Why vendor-driven digital strategies are sure to fail

What you need to know:

  • While office and hospitals look radically different from what they did 100 years ago, classrooms have remained unchanged, with teachers and blackboards.
  • Mobile phones are being used in Ghana, Niger, Pakistan, and Uganda to address absenteeism among teachers and health workers, and similar monitoring approaches can be applied to address missing textbooks, drug stocks and petty corruption.

Recently, the World Bank released their World Development Report 2016 entitled “Digital Dividends.” It caught a bit of attention in Kenya, first because of an inaccurate conclusion that Tanzania had overtaken Kenya as a mobile money leader.

Another point, which the government may wish to challenge, is the finding that Huduma Centres, which have won a few global awards, are a failure because they have not generated much citizen uptake or use by the government to resolve problems.

Still, the 360-page report is full of interesting insights on how being digital is reflected across the world, in terms of data, mobile, citizen services and government, with several lessons for Kenya.

One is a realisation that Europe, with its Schengen open borders is still closed in terms of commerce, and that Europeans buy very little across their borders, as tax and logistic rules and costs still vary in different countries.

This should be assuring for East African Community (EAC) leaders as they try to accelerate trade within the region.

The report has reviewed several One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) programs that have been implemented in a few countries, just as Kenya implements its own much-delayed program.

The success of digital devices in the classroom hinges on complementing access to digital technologies with investments in teachers, and having relevant digital content in the classroom, according to the report.

Countries, it advises, should run and carefully evaluate pilot school programs before scaling them.

It finds that while offices and hospitals look radically different from what they did 100 years ago, classrooms have remained unchanged, with teachers and blackboards.

Lifelong learning is now possible in the digital world through phones, and by accessing institutions that offer free classes online, the report says, noting also that the use of games to improve learning has had impressive results.

It notes that while Nigeria used digital IDs to prevent vote rigging in its 2015 elections, other countries, such as Kenya and Somalia, have not reaped the same benefits from biometric voter ID’s, and recommends more research is needed.

Along those lines, the report cautions against something I was a champion of two years ago. Smart government cards which combine ID, payment, voting, data, pension and many other promised functions, were largely driven by vendors, with the systems ending up being largely unused

Mobile phones are being used in Ghana, Niger, Pakistan, and Uganda to address absenteeism among teachers and health workers, and similar monitoring approaches can be applied to address missing textbooks, drug stocks and petty corruption.

These are all challenges facing Kenya, which has a relatively higher rate of mobile phone use.

The report noted that that corruption and money laundering might also be deterred to an extent by technology. While communication networks have made it easier to move illicit money around the world, high-profile releases or leaks by authorities or watchdog groups of large data sets now mean that detection is more likely.

While the economic growth impact of digital economics is largest when firms in traditional sectors use digital technologies to modernise their business, the many Kenyan entities mentioned are mostly young companies.

The report cities Bridge International Academy in Kenya, iHub, Ushahidi, Huduma, Duma, Sendy, M-Shwari, Angani, AkiraChix, Elimu, Majivoice, and even the My Dress My Choice campaign.

Indeed, Bridge, which has become a sore point with our teachers unions, is mentioned several times, including once using for monitoring teachers, schools, and student for underperformance.

Finally, the report cites studies show that using search engines decreases our memory. But that’s not really true as it also cites Plato, who wondered if writing would diminish our memory. That was back in the 2nd century. 

Twitter: @bankelele