Understanding the ecosystem involves gathering data to develop knowledge about the following areas:
- People targeted by the product or program, including women, children and people with disabilities.
- The community, culture and socio-economic context in which users live.
- The market and technology environment, including regulatory considerations.
- The political landscape, policies and regulations.
- Active donors, implementers and digital development initiatives in the implementation area. (Data could be gathered by conducting primary research, consulting published research or engaging with those who have previously worked in this context.)
This process is a core component of initiative planning. A thorough context analysis, including desk research, in-person interviews, focus groups and other relevant research methods, such as the
Digital Lives methodology, should take place prior to design and deployment.
- Identify areas of inquiry for your context analysis. Social Impact Lab’s Framework for Context Analysis of Inclusive Technologies in Social Change Projects identifies the following areas to analyze during planning, along with examples of questions to answer:
- People: What are the target users’ levels of education? What digital tools are they familiar with?
- Community: Who are the key community leaders and influencers?
- Market environment:Is the mobile market competitive? What market issues are specific to your sector (e.g., banking regulations)?
- What infrastructure already exists? What’s missing? How much does it cost?
- Political environment: Do citizens experience censorship or government digital surveillance? Is there an e-governance sector-specific policy? Whom do you need to work with?
- Implementing organizations: What is the staff’s capacity to implement a digital initiative?
- Map out current and past digital development initiatives. Determine if their successes or failures point to key ecosystem considerations. Failures with past pilots may also shape users’ perceptions toward a new digital tool.
- Identify what other organizations or donors are working in your ecosystem. Sometimes, communities and stakeholders are overwhelmed with development pilots and projects and may not be eager to participate in a new initiative. Determine if platforms, approaches or services exist that you could build on or share with other organizations.
- Identify any local technology preferences. The community may have significant experience using a certain device or a preference for a certain mobile operator based on factors like network reliability. Engage with your users to understand these preferences.
- Determine areas of inquiry that are critical to your sector. For example, practitioners working on digital financial services will need to analyze existing financial regulations and banking infrastructure.
- Understand the local systems that are foundational for sustainability. These are the systems — interconnected sets of governmental bodies, civil society, private sector organizations, universities, individuals and others — that jointly produce development outcomes. USAID published a local systems framework that suggests conducting analysis using the Five R’sapproach: Resources, Roles, Relationships, Rules and Results.
- Understand the local protocols you need to account for and adhere to. If you do not understand or adhere to local customs and procedures when engaging with potential users and partners, you could set up your initiative for failure. Following certain formalities when engaging with community leaders and policymakers may add extra time to your planning process, but it will lay the foundation for a strong working relationship and feelings of local ownership. For example, while your tool may target women, you may need to first seek the approval of men in the household to ensure that they understand the tool and its intention and that they will support it, rather than be suspicious or skeptical of the women’s use of the technology.