International Journal of Education and Development using ICT

International Journal of Education and Development using ICT > Vol. 3, No. 2 (2007)

Problems of policy formulation and implementation: The case of ICT use in rural women’s empowerment in Ghana

Olivia A. T. F Kwapong, University of Ghana, Ghana

Abstract
This paper sheds some light on the logic of designing a disaggregated ICT policy to empower rural women using information from selected rural areas in Ghana. The study uses survey data from three regions in Ghana to determine the factors influencing rural women’s’ choice of information delivery technology. The three regions are the Upper East, Ashanti, and Greater Accra. The motivating hypothesis in the study was that the wide differences in the socio-economic status of rural women households’ influences their choice of information delivery technology and also their willingness to pay for a selected technology. This basic hypothesis was addressed using data from a survey instrument administered to 100 households from each of the three designated regions. The overriding conclusion that emerges from this study is the need to examine ICT use in empowering rural women within a ‘holistic’ context. The results point to a merit in allocating considerable authority to regional and local authorities in setting priorities and approaches to empowering rural women through the use of ICT.

Full Text: HTML | PDF

Research
Support Tool