Information Society Watch

2006, Richard Duncombe, Institute for Development Policy and Management

This paper seeks to provide a contribution to theorising ICT and development by applying a ‘livelihoods approach’ as a suitable framework of analysis, taking rural micro enterprise as an important potential area of ICT application in a developing country context. The livelihoods framework has been chosen because it employs, at its centre, a broad and systematic analysis of poverty. Rural micro enterprise has been selected as a topic for analysis because it represents a viable route out of poverty by providing increased and more diversified income streams for poor households. The paper highlights how information systems concepts can be integrated into the livelihoods framework in order to aid analysis. A country case study is presented to demonstrate how the framework can be applied, and some key questions are raised concerning the application of the framework as research tool (Author).

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