Access to and use of information in Mukuru and Kangundo digital villages, Kenya

Abstract

The Kenya government, in its quest to increase access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and ensure that rural communities have access to information, have come up with Digital Villages Project (DVP) in partnership with other stakeholders. Whilst the motive behind the DVP is to increase information accessibility there is little to show that the same has been achieved. Accordingly, this study investigated access to and use of information by local communities in Mukuru and Kangundo digital villages. The study sought to determine the information needs of the local communities, establish the factors influencing the choice of information source, find out the extent to which Mukuru and Kangundo digital villages are used by the communities to access information and examine the factors affecting the use and access of information in Mukuru and Kangundo digital villages. The study was informed by information chain model whose key elements: local content, economic resources, social resources and action resources formed the basis for the research. The study was guided by qualitative research approach with purposive sampling technique being used to identify the two digital villages and the respondents under the study. Data was collected from a sample size of 50 respondents consisting of 2 managers of the digital villages, 7 staff members, 40 users and 1 key informant using interview method. Observation and documentary analysis were used as secondary data collection method. Data analysis was done qualitatively and presented using direct excerpts, narrative explanations and supported by figures and tables. Findings show that local communities require all kinds of information in their day to day life with particular emphasis on agricultural and health information. However, there is a general observation that digital villages are not being used by local communities to access this information due to lack of technological knowhow, shortage of finances and the social perception of the digital villages. The study recommends review of the current digital villages‘ model in order to enhance their usage as a source of information. This includes collaborating with local institutions to generate local content so as to meet the needs of local communities, marketing of digital villages as a source of information and improving quality of services offered in the digital villages. The study concluded that, access and use of information in the digital villages should be enhanced by addressing the challenges and adopting a new framework of implementation proposed under this study