Poverty Reduction through Community-Compatible ICTs: Examples from Botswana and other African Countries

Abstract

ICTs are an integral part of both scientific and lay cultures. However, scientific know-how, whose significant features are high expertise and highly trained personnel, is dominant while traditional cultures are gradually receding. The use of ICTs shows great potential for creating access boundaries between the rich and poor. Out of this awareness, this chapter invites readers to rethink basic questions: What are ICTs? What have been their benefits for the rich and poor? While these questions cannot be answered in detail here, few important points are presented emphasizing that ICTs do not function in a societal vacuum. The type of access to ICTs that the poor need is not that which only enables them to be like others in using ICTs. They, much more than other sectors of society, have an increasing need to effectively manage their lives, and community-compatible ICTs can be employed for this purpose.