Affecting Change from the Grassroots: Making a Difference without Power, Prestige, or Money

Abstract

Information and communication technology (ICT) is a potentially potent force for empowering marginal communities in developing countries. To be successful, ICT projects must involve local stakeholders, provide participatory forms of communication, and take advantage of local networks of relationships. Drawing from concepts originally presented in the management classic Influence Without Authority and the authors’ fieldwork, this chapter helps grassroots organizers to develop a key set of skills for choosing community development agendas, and provides a practical step-by-step guide for mobilizing diverse stakeholders in support of desired outcomes. This chapter showcases empowering social processes that can prepare marginalized individuals to take best advantage of a well-conceived ICT project. The goal of using ICT [information and communication technology] with marginalized groups is not to overcome a digital divide but rather to further a process of social inclusion. To accomplish this, it is necessary to focus on the transformation, not the technology. (Mark Warschauer — Technology and Social Inclusion: Rethinking the Digital Divide)