I have a particular interest in exploring how ICTs and online/mobile tech can help to create spaces for participation and empowerment; help people engage with the institutions which control their lives or help people take more power over their communities, and enjoy writing (and occasionally being published) in this space.
Professional publications
(also available at ResearchGate)
- Voices of the Silicon Savannah: Key challenges facing Kenya’s social-tech ecosystem – views from within
(self-directed research in Kenya in 2018)
The social-tech ecosystem in Kenya (often referred to as the ‘Silicon Savannah’) appears to be one of the world’s most thriving tech sectors. Views from inside, however, suggest it is not making the impact it could; is not as financially successful or sustainable as people had hoped; and may be stagnating and in need of nurture. Voices of the Silicon Savannah examines why this is so and what can be done to improve matters.
- Development is Going Digital: What is the role of international NGOs?
(for Oxfam GB, with George Flatters, 2017)
Report on primary research into the current and future opportunities relating to ICTs for Development in the Horn, East and Central Africa, including exploration of the most appropriate roles for large international NGOs to play.
- Impact of online voting on participatory budgeting in Brazil
(Chapter 4 in World Bank book ‘Civic tech in the global south: assessing technology for the global good’, Peixoto & Mifry, 2017)
Evaluation report on the role and impact of ICTs in the largest participatory budgeting exercise in the world in the state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil.
- Evaluating Digital Citizen Engagement: A Practical Guide
(for the World Bank, with Evangelia Berdou, Martin Belcher, Savita Bailur, Claudia Lopes and Jonathan Dudding, 2016)
I led a team of practitioners and researchers (from Aptivate, IDS, ICA, LSE and the University of Cambridge) to produce a practitioners guide to the evaluation of the role of technology in citizen participation work.
- A framework for assessing participatory ICT4D
(for the University of Manchester, with Richard Duncombe, 2013)
A working paper developing ideas from my Masters dissertation on how to deliver and evaluate participatory approaches to ICTs for Development.
External blogs and self-published articles
- My reflections on Agile development
How could adapting Agile software methods make International Development more participatory and more effective.
- Why M&E is LAME (or should be)
Atongue-in-cheek ICT Works blog looking at the M&E sector (making some serious points)
Matt Haikin 