TELKOM ERICSSON NRF

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TELKOM / ERICSSON / NRF Centre of Excellence in
Rural Telecommunications
AN ACTION RESEARCH ORIENTED SYSTEMIC FRAMEWORK
FOR THE EVALUATION OF RURAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS
INFRASTRUCTURE Dr T Nepal
11th Annual ANZSYS Conference/ Managing
the Complex
Christchurch, New Zealand, December 2005
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Contents

• Introduction
• An Overview of the Theoretical Framework for the
  Evaluation of rural telecommunications
  Infrastructure
• Practical Implementation of the Framework for the
  Evaluation of Rural Telecommunications
  Infrastructure
• Conclusion

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Introduction

• The paper discusses an action research
  intervention demonstrating a new systemic
  framework for evaluation of rural
  telecommunications infrastructure based on mixing
  methods from different methodologies.
• A case on its implementation in South Africa was
  used for its experimental validation. It reflects
  multiplicity and diversity of values and goals
  and facilitates participation and engagement of
  the disadvantaged communities.
• Multiple perspectives of the evaluation were
  explored through stakeholder analysis and some
  techniques from Soft Systems Methodology and
  Critical Systems Heuristics.
• We applied also multicriteria prioritization of
  factors that affect the improvement of rural
  telecommunications infrastructure using the
  Analytic Hierarchy Process.
• The intervention demonstrated the applicability
  of a systemic multimethodology approach for
  evaluation of rural telecommunications
  infrastructure.

 

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An Overview of the Theoretical Framework for the
Evaluation of rural telecommunications
Infrastructure
 

• The framework is based on the theoretical
  foundations of Critical Systems Thinking
  following some ideas Jackson, Flood, Mingers and
  Midgley ensuring the guaranteeing of the
  interests of the poor and the weak in the
  development of rural telecommunications.
• It involves on the practical side a combination
  of the strengths of several Soft Systems
  Methodology techniques (Checkland and Scholes,
  1990), Critical Systems Heuristics (Ulrich,
  1983), and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP)
  (Saaty, 1990).
• The framework is organized around the idea for
  multiple perspectives represented in a
  Multimethodology (see Mingers and Gill, 1997).
• One of the reasons for the selection of Minger's
  ideas as a justification of our proposed
  combination of methods is that it is similar to
  the three-dimensional framework for multiple
  perspectives advocated by Mittroff and Linstone
  (1993).
• The techniques that allow the researcher to take
  care of the three different worlds reflecting
  facets of the problem in our framework

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SYSTEMIC FRAMEWORK
 
Step 1 Define the area in which the
telecommunications infrastructure is to be
evaluated. Step 2 Identify the relevant
stakeholders and their roles. Step 3 Evaluate
the rural telecommunications infrastructure from
the point of the three- worlds theory Social
World Rich Pictures CATWOE Boundary
judgement questions Personal World Rich
Pictures Issues generation and classification
into Technical, cultural, and political
issues Prioritization of issues using
AHP Material World Statistics AHP Step 4
Is there a shared understanding of the evaluation
of rural telecommunications infrastructure
amongst the stakeholders? If no go to step 2 and
step 3. Step 5 Reflect on the evaluation
process and the learning that took place.

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On the Framework for the Evaluation of Rural
Telecommunications Infrastructure
 

• The underlying philosophy behind it is Critical
  Systems Thinking. The framework presents a
  synthesis of Soft Systems Methodology,
  Multi-Criteria Decision-Making, Problem
  Structuring Techniques and Critical Systems
  Heuristics within the Multimethodology framework
  of Mingers (1997a, 1997b) 
• This allows methods, models and techniques as
  parts of different methodologies, from different
  paradigms, to be brought together according to
  the requirements of a particular intervention.
•   
• The following section presents the findings of
  the experimental validation of the proposed
  framework for the evaluation of rural
  telecommunications infrastructure in the
  Wembezi/Estcourt area of Kwa Zulu Natal, South
  Africa.

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Practical Implementation of the Framework for the
Evaluation of Rural Telecommunications
Infrastructure
 

• In line with the first step of the framework it
  was necessary to identify and define a rural area
  for the implementation of the evaluation
  framework.  
• The prioritised set of criteria (i.e., in order
  of priority economic activity, population,
  location, organisational support, future
  prospects and area) as derived by a
  prioritisation process was used for the selection
  process.
•  
• The Estcourt/Wembezi area lies about 170km from
  the coastal town of Durban. It provides services
  to the surrounding rural population. The area has
  a population of 170 000 of which more than 135
  000 live in rural environment. Unemployment
  levels are high at 52. The most important
  economic sectors in this area are agriculture,
  manufacturing, commerce, and tourism.

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Implementation of Framework cont.
 

• In line with the second step of the framework,
  this section dealt with identifying the relevant
  stakeholders and defining their roles.
•  
• A rich picture was used to initiate a
  brainstorming session. The rich picture aimed to
  show the rough structure of the problem as well
  as the main processes within the problem under
  concern.
•  
• Although the rich picture highlights the lack of
  development in the area, it also highlights the
  interests of investors and the potential for
  economic development. The light at the end of the
  road symbolises hope for the community in terms
  of infrastructural support.
•  
• The participants did not experience any
  difficulty in identifying the following
  stakeholders
•       Group 1 Local Business (Big and Small)
  and Farmers Associations
•        Group 2 Local Council, Provincial, and
  National Government
•        Group 3 Telkom and Eskom
•        Group 4 Health and Police Services
•        Group 5 Local Community, NGOs, and Tribal
  Authority

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Implementation of Framework cont.

• The third step in the framework involved the
  evaluation the rural telecommunications
  infrastructure from the point of the three worlds
  of Habermas
• After having identified the stakeholders, the
  rich picture was used to generate issues around
  the improvement of telecommunications
  infrastructure and rural development. It was
  agreed that it is sometimes difficult to
  represent all the weltanschauungs (worldview) in
  one rich picture.
• A new rich picture was then presented to the
  participants. The rich picture depicted a long
  road as a metaphor for rural development.
• However, there was agreement among the
  stakeholders that for integrated development to
  be sustainable it was necessary for the relevant
  stakeholders to be involved and/or consulted
  before any major decisions were taken.
• The participants agreed that before the
  rolling-out of any infrastructure, there should
  proper planning, which had to be transparent and
  inclusive.

 

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Implementation of Framework cont.
Statistical data on the provision of telephones
in the Estcourt/Wembezi area assisted in
understanding the inadequacies that exists in the
provision of telecommunications infrastructure
and allows one to draw conclusions on its
socio-economic impact. Brainstorming was used
together with the statistics available, and a
rich picture to generate ideas and highlight
issues associated with the improvement of rural
telecommunications infrastructure.       The
need to provide skills training     The need to
provide the schools with telecommunication
services     The need to reduce downtime to
clinics      Provide better decision making on
telecommunications infrastructure     Create a
culture of payment for services.   An analysis of
the above classification confirms the assertions
made before, i.e., the major issues in the
improvement of rural telecommunications
infrastructure are not only the technical issues
but also includes the softer issues (cultural and
political).
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Implementation of Framework cont.
Multiple perspectives were explored through
CATWOE analysis of Soft Systems Methodology
(Checkland and Scholes, 1990) and the Boundary
Judgment Questions of Critical Systems Heuristics
(Ulrich, 1983).   CATWOE and its meaning in the
context of the improvement of rural
telecommunications infrastructure    Customers
The customers, beneficiaries or victims of the
improvement of rural telecommunications
infrastructure. Actors The people that are
involved in the improvement of rural
telecommunications infrastructure. Transformation
process The process that transforms provision of
telecommunication services to economic and social
development. World-view What should be the
viewpoint from which the transformation should
take place? Owners Those in the system that have
decision-making authority those who can stop
the process of the improvement of
infrastructure. Environmental constraints. The
environment includes those factors that will
impinge on the situation, and over which the
actors and owners have no control.
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Implementation of Framework cont.
In order to allocate resources and establish time
frames, it is necessary to determine those issues
that contribute more significantly to the
improvement of telecommunications infrastructure.
  This step involved the prioritization of
factors that affect the improvement of rural
telecommunications infrastructure with respect to
the particular area characteristics. In order to
determine the issues that are most significant to
the improvement of rural telecommunications
infrastructure, it was necessary to prioritize
the criteria at the second and third level of the
hierarchy. This was achieved by carrying out
pairwise comparisons processed by the Expert
Choice software. According to the participants,
the planning issues were regarded as most
important, with educational issues following
closely as the second most important. Technical
issues were not regarded as very important. The
next section examined the prioritisation of
factors within each cluster, i.e., Planning and
Marketing Issues, Technical and Operational
Issues, and Educational Issues.
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Implementation of Framework cont.
  The fourth step involved determining whether
there was shared understanding among the
stakeholders. It was identified by the degree of
consensus amongst the stakeholders involved on
the acceptability of the results. The fifth step
includes reflecting on the evaluation process and
the learning that took place. It was partly done
through a questionnaire that was administered to
the participants of the workshops and also
through the analysis of the whole process by the
authors. Summary conclusions on the post session
questionnaire regarding the opinions of the
participants about the framework demonstrated
satisfaction with the approach and acceptance of
the techniques used and also the results. The
workshops provided an opportunity to clarify the
roles of the stakeholders and the issues
associated with rural telecommunications and
rural development in the area of concern.
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CONCLUSION
It can be claimed that for better interventions
we need to pursue a systemic approach to
evaluation.   This should recognise the
interests of all stakeholders in the rural
telecommunications system and seek to interpret
their perspectives, arguments and actions in
relation to the institutional and social context.
  The framework is based on the theoretical
foundations of Critical Systems Thinking
following some ideas Jackson (2000), Flood
(1995), Mingers (1997) and Midgley (2000)
ensuring the guaranteeing of the interests of the
poor and the weak in the development of rural
telecommunications.   On the practical side,
this framework empowers those that were
previously ignored in decision-making regarding
their own community.     The provision of rural
telecommunications infrastructure must be a
planned systemic process. The mere deployment of
rural telecommunications infrastructure does not
necessarily imply economic development social
up-liftment.  
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End of Presentation
Thank You !!!