Final Technical Report
June 2003

Project Title: “Evaluating the Impact of Universal Access Models,
Strategies and Policies in ICTs on Poor communities in the Philippines.”

Research Institutions
National College of Public Administration and Governance,
University of the Philippines
and the
Center for Regulation and Competition Institute for Development Policy and Management (IDPM),
University of Manchester.

Research Team:
Prof. Erwin A. Alampay, Project Leader
Dr. Richard Heeks, Research Consultant
Mr. Peter Paul Soliva, Lead Research Assistant
Mr. Leo Justimbaste, Carmona Survey Coordinator
Ms. Carolyn Tenedero, Carmona Surveyor
Ms. Charish Matic, Carmona Surveyor
Ms. Bing Peña, Puerto Princesa Survey coordinator
Ms. Jo Viacrucis, Puerto Princesa Surveyor
Ms. Timotea Jamito , Puerto Princesa Surveyor
Ms. Kristine Follosco, data encoder and researcher
Ms. Jennifer Go, data encoder and researcher

Synthesis:

Aggregated national statistics on information and communication technologies (ICTs) do not clearly show who benefits from information communication technologies (ICTs) and how they benefit from it. Furthermore, they don't give a good picture of who remains disadvantaged and why they are disadvantaged. The impact of universal access policies and strategies to access ICTs is best seen from the ground, and this is the primary objective of this research.

The research applied Amartya Sen's "capabilities approach" to the access and use of ICTs. An issue raised by the Capabilities Approach is that while access to a basic good, in this case information and communication technologies (ICTs), is a prerequisite to its usage, individual differences, capabilities and choice also play a role on the use, value and application of these goods. As such, the research investigated the extent to which people have access to ICTs, the characteristics of people who make use of it, and how and for what ends they are utilized. Based on household surveys conducted in urban and rural barangays in Puerto Princesa City, it analyzed access beyond the traditional method of considering teledensities and number of Internet service providers (ISPs), and instead focused on key demographic traits in a community and how these influenced their capabilities, functioning and freedoms with respect to ICT use.

Field surveys were conducted in two areas, Carmona, Cavite and Puerto Princesa City, Palawan. The two sites were very different ( in terms of modern infrastructure, size, topography, kind of economy, etc.), and their differences highlighted many issues that have to be considered in developing future policies with regard to the use and access to ICTs in the Philippines. However, while they were different, some of the findings that pertain to demographic issues with respect to access, such as income, gender, educational attainment, urban-rural differences, and age were somewhat consistent (please refer to attached paper which will be presented in a national conference in July). The most significant factor identified has been educational attainment. People with higher education tend to use and value ICTs more. As far as gender is concerned, findings from the survey reveal that there are no significant differences between males and females as far as ICT use, and in fact, more women actually use ICTs such as cellular phones, and email. This is consistent with and supported by other reports, such as field reports from pilot multi-purpose telecenter centers in Mindanao, and surveys by the Ateneo on the youth's use of ICTs. In both reports, women have been show to be on equal footing with the men as far as utilization of ICT resources.

Results from the survey, expert interviews and focus group discussion reveal the importance of considering the role of alternative information systems in the communities. Examples of these alternative systems include the use of community radio, church bells, roving teams in emergencies, sending letters through friends, two-way radios, AM radio (for announcements and messages).

Another revealing finding are the different levels of access (access ladder) and the increasing importance of ICTs given the increased mobility of people, either to look for jobs or to study. The impact of new ICTs, such as cellular phones, was also evident in the resulting glut of landline telephones. There was also very low access and knowledge about computers, emailing and the Internet. What was noteworthy, was the significant relationship educational attainment had with the use and perceived need for this kinds of services, especially for their work.

Ownership of an ICT does not guarantee that a everyone in the household knows how to operate it, and this is true, as well, with personal computers (PC). However, the ownership of a PC does make a person more likely to know how to use a computer compared to those who did not have a PC in the house. But, most people surveyed who knew how to use a computer didn't possess a computer of their own. This suggests that a majority have access to computers through schools, the office, or public internet cafes or computer rental shops.

Awareness of computer programs and what it could do is crucial before people actually attempt to use them. However, only a slight majority of those who know of email and the Internet actually possess an email account or have tried using the Internet. As mentioned previously, one significant factor in moving from knowledge of an application, like email and the Internet, to actually trying them out is the level of education. Furthermore, of the respondents which say they have email accounts, a majority (64%) said their account is provided by their office or school and the remainder say they have an Internet-based account (e.g. yahoo, hotmail). This indicates the important role organizations (e.g. schools, workplaces, community organizations) can play in connecting the digitally excluded.

It is important, therefore, for policy-makers to look into the different ways by which people manage their limitations to access. At the same time, they must consider its implications on how people send and retrieve information that are crucial for governance and development. In this case, the role of indigenous and alternative models of communication and its integration with more modern ICTs like the Internet and cellular technologies may yet prove useful in preventing information and knowledge-gaps from widening. Likewise, the role of social intermediaries, be it through institutions like schools and NGOs, or informally through friends and family, for bridging the information divide also needs to be stressed.

The project remains within budget (Refer to accounting breakdown and Financial Report in Attachment E: Forms 1-3) and is relatively on schedule despite the late start due to the late release of the funds (1st release). Part of the savings were connected to site selection for the survey. Only one survey site, Puerto Princesa, required air fare while Carmona, on the other hand, was accessible by land. With the savings for local travel, the research intends to look at local models being piloted by government and non-government organizations around the country (if the weather permits). In particular the research intends to look at the telecenters in Butuan (DOST), Cebu (E-barangay) and Batanes (Ph-Domain), and the network of public-school based telecenters developed by FIT-Ed. Lessons from these initial foray into rural access will be incorporated into the handbook being developed as part of this project.

Project Title: “Evaluating the Impact of Universal Access Models, Strategies and Policies in ICTs on Poor communities in the Philippines.”

I. Project Objectives:

General Objective: to assess the relevance and the impact of public policy and private strategy on access to ICTs within poor communities.

Specific Objectives:

1.       to map current government policies and private sector provider strategies of relevance to the provision of universal service to ICTs in the Philippines

2.       to map the gap between policy/strategy as stated and policy/strategy as implemented in the provision of ICTs in two areas of the Philippines

3.       to map the access to and impact of ICT-based information on livelihoods of two poor communities, and of sub-groups within those communities

4.       to map the gap between policy/strategy as stated and the livelihoods and needs of two poor communities, as reflected in current access to and use of information and ICTs within those communities.

5.       on the basis of field observation, to develop the notion of ‘universal access’ beyond the current technical focus of physical and financial access, to incorporate other social, economic and cultural resources that affect access to and use of information; and to develop the notion of ‘universal access’ beyond the current homogenized assumptions, to incorporate differentiated intra-community and intra-household models (e.g. along lines of social group, gender and age).

II. Project Implementation

The first technical report, primarily dealt with the initial phase of the research. This involved developing the instrument, pilot testing, and preparation and entry into the survey sites.

The second phase of the research, which is detailed here, involves primarily the completion of the field survey, the conduct of expert interviews, and the dissemination of the research findings based on the surveys conducted.

The last phase of the project (the next two months) will no longer be focused on the research per se, but will involve mainly the preparation and write-up of the handbook for designing an integrated community information system.

1. Completion of survey

Although the Puerto Princesa survey was started later, it was actually completed ahead of the Carmona survey. The surveys were all submitted by mid-November, and the final encoding and cleaning of the data into SPSS was finished by January 4, 2003.

2. Research Dissemination

There was on only one planned dissemination venue based on the original proposal, but over the course of the project, we would have actually been able to present the findings in five (5) major conferences and meetings.

1. NCPAG International Conference (October 21-23, 2002), Manila Hotel- the interim findings based on partial results that came from the survey was presented through a poster presentation.

2. UNESCAP Experts group meeting (January 28-30, 2003), Bangkok, Thailand - the initial findings based on the completed survey data was presented in the meeting, which aimed to outline some strategies for using ICTs in rural poverty reduction.

3. PAN-Asia All Partner's meeting in Vientiane, Laos (March 2-8, 2003) - demographic variables that could potentially affect access to ICTs were presented in the conference. In particular, it highlighted empirical results that clearly outlines the challenges that remain with respect to bridging the digital divides within Philippines society.

4. National Academy for Science and Technology (NAST) Conference - July 9-10, 2003 - The paper explores the application of Sen's Capability Approach with respect to Universal Access to ICTs, and this is the first time that the research uses non-parametric measure on the survey data in order to determine, whether the tends and variables as presented before actually have any significant statistical results.

5. Center for Regulation and Competition (CRC) International Conference, October 13-15, 2003 - The paper to be presented in October will discuss the impact of Universal access policies and strategies on the poor. This paper will already include the discussion of key national policies and synthesize this with the key findings of the field research.

The last major component of the dissemination plan is the creation of a handbook which will be distributed to local government units, non-governmental organizations (NGO), and people's organizations. The handbook will contain some short primers on the importance information and information systems in development, and ways for tapping local resources and expertise in order to help bridge the information divide.

3. Expert Interviews

Expert Interviews were conducted with officers and officials from various government agencies, the private sector, and NGOs directly involved in applying ICTs for development.

The following were the experts interviewed since the last report:

At present, the interviews have not yet been completely encoded, and this is among the current tasks of the project's research assistants. Inputs from the experts will be included in the handbook, and incorporated in the paper to be presented in October. It will also be integrated into the final report that will map the gap between policy/strategy versus the real needs of the two communities investigated in the research.

III. New Research Findings: (Please refer to attached research paper entitled "Using the Capabilities Approach to analyze access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) by the poor")

IV. Administrative Matters

Accounting corrections - There was an error in the first financial report submitted, due to a mistake in the addition of the items. The expenses from April 1- September 28 was actually Php 188,453.57 and not Php 187,143.37. As such, the balance forwarded should be Php 52,141.35 and not Php 53,451.55.

Changes in Methodology - A huge part of the current savings in the expenditure, has to do with the fact that one area selected (Carmona, Cavite) did not entail plane travels because it was accessible by land. As such, of the seven round-trip tickets in the original proposal, only three (3), have thus far been used. However, at present, the team has identified four key telecenter projects/initiatives in different parts of the country as a result of the expert interviews.

It includes:
a) DOST's four telecenter pilot project in Mindanao
b) FIT-Ed's public school-based telecenter project in cooperation with Coca-Cola Foundation.
c) The E-barangay project in Cebu
d) Ph-Domain Foundation's rural access projects through NGOs, one of which is located in Batanes using wireless and VSAT technologies

These models can be integrated in the planned handbook being developed. Therefore, even though this was not in the original proposal, the research team intends to use the balance for field expenses and local travel, and FGDs for the documentation and analysis of these local models/strategies, as it is within the coverage of the main objectives of the research. An action workshop has already been scheduled on June 26-27 to discuss the experiences of the Multi-purpose Community Telecenters (MCT) at Cagayan de Oro City.

As far as the remaining schedule of the project is concerned, the content of the handbook is partially finished, and it incorporates some of the main findings of the research . If ever delays should arise that will require some extension in the project it will primarily be in the printing and dissemination of the handbook. The team intends to include in its dissemination plan, the distribution of some copies of the handbook in the conference to be held in October in Manila.