This book provides new empirical evidence on access to and use of ICTs and their effect on poor households in four East African countries--Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda--along with experiences from other countries in Southern Africa. "ICT Pathways to Poverty Reduction" presents a conceptual framework to analyze how poverty dynamics change over time and to shed light on whether ICT access benefits the poor as well as the not-so-poor. Overall, the study concludes that ICTs make a difference to the livelihoods of the poor and contribute to reducing both financial and non-financial dimensions of poverty.Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been proven to promote economic growth, but do we know that ICTs can reduce poverty? This book addresses the questions: Under what conditions do women benefit economically from using ICTs? How are the livelihoods of rural users affected? Which ICTs are being used by low-income entrepreneurs? "ICT Pathways to Poverty Reduction" is essential reading for policymakers, researchers, and academics in international development or ICT for development, as well as staff of development agencies working on livelihoods for the poor.

With governance high on the agenda in Africa, many governments are using information and communications technologies (ICTs) to introduce innovations in their structure, practices and capacities as well as in the ways they use human capital and deliver services to citizens. But the potential for e-governance in Africa remains largely unexploited. Progress requires infrastructure improvement, the enactment of appropriate laws and policies, and capacity and content development. This book addresses the lack of evidence on ICTs in local governance in Africa. At its heart lies the conviction that ICT can enable local governments to engage citizens to participate in democratic processes and to engage in public sector management so creating socio-economic developments at local and national levels. It provides an important collection of studies and analyses on the transformative potential of ICT: citizens in Ethiopia use it to pay tax and complete legislative documents; in Mozambique the SchoolNet project has increased the secondary school literacy rate. Other studies in Egypt, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Morocco, South Africa and Uganda explore service delivery, financial management, citizen registration, land management, local economic development and political inclusion. The book provides a synthesis of the findings and a roadmap to assist government decision makers in implementing and evaluating their own e-local governance projects. With information and communications technologies increasingly available in Africa, this timely book speaks to the current issues.