Grameen Foundation USA / World Links

Grameen Foundation USA and World Links
http://www.gfusa.org/ and http://www.world-links.org/

Student participants: Vijay Dakshinamoorthy, Tanuka Roy, Aaron Dombrowski, Noor Ali-Hasan, Erika Doyle, Maurice Solomon, Rasika Ramesh (F04 and W05 terms)

Also, Amy Anderson (F04), Jason Rodriguez (F04) and Stephen Suryo (W05).

Timeline: Fall 2004 and Winter 2005

Background: In the ten years since the information kiosk (or “telecenter”) movement began, governments and international not-for-profit organizations have experimented with the kiosks to help poor communities in the developing world gain access to information and communication technologies (ICTs), but participation of the private sector has been limited until recently. The private sector was not greatly interested in investing in kiosks because of the opaque telecom systems in such countries, and doubt about the profitability of doing business in low-income communities. This state of affairs is changing. Governments in many developing countries are making market-oriented reforms, in which they privatize and deregulate the telecommunications sector and fashion transparent regulatory frameworks. As a result, private sector kiosks are spreading at a fast pace in many urban areas of the developing world.

These kiosks are fulfilling an enormous demand in urban low-income areas for ICT services and they are doing it at a reasonable cost. Can they be expanded to rural and low-income areas in a financially sustainable manner? Are they an effective way of enhancing Government and international organization development programs? What are the costs and benefits of operating village-based kiosks? What major factors affect financial performance?

There have been some advancements in both the field of monitoring and evaluating social impact through Social Return on Investment (SROI) and applying the Balance Scorecard approach to development efforts, as well as studies on the Internet kiosk phenomenon. However, these two trends have yet to intersect and create an applicable tool for quantifying the success and impacts of the services being delivered through this new model. This Grameen research project is designed to create such a tool.

Research Project: As research assistants for the Grameen Foundation USA’s Monitoring and Evaluating Information Kiosks project, the School of Information students involved in the project learned how to develop and apply a metrics for monitoring and evaluating the costs and benefits of village information kiosks. The students gained an understanding of the social and economic considerations involved in the success and failures of a major worldwide movement in the field of ‘ICT for D’ (information and communication technologies for development).

In particular, the project involved producing case studies on ‘best in class’ examples of organizations performing successful monitoring and evaluation of ICT kiosks in developing regions of the world. Using techniques in SROI (Social Return on Investment) the students identified which organizations were doing the best work, and focused on World Links as a prime example.

Deliverables: For a full description of their work and deliverables, see the linked PowerPoint presentation and the World Links case study attached below.