Age-Inclusive ICT Innovation for Service Delivery in South Africa: A Developing Country Perspective

1. Population ageing and ICTs.- 2. Legislative frameworks informing municipal service delivery: the gap between what ought to be and what actually transpires.- 3. A baseline assessment of older South Africans’ mobile phone usage across rural-urban contexts.- 4. The story of developing ICTs to promote holistic service delivery to older persons: The we-DELIVER project.- 5. Data collection tools, analysis and application using ICTs.- 6. Research integrity in a community-based project – a critique of individualised and Western ethical protocols.- 7. Managing diversity in a multi-cultural and multi-lingual environment: The case of the we-DELIVER project.- 8. Feasible ICTs for the community following a bottom-up approach: The example of Yabelana.- 9. Mitigating or inhibiting (intergenerational) relational experiences around older persons’ mobile phone use.- 10. The theory and practice of impact and sustainability: The we-DELIVER project.

Vera Roos is Research Professor in the Ageing and Generational Dynamics programme in the Optentia Research Unit (AGenDA) at the North-West University, and an Affiliate Research Fellow of the Institute of Population Ageing at the University of Oxford. As a socio-gerontologist, she focuses on relational experiences and, from a community psychology perspective, on the contributions of older individuals in challenged contexts. Vera has presented her research on topics related to enabling interpersonal contexts, loneliness, friendship, and intergenerational relations at national and international conferences, and has published widely, including three edited books. She developed the Mmogo-method®, a projective visual data-collection tool to enable research participation despite age, language or cultural barriers and to obtain layered information about personal, relational, and group experiences. Findings from this visual method informed the development of a relational theory, Self-Interactional Group Theory (SIGT), and intergenerational interventions. Vera’s commitment to promoting the well-being of older people in relation to their contextual realities prompted the development of an information and communication eDirectory system, Yabelana, with context-specific information for use on smart and older generation mobile phone devices. Vera Roos is a rated scientist of the South African National Research Foundation.
 
Jaco Hoffman (DPhil, Oxon) is Professor of socio-gerontology in the Optentia Research Unit, North-West University (Vanderbijlpark Campus), where he leads the Ageing and Generational Dynamics in Africa (AGenDA) programme. He is also Professorial Fellow at the Institute of Population Ageing, University of Oxford, where he co-ordinates the UN-endorsed African Research Network on Ageing (AFRAN). AFRAN brings together African and international institutions and individuals from academia, policy, and practice to develop and expand African research and training capacity on ageing. He is an Honorary Professor in the Institute of Ageing in Africa, Department of Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, a past president of the South African Gerontological Association (SAGA), and founding member of the South African Older Persons Forum. Jaco co-directs, with Professor Sebastiana Kalula (UCT), the International Longevity Centre (ILC) South Africa, and is a director of the International Federation of Ageing (IFA) Board. His research experience relates broadly to the social sciences (sociology, anthropology), with specialization in the multidisciplinary field of socio-gerontology, including topics such as HIV/AIDS, poverty, (long-term) care, families, and community development.

This open access book presents a step-by-step journey to address the problem of ineffective service delivery by local government that led to the leveraging of new technology to benefit older individuals. Based in South Africa, this exploration is in one sense peculiar to its setting—a developing country with huge inequalities—but the story goes beyond the immediate geographical setting of (South) Africa and transcends the temporal aspect of ICT technology. It reflects on older persons’ participation, negotiation, and transition in the development of a technology artefact that offers the potential to access services and activities, and to participate in an inclusive society for all ages. This theme has wider resonance, and demonstrates a phenomenon witnessed in different ways and stages across the globe: cohorts of older persons negotiating waves of updated and new technologies. This edited volume details a workable, transdisciplinary and relational approach to 21st-century ICTinnovation that helps create a technology artefact tailored for purpose.
Worldwide, it is anticipated that care needs of older populations will outstrip available resources. Sub-Saharan Africa lacks relevant long-term care systems for older persons, and technology could play a crucial role in supporting families, communities and government in vital care management. This volume addresses, in three parts, the under-explored topic of age-inclusive ICT development and use in resource-poor countries. Part 1, Context and Project Background, sets out ICT service delivery to older persons globally and within South Africa, drawing on guiding legislative frameworks. It discusses the we-DELIVER project as an example of developing and applying age-inclusive technology in developing countries. Part 2, Principles, Process and Applications, proposes situationally and relationally informed ethical conduct in applying community-based research; the development of a questionnaire and applicationto present first-time baseline findings of older South Africans’ cell phone use, highlighting its intergenerational facilitation. The development of the Yabelana (alluding to ‘sharing’) ecosystem (consisting of a website, an app, and an unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) code) turned out to be a first of its kind: a digital self-sustaining technology artefact that serves as an eDirectory to provide information about local services or events for (but not exclusively) older individuals. Part 3, Critical Reflections and the Way Forward, considers the inclusion of marginalized older individuals and the future of ICT and cell phone technology to inform research, practice, and policy. This topical edited volume is of interest to social science researchers and students as well as policy makers and practitioners dealing with the life course, ageing and age care, intergenerational issues, technology, social policy, and social work.

This is an open access book Considers user competence, context, and mediating influences on ICT innovation in a developing country context Presents baseline data of older South Africans' ICT use, with templates and examples Ties together discussions on low-cost technology development with sustainability goals