Citizen Engagement in Practice - Informing Digital Futures: Strategies for Citizen Engagement - page 67

non-Aboriginal peoples ” which enables aboriginal and non-aboriginal
people of Canada to have open and direct communication with each other
(http://www.turning-point.ca).
Sustainability, balance and respect are important values to the KO First
Nations people which have influenced the way in which K-Net has devel-
oped. The involvement and commitment of the tribal chiefs and leaders
has been instrumental in the success of K-Net. Evolution of the network
and its services takes place through careful negotiation and recognised
consultations. Each community is expected to provide funding and re-
sources for use of the network. The initiative has delivered a wide range of
benefits to the communities and to individuals, and it has also been influ-
ential in providing a model of good practice of community ICT develop-
ment, and in influencing federal telecommunications policy within Canada
(Ramirez et al. 2004).
4.4.3 Reflect ICTs Project - Pilots in Uganda and India
We have selected two pilots for analysis from the Reflect ICTs project car-
ried out by ActionAid, a Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO) which
operates internationally. ActionAid is explicitly committed to improving
the life chances of the poorest people in the world. This project has been
sponsoring participative programmes of information gathering and assess-
ment in Uganda, Burundi and India (Beardon 2005). The project focuses
on poor people, recognizing that they are particularly likely to be women,
the very old and very young, and internally displaced individuals. These
people have the least access to reliable and timely information which
would help them to increase their life chances and quality of life.
Unusually for participation projects, the documentation published by
ActionAid provides extensive description of the participative processes.
This includes a clear statement of the principles and approach underpin-
ning the project. “ New technology needs to be rooted in the existing, and
new technologies need to make sense in terms of people's own coping
strategies. In terms of ICT4D (ICT projects for development in Africa) ,
this means applying new technologies to meet people's expressed needs
and to tie in with their existing motivations, not an end in itself .” The
stated aim of the project as a whole is “ not to provide ICTs to people. It is
to build people's capacity to identify and articulate their information
needs, to consult experts and information providers, to hold people ac-
countable, to make demands, to be able to access, share and act on infor-
mation in the long term ” (Beardon 2005).