Comfort ( http://www.dadamac.net/network/kazanka-comfort ) has posted a response with reference to - ICTD2010 - Research needs from a developing world perspective  http://dadamac.posterous.com/ictd2010-research-needs-from-a-developing-wor

My dreams of ICT4D (at http://www.pre-conferenceictd2010.org/ then link to ICT4D research needs)

by Kazanka Comfort - Nigeria

When I travel to South Africa, Europe or the other parts of the world I carry in my head and mind vivid pictures from my rural village near Kafanchan, Nigeria. What I see of ICT4D in these strange lands are a far cry from what I know it to be in my neck of the woods. In my minds eye, I can see and hear my neighbour, Zigwai, as she straps her 2year-old on her back and shares a bit of boiled tapioca with the child so that she can chat away, as her mom treks the 4 odd kilometers to the market. And I ask what has ICT4D done, can do, will do for her? I am not asking that ICT4D will deny her the bonding experienced when she straps little Atsen on her back, am not asking that it should stop her from walking 4km to the market. These features of her life are not what bothers her, or me; it is how ICT4D removes the anxiety of when/ where the next meal for her family will come from, the anxiety of her mud hut been dissolved away in the unprecented torrential downpours, the anxiety of coping with her bed-ridden mother who has Parkinson’s, the anxiety of getting some money to make a phone call to enquire after the health of her younger sister who lives far away in the capital city, the anxiety………………… anxiety of meeting the basic necessities of life

For Zigwai, little Atsen and myself, ICT4D holds promise; it says our anxieties can be lessened, that life can indeed still be lived fully in a rural village. My organization, Fantsuam Foundation, has been pushing the frontiers of the last mile of connectivity using solar backed connectivity solutions, low powered PCs and mobile technology that enables use of VOIP. ICT4D is an enabler, but sometimes it seems to take forever for its impact to reach my neighbour and her baby. In my travels, I have seen the possibilities of ICT4D, I have become its conduit, and that for me, is a lot of responsibility. I want Zigwai to retain those unique characteristic that makes her such a strong rural Nigerian woman while taking away those anxieties she has about basic issues of livelihood: food, health and shelter. Within the context of GRACE, I can see this dream coming to life, making life the fun it is meant to be with fewer anxieties about the basic necessities.