Local Voices Enhance Knowledge Uptake: Sharing Local Content in Local Voices

Abstract New ICTs can provide new opportunities for knowledge sharing and uptake, but may also reinforce existing power hierarchies and exclusionary practices. This paper explores ways in which the balance of power may be redressed via the use of local voices producing local content in a way which respects local choices and where the intervention is shown to enhance livelihoods. Practical Action has put people first for over forty years. How can people truly be put first when introducing a new information and communications technology such as “podcasting”? A brief review of the background to a podcasting project in Zimbabwe, leads on to a discussion of the development problems being addressed, the choice of technology, the outcomes evaluated and a discussion of implications for policy and practice. Many ICT projects face the challenge of sharing information with people who have little experience of ICTs, low levels of literacy, little time or money, and highly contextualized knowledge and language requirements. Observations in Peru (Talyarkhan et al., 2005) became the inspiration for innovative work in Zimbabwe which provides the main evidence discussed in this paper in relation to creating enhanced livelihood opportunities for people living in remote rural areas. The paper discusses the proposition that the use of technologies accessible via voice and local languages support knowledge sharing and minimize impact on power relations in the community. A framework is suggested which shows how the balance of power relates to both the choice of media and the choice of technology. The final section of the paper explores the policy and practice implications of the findings and concludes that hand held voice devices can make a substantial contribution to improved livelihoods in remote rural areas.