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Top 7 Reasons Why Most ICT4D Projects Fail

By Wayan Vota on January 5, 2011

Dr. Clint Rogers interviewed faculty and professionals around Africa for why they feel most information and communications for development (ICT4D) projects fail. He’s condensed the interviews into this video of insights:

Much of the film was captured at the ICT4D Poverty Reduction Summit and there was consensus that these are the 7 reasons why ICT4D projects fail:

  1. Results not directly tied to improving economic condition of end user
  2. Not relevant to local contexts, strengths, or needs
  3. Not understanding infrastructure capacity
  4. Underestimating maintenance costs and issues
  5. Projects supported only by short-term grants
  6. Solutions are not looking at the whole problem
  7. Projects built on condescending assumptions

Reading these points and watching the video, I have to agree they’ve captured the top 7. What do you think?

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Wayan Vota co-founded ICTworks. He also co-founded Technology Salon, MERL Tech, ICTforAg, ICT4Djobs, ICT4Drinks, JadedAid, Kurante, OLPC News and a few other things. Opinions expressed here are his own and do not reflect the position of his employer, any of its entities, or any ICTWorks sponsor.
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2 Comments to “Top 7 Reasons Why Most ICT4D Projects Fail”

  1. Matt Berg says:
    January 5, 2011 at 7:46 pm

    I’d add lack of local ownership.

  2. Anonymous says:
    January 6, 2011 at 1:39 pm

    Have we started to learn from ICT4D projects that have proven sustainable (so far)?