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Has Kenya’s ICT revolution triggered more citizen participation? || When does the state listen?

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posted on 2024-09-06, 06:08 authored by Nyambura Salome
In this brief, Nyambura Salome surveys the extent to which Kenya’s information and communications technology (ICT) revolution transforms e-government – implementing decisions with the help of ICTs – into e-governance – using ICTs to help make decisions (Marche and McNiven 2003). Her study of Nairobi, the country’s main technology hub, concludes that ICTs do not necessarily trigger better governance. State actors mistake e-government for e-governance and are often indifferent to citizens’ aspirations for more public participation. On the other side of the state–citizen interface, and despite an explosion of e-government tools, only a small minority of Nairobi citizens use ICTs to engage with the state. At the end of the day, it seems that much of Kenya’s ICT governance revolution is still yet to mature, lacking a concerted effort from state actors to engage with non-state actors.

This is one of four research briefings in the 'When does the state listen?' series, part of the Making All Voices Count programme.

Funding

UK Department for International Development (DFID) US Agency for International Development (USAID) Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) Omidyar Network

History

Publisher

Institute of Development Studies

Citation

Salome, N. (2016) Has Kenya’s ICT revolution triggered more citizen participation? Brighton: IDS.

Series

Research Briefing June 2016

IDS Item Types

IDS Policy Briefing

Copyright holder

© Institute of Development Studies 2016

Country

Kenya

Language

en

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