Creating Capacity for Inclusive InnovationInsights from an International Action Research Project with Agricultural Communities of Practice

Gordon A. Gow

Associate Professor, Academic Director

Communications and Technology Graduate Program

University of Alberta

@PTCouncil #PTC18

An enduring challenge for ICT4D

“Although problems of access and cost continue to present barriers to use, mobile communication isproviding a new basis for entrepreneurship and social innovation. The complex challenge of enablingpeople to acquire the knowledge essential for developing innovative applications that are responsiveto their local needs, however, is being neglected.”

-Mansell (2012)

“Technology-centric studies place the technology at the center of the intervention by givingprominence to technical features and capabilities. … However, if community development is aprimary objective, the needs of the community have to be given higher priority than the technology.”

-Dodson, et al., (2012)

“As soon as there is some human capacity that can be amplified by technology, and if there ispositive intent, a virtuous spiral of change can be initiated. This process starts with a focus onindividuals … There are many roles required in this context, and one of them has been put forwardtime after time: the champion role”

-Marais (2016)

@PTCouncil #PTC18

Overview

• Project history & context

• Conceptual cornerstones

• Technology stewardship model

• Early pilot studies

• 2016 training course

• Next steps

@PTCouncil #PTC18

Sri Lanka | Country Profile

• Southern Asia island

• 65610 sq km

• 20.8-million population

• Sinhala, Tamil, English

• Buddhism, Hindu, Islam, Christian

• UN-HDI ranking: 73 (‘high’)

• per capita income $3924 (USD)

• ‘lower middle income’ country

• extreme poverty ‘low’

• moderate poverty ‘challenge’

• Agricultural facts:

• 32.7% employed (2010)

• 8.7% of GDP (2015)

• e-Agriculture strategy(?)

@PTCouncil #PTC18

Source: ITU ICT Development Index 2016

@PTCouncil #PTC18

E-agriculture: “the conceptualization, design, development, evaluation and application of

innovative ways to use ICTs in the rural domain, with primary focus on agriculture”

rapid growth of mobile phone ownership rapid growth of mobile/fixed broadband

extension &

advisory

service

sustainable

farming

practices

disaster

management

& early

warning

enhanced

market access

food safety &

traceability

access to

financial

services

new business

opportunities

implementing

regulations

Workforce and capacity developmenteducation and training

skills & competencies

digital literacy

Source: ITU-FAO E-agriculture Strategy Guide 2016

@PTCouncil #PTC18

Cornerstones of the project

• Strengthen Communities of Practice• 'groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in this

area by interacting on an ongoing basis' (Wenger, et al., 2009, p, 4)

• Through enhanced ‘informational capabilities’• informational capabilities refer to a person‘s positive freedom to use ICTs within the institutional and socio- economic setup of a society

(Gigler, 2011, p. 8)

• Within a Choice Framework• choice as empowerment: ‘how individuals can, with the help of their resource portfolios, negotiate a social structure in order to achieve, by

means of their active choices, the development outcomes they aspire to.’ (Kleine, 2013, p. 45)

• Promoting inclusive innovation• ‘the means by which new goods and services are developed for and/or by those who have been excluded from the development

mainstream; particularly the billions living on lowest incomes.’ (Heeks, 2013)

@PTCouncil #PTC18

Technology stewardship

[The] practice of working the relationship between technology and social practices is called ‘technology

stewardship’. ... [it is] a way of adopting ‘a community’s perspective to help a community choose, configure,

and use technologies to best suit its needs.’ In paying attention to a community’s perspective on its choice of

technologies ‘stewarding attends both to what happens spontaneously and what can happen purposefully, by

plan and by cultivation of insights into what actually works.’

Nancy White, Beth Kanter, Partha Sarker, Oreoluwa Somolu, Beverly Trayner, Brenda

Zulu and Lucie Lamoureux (2007) Editorial. Stewarding technologies for collaboration,

community building and knowledge sharing in development KM4D Journal 1(2): 2-4

www.km4dev.org/journal

@PTCouncil #PTC18

The Steward's Role: Enhancing Choice

• Existence of choice

• mobile phones and open source platforms, such as FLSMS, Ushahidi, Freedom Fone; mobile phones 70+ per cent penetration in SriLanka; 95% cellular coverage

• Sense of choice

• studies show low levels of awareness of voice or SMS-based value-added services for agricultural information (e.g., Toll Free Advisory Service, Dialog Tradenet) among farmers in Sri Lanka

• Use of choice

• ‘Even though a majority of farmers own mobile phones, only a few farmers have yet started using them efficiently for agriculture and other commercial purposes.’ (Dissanayeke & Wanigasundera, 2014)

• Achievement of choice• Achievement of choice refers to whether the outcome matches the choice expressed (Kleine, p. 46); a related way to express this is to

say that achievement of choice is being able to report on outcomes, highlight success, understand failure, and ultimately transforming social practices in the community thru the integration of choice in discourse and decision making.

@PTCouncil #PTC18

Technology stewardship model

• Technology stewards serve as leaders in the community, a liaison with research team, and a peer with other technology stewards

• Requires a diverse skill set:

• Community engagement and participatory design

• Technology training and digital literacy skills

• Evaluation, assessment and reporting

• Leadership and support

@PTCouncil #PTC18

Technology

Stewardship

training

community

engagement

methods and

participatory

design

technology

training and

rapid

prototyping

evaluation,

impact

assessment and

reporting

leadership and

support skills

training

community campaign

community campaign

community campaign

community campaign

community campaign

community campaign

Ca

se S

tud

ies

Campaign-based Action Research

@PTCouncil #PTC18

Data Collection

Pre-campaign

interviews

Training session

Baseline survey with

communities

Weekly report from

steward and sponsor

Weekly data archive

of platform usage

Post-campaign

interviews

Community meeting

Continued use

Pre-campaign Campaign Post-campaign

@PTCouncil #PTC18

Short term outcome questions

• Is the steward able to successfully plan and carry out an ICT campaign with their community?

• Does the campaign enhance the community’s sense of choice with respect to the use of ICT?

• What impact did the campaign have on existing social practices and outcomes with respect to the goal? (e.g., cost reduction, improved information sharing within the community)

• What the steward able to effectively assess, recognize, and report success (and understand failure) with respect to the campaign outcome?

@PTCouncil #PTC18

Long term outcome questions

• Do community members approach the steward with other ideas for ICT use?

• Is the community active in developing innovative campaigns with the help of the steward?

• Do campaigns make a difference in the awareness and general level of use of ICT within the community?

• Do we see an emergence of a community of practice of stewards?

• Does the presence of a steward enhance the range of choice for ICT adoption and use within these communities?

@PTCouncil #PTC18

Early Pilots (2014-2015)

DOEA north• technology steward active with the community

• Sent over 700 messages during pilot study period (4 mo)

DOEA south • technology stewards unable to engage community members;

• community & sponsor remained very interested

Rangiri Radio• Technology steward received full support of radio station;

• Initially intended as enhancement for farm radio

Janathakshan• Multiple challenges faced by technology steward;

- Low levels of prior use of text messaging, Latin-script exclusion

- Social and economic challenges in region post-war

@PTCouncil #PTC18

Initial findings

• technology stewards can make community aware of choice and help them to include it in deliberations related to innovation with communication practices;

• technology use remains hindered by usability, contextual and cost factors;

• Communities have varying levels of readiness, interest, and commitment

• the steward’s role in effective evaluation and reporting on pilot outcomes is vital for understanding the possibilities and limitations of ICT adoption and use within the community;

• skills and competencies must go beyond tech training to include community engagement, evaluation, leadership with ICT use;

• stewardship approach shows promise for promoting inclusive innovation with agriculture workforce;

• what if we were to train a cohort of practitioners in principles and skill sets associated with technology stewardship?

@PTCouncil #PTC18

Technology Stewardship Training Course

• Sri Lanka Department of Export Agriculture

• In-Service Training Centre, Matale

• 20 participants registered and attended:

• Asst. Directors (district offices)

• Research and Development Assistants

• Extension Field Officers

• Agricultural Instructors

@PTCouncil #PTC18

Course Format

• Two day classroom-based (12 hours)

• Day one:

• Principles and Practices of Technology Stewardship

• Community engagement & participatory design

• Day Two:

• Rapid Prototyping and technology training

• Evaluation, assessment, and reporting

@PTCouncil #PTC18

@PTCouncil #PTC18

@PTCouncil #PTC18

@PTCouncil #PTC18

@PTCouncil #PTC18

@PTCouncil #PTC18

@PTCouncil #PTC18

@PTCouncil #PTC18

Course Participation & Feedback

• 20 participants

• 17 from Dept. of Export Agriculture

• 2 Provincial Dept. of Agriculture-Central Province

• 1 Agricultural Department (U. Peradeniya)

• Mostly male (1 female)

• 55% in 36-45 yrs age range

• 75% Bachelor’s degree or higher

@PTCouncil #PTC18

Course Evaluation Results

@PTCouncil #PTC18

Course Evaluation Results (cont’d)

@PTCouncil #PTC18

Post-workshop: Individual Action Plans (IAPs)

• 8/15 participants intended to plan a campaign within 60 days of the workshop

• 5/8 of those planned to begin immediately

• 13/15 desire ongoing support from workshop team members in each of the training areas: community engagement, prototyping, evaluation;

• 2 requested a workshop for their division staff members

• 2 requested additional technical support and “financial guidance”

• 14/15 gave permission for workshop team to followup

• Planning began for one campaign then faltered; participants faced technical and organizational obstacles to fulfilling their IAPs

@PTCouncil #PTC18

Next steps

• Link the campaign/IAP component to course completion

• Provide more flexibility for IAP component for participants

• Expand range of prototyping activities beyond introductory SMS module;

• Partnering with PGIA @ University of Peradeniya to introduce a short course for practitioners; grad student involvement;

• Interest from Dept. of Export Agriculture to expand training to a larger cohort of Extension Officers as technology stewards;

• Develop a set of case studies and report on results; continue longitudinal research to follow course graduates;

• Replicating the workshop with FFA at University of West Indies in early 2018;

• Identify and establish collaborations with partners in other regions (e.g., Oceania) to continue action research on technology stewardship and related training programs;