Low income countries in the Global South are fast-tracking technological developments to aid commerce in the digital future. Many of these developments apply first-world policies and infrastructures to third-world regions. Challenges arise when elaborate systems and new ideologies are implemented in low-resource areas, with diverse cultures and complex histories.
For example, in 2006 China loaned Uganda 106 million dollars. A portion of that money was used to lay 8,000 km of fiber optic cables across the country--creating debt, disrupting livelihoods and promoting the opportunity for outsourced work. In 2018, Uganda’s Ministry of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and National Guidance released a policy report to recognize and detail the use of “ICT [as] an important driver of socio-economic transformation” particularly regarding jobs, and increased business and income in Uganda. In 2019, Uganda’s President stated that 'new technologies should help people produce products and services according to the principles of comparative advantage.” President Museveni also believed for this transformation to be successful it would require overcoming bottle-necked infrastructure development. This led to the creation of an expert national task force to advise Uganda’s government on how to proceed with system implementation and properly enter the fourth industrial revolution. The task force will be supervised by the Office of the Prime Minister and ICT Ministry, and features members from academia, government and industry. Noticeably missing is the inclusion of the everyday citizen.
This paper illuminates obstacles during nation-building at the intersection of informatics, governance, and behavior by using field research conducted in Uganda. It examines technology and communication policy, and pays particular attention to government relations, media dissemination, and citizen behavior within an international development context. It discovers three reverse salients when applying Global North ideas and resources to the Global South: exclusive policy-making; media dissemination and avoidance; and, everyday citizen homophily.