Young Researcher of the Year Award 2010 - Hannah Bowen

Hannah Bowen

Hannah Bowen

Age: 29
Company: InterMedia
Country: USA

Topic chosen

Digital Divide

Title of submission

Understanding and Bridging Digital Divides within Africa

Abstract

It is abundantly clear that Sub-Saharan Africa is lagging far behind advanced economies in harnessing the power of the digital revolution: access to computers is abysmally low, and while mobile phones have leap-frogged landlines, access rates still trail those of Europe or North America. There are encouraging trends, however, as low-cost phones and computers flood African markets, cell phone towers pop up in remote areas, and fiber optic cables for broadband internet land in ports across the continent. As digital devices become more prevalent, it becomes more and more important to understand the internal dynamics of these technology markets. African innovators are at the cutting edge of "ICTs for development" (note the widely replicated MPESA mobile money system and Ushahidi crisis communication tool, both developed in Kenya). But at the same time, very few people actually use the internet (only 15 percent of respondents in our survey of Ghana said they'd been online in the last year; it was about 20 percent in Kenya), and the average mobile phone user is only making calls and sending/receiving a few SMSs. This suggests many questions for researchers: among and within Sub-Saharan African countries, who are the technology leaders, and who is left out? What barriers prevent wider adoption of digital technology for economic development, e-governance, distance learning, and more? What can public institutions and private companies do to better reach, serve, and empower new technology consumers in such diverse markets? This research addresses those questions in the context of a single dimension, gender, and two countries, Ghana and Kenya. Limiting the scope of the study makes it possible to draw out concrete findings and actionable recommendations to bridge at least one of the internal digital divides emerging in Sub-Saharan Africa.

About Hannah

Hannah Bowen is a project manager and analyst for InterMedia projects in Africa, working on quantitative and qualitative research projects throughout the region. Her recent work includes drafting analytical reports for the Gates Foundation-funded AudienceScapes project (www.audiencescapes.org) in Kenya and Ghana, client presentations on media in Ethiopia and Guinea, and managing research projects in Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. Hannah's regional experience includes serving as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Ghana and working on Monitoring & Evaluation at the World Food Programme's country office in Guinea-Bissau. She has also held short-term positions with the US Department of State, Oxfam America, and the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab at MIT. She received an M.P.A. in International Development from Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government, and holds a B.A. in Political Science from Yale University.