Modelling Citizen Engagement - Informing Digital Futures: Strategies for Citizen Engagement - page 114

informed decision about going to market (e.g. in the Nepal Wireless and
Jhai Foundation cases). Such tangible benefits of using technology stimu-
late the enthusiasm of users to find further ways of exploiting the ICT
capabilities. This engagement has led to the creation of virtual outlets
which use the Internet to develop opportunities to trade in new markets. In
the Jhai Foundation case this means that local coffee produced in Laos is
now marketed and sold across the globe. In Nepal, yak farmers in very re-
mote areas now use electronic communications to buy and sell animals.
Such successes have given added impetus to initiatives to develop low cost
ICTs, affordable to poor communities.
Improvements in community relations are also evident in increased so-
cial inclusion and community cohesion, as is illustrated in the communities
which host the Jhai Foundation and the Macatawa Area Coordinating
Council respectively.
'America Speaks' and the Canadian National Forum on Health are two
examples from the case studies of initiatives that currently affect policies
directly, achieving the joining up of policy, strategy and the use of ICTs.
These programmes have brought together physically both policy-shapers
and citizens, and used ICTs to facilitate their deliberations and decision-
making. This approach has been adopted in the UK for consultations over
the National Health Service that were held in four pilot locations between
September-October 2005. One thousand people took part in an NHS con-
sultation at the Birmingham International Convention Centre at the end of
October 2005 adopting a similar approach to that of 'America Speaks'
(BBC 2005).
The full potential of ICTs as a key enabler of citizen engagement has
yet to be fully demonstrated, and in many studies, e.g. Madrid Participa,
electronic methods are seen as just one of the means available to citizens to
be involved in democracy.
Sustainability of the results of the initiatives depends on a number of
variables, including adequate funding , the commitment and support of
community leaders , the availability and reliability of technological
equipment and expertise and, most importantly, a political and cultural
environment which supports participation . Informed understanding of
the capability of the technology and acceptance of the rights of citizens to
pursue appropriate means of improving their daily lives are also key fac-
tors in sustainability. Some of the initiatives described in the case studies
have taken explicit steps to become sustainable. For example, K-Net is
owned and managed by the local community. Although external funding
has contributed to the success of the initiative, it is able to generate its own
income by charging users (including the Canadian Government) for its
services. Other initiatives such as Nepal Wireless, and the Jhai Foundation