Ngoma: discussing the role of ICT in rural development

The students of Kibungo Institute of Agriculture and ICT (INATEK) held a debate called Social good summit on limitations of use of technology in the development of Rwanda of which lack of electricity is the main cause.

The debate time

The use of technology in the rural Rwanda is still limited especially using internet to access information and usage of sites that connect many people like twitter or facebook. A lot of sensitization is yet to be done for local people to be able to advertise their produce on internet.

For the local people to be able to use internet in the local development, electricity will have to be distributed in all rural Rwanda as well as internet services according to Emmanuel Hategekimana a student of INATEK.

“There is still a long way to go in removing the limitations of ICT in development. Getting access to internet is an issue and most areas have no electricity” argues Hategekimana.

 Though most students say lack of electricity is still the main limitation of ICT in development, others say language barrier takes the first place. Most local people are farmers and only understand Kinyarwanda yet most internet gadgets use foreign languages.

 It was however agreed upon that local Rwandans are adapting to the new technology even the non educated fellows. This can be seen in the way people use ATM cards at banks or Mobile Telephones.

 This debate was discussed by students of Kigali Institute of Science and Technology (KIST), Rwanda National University (UNR), INATEK and Kigali National Library through Google+. It was held on Monday the 23^rd Sept 2013 and was prepared by UNDP.

Ngoma: discussing the role of ICT in rural development