Dear Shehzad and Dear All,

Interesting to follow the forum. I see the reasoning behind defining some common indicators that can be aggregated, compared, benchmarked across different projects working in ICT4D initiatives; however don’t you think doing so might limit projects to only measure against a predetermined ‘wishlist’ of indicators? I think it is more important for ICT4D initiatives to first map out the logic of their work and then determine what indicators can be used to measure those different levels of changes. Indeed at a higher level, common indicators for market development project often include scale reached, additional jobs and additional income created but I think it’s very risky and pre-mature to have a standard set of indicators that fits all projects. Market development is also about thinking of innovative solutions to engage the private sector, so just as solutions are different, the indicators related to interventions can be different.

Just as an example, I recently did some work for a programme doing some ICT work in Cambodia. One of the projects is about setting a system to pay bills, transfer money using mobile phones. Now one of the many impacts of the project is that traders are using mobile phones to make instant payments to farmers, which saves them the hassle of often travelling long distances to get money. This time can be spent in doing alternate activities. However it would be very difficult to attribute indicators such as increased productivity, increased income as a result of this.

Would be interested in hearing others thoughts on this matter.

Nabanita.