made a national priority - to reach even the smallest village - in order that the most marginalised geographic spaces and social groups can participate in national debate and deliberation on issues and decisions that impact on their day to day life." On the positive side, "[t]he rapid and wide spread of affordable mobile telephony points to the role of mobile phones as a digital bridge and a new mass medium. This includes the use of mobile phones for documentation of human rights violations of election processes and the use of SMS [short messaging service] for networking and mobilization."

In essence, the 3 country studies indicate that, while access remains a challenge, "it has increased sufficiently to render ICTs - used with caution and consideration of local contexts - one of the most powerful tools to promote democracy."

An excerpt from the "Recommendations and Conclusions" section of the report follows:

"APC recommends [that] development actors, including bilateral donors, ...establish the capacity [to] adopt an approach in ICT that is rooted in strategic communications and information and in the promotion of democracy and empowerment. ICTs are more than simply a tool. New communication technologies change the way in which people work and interact. They change the notion of business, trade, civil society, the media; they enable direct democracy and non-traditional forms of advocacy and engagement between citizens and the state.

APC suggests that the priority areas for any intervention should be focussed on building the capacity of both non-state and state actors to engage critically with the prevailing national and local level political and social-cultural practices. Naturally, building the capacity of all state actors is important, still APC would advice that support directed at non-state actors and parliaments will make the most viable sustainable contribution to strengthening democratic culture.

Strengthening demand for public participation, accountability and transparency has the potential to contribute to democratic practice over the longer term, while isolated efforts aimed at building the state's capacity risk being interrupted by changes in government and internal political processes. This does not decrease the importance of interventions targeting government for sustainable democratic development.

Three priority areas emerge:

• Raising awareness and building understanding of (i) the potential of ICTs, particularly in the context of the vast numbers of people who are now able to connect in some way through mobile phones; (ii) democratic principles and practice; and (iii) the potential of ICTs for advancing democracy.
• Institutional strengthening of CSOs [civil society organisations], NGOs [non-governmental organsations] and media practitioners to engage critically on issues of democracy, combined with institutional strengthening of state actors to enhance transparency and good governance.
• Strengthening community voice in public debate and decisionmaking and in maintaining transparency and accountability by government.

These strategic interventions above are primarily targeted at civil society actors. It remains important, however, for Sida to investigate modalities for impacting positively on the political and regulatory framework within which civil society actors operate. Thus, it is also important to consider how to support initiatives that build stronger and politically diverse parliaments that can exercise oversight and positively impact on their constituencies' capacity for informed participation in decisionmaking on issues that impact on their quality of life, and to have affordable access to the communication platforms and tools to do so.

The above three priorities are among seven recommendations which APC believes could frame development interventions over the next five to ten years. These are outlined in...[a matrix located on pages 62-66 of the report], along with strategic interventions, suggested activities and target stakeholder groups.

The remaining four recommendations do not stand completely isolated from the project of advancing democracy in the study countries. Stakeholders in the three countries also highlighted the importance of creating a policy and regulatory environment that will impact positively on both the ICT infrastructure and the social and political climate - including freedom of information and expression - for a more democratic society to evolve. This requires that government is included in development interventions and initiatives in order to enhance understanding of, advance and consolidate, democracy through state interventions.

For development partners, the challenge is to explore how to integrate elements that advance democracy and strategic communications using new and hybrid ICTs across all sectors of development support - in order to strategically harness ICTs for democracy."