Grant Amount: US$ 9,646.88

Keywords: ACCESS, POLICY, RURAL, URBAN, PHILIPPINES

Geographic coverage: Philippines

Objective

The objective of this project is to assess the relevance and impact of public policy and private strategy on access to information and communications technology (ICT) tools within poor communities in the Philippines.

Research context

Access to information through ICTs can make an important contribution to sustaining and developing the lives of the urban and rural poor. While many ICT programmes are shaped by government policies and private sector strategies, empirical evidence on the nature and effects of these policies and strategies is lacking. This project addresses this problem by exploring the diffusion of ICTs to poor communities in the Philippines. The project assesses the relevance and impact of ICT diffusion by focusing on the gaps between policy and strategy and the livelihood needs of poor communities.

Target beneficiaries

The beneficiaries of this project are poor communities who are in need of access to ICTs, government regulatory officials and policy makers working on improving universal access to ICTs, corporate strategic planners who want to tap potential markets in marginalized communities, and local government units and community organizations who want to use ICTs in development projects.

Output

The project output is a handbook for use by government policy makers, advisers, advocacy groups and private sector entities.

Research results and outcomes

This research project investigated the extent to which people have access to ICTs, the characteristics of people who use ICTs, and how and for what ends ICTs are used. The project conducted household surveys in urban and rural barangays in Puerto Princesa City. The research defined key demographic traits in the communities and how they influenced ICT use. Although the survey areas were different in terms of infrastructure, size, topography and economy, demographics such as income, gender, education level and age were fairly consistent. Corresponding to this, findings were similar in both survey areas.

The study showed that awareness of the ICT benefits was the primary factor effecting ICT use. The move from knowledge of an application, such as email and the Internet, to actually trying them was seen to be effected by the level of education. The study clearly showed people with higher education tend to use and value ICTs more. There was also a significant relationship between education level and the perceived need for more ICT of services, particularly in the areas of work and study.

Of those people surveyed who knew how to use a computer many did not possess a computer of their own. This suggests that the majority of users have access to computers through schools, offices, public Internet cafes or computer rental shops. Furthermore, of the respondents who had email accounts, 64 percent said their office or school provided their account. The remainder had a free Internet-based account. This indicates the important role organizations (e.g. schools, workplaces, community organizations) play in providing access to ICTs. The study shows that household ownership of an ICT tool such as a personal computer did not necessarily indicate that everyone in the household knew how to operate it, although they were more likely to learn compared to those who do not have a PC in the house.

Findings from the survey did not indicate significant differences between females and males in ICT use, with the exception that more women use ICTs such as mobile phones and email. This was found to be consistent with other studies.

The study highlights that policy makers need to consider the different ways by which people manage their limitations to access and the implications of how people send and retrieve information. To prevent information and knowledge-gaps from widening, the project suggests integrating traditional models of communication such as community radio, church bells and two-way radios with more modern ICTs like the Internet and cellular technologies. The project also stresses the value social intermediaries play in bridging the information divide. Institutions such as schools, the workplace and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) offer important access points for individuals. Informal networks of friends and family also play an important role in building awareness and distributing knowledge.

The project produced a handbook entitled Bridging the Information Divide: A Philippine Guidebook on ICTs for Development (http://www.apdip.net/documents/policy/misc/ph/bridging-info.pdf) and disseminated it to policy makers, NGOs and public administration students working on information and knowledge management.

Project Duration

Start Date: March 2002
End Date: July 2003
Total Duration: 17 Months

Contact information

Erwin A. Alampay, PhD, Assistant Professor
The National College of Public Administration and Governance
University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City 1101, Philippines
Telephone: +63 2 928 5411
Fax: +63 2 928 3861
Email: erwin_alampay@yahoo.com

Websites

http://www.upd.edu.ph/~ncpag/
http://www.apdip.net/documents/policy/misc/ph/bridging-info.pdf