Dissertation Improvement Award: ICTs and Capabilities in the Kudumbashree Mission of Kerala

论文改进奖：喀拉拉邦 Kudumbashree 使命中的信息通信技术和能力

• 批准号: 0750581
• 负责人: Wesley Shrum
• 金额: $ 1.18万
• 依托单位: Louisiana State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-03-01 至 2010-02-28
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0750581&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Improvement; Award; ICTs; Capabilities

This dissertation improvement project, funded by the Science and Society Program, will examine the influence of Kudumbashree, a government sponsored development initiative targeting women in Kerala, India. This research is of particular relevance to one of the most prominent current perspectives on development, Amartya Sen's capability approach, which focuses on the freedoms generated by commodities rather than commodities themselves. Specifically, this study examines two categories of Kudumbashree programs -- information and communication technology (ICT) enterprises that offer services such as data entry and hardware assembly and rely to varying degrees on government support and traditional enterprises that offer services reflective of indigenous modes of production such as catering and craft production and compete on the open market. The central problem is whether these efforts differ in terms of social and economic outcomes and sustainability. Eighty face-to-face qualitative interviews are conducted in and around Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Kerala, with Kudumbashree enterprise groups and individual group members as well as top Kudumbashree officials and community supporters of the organization. Observations of daily activities of each enterprise group also are made and their yearly financial reports are analyzed. The intellectual merit of this study lies in its aim to provide an assessment of two topics frequently addressed theoretically but seldom tested empirically: ICT development policy and capability enhancement. This research contributes to gender, technology, and development discourse as well as to the theoretical understanding of the capability approach. It has broader impacts on development practice by enhancing our understanding of the relationship between development policy and practice, including the strategies and tactics that show promise in cultivating and sustaining economic growth among poor women in developing areas.

该论文改进项目由科学与社会计划资助，将研究 Kudumbashree 的影响力，这是一项政府资助的针对印度喀拉拉邦妇女的发展计划。 这项研究与当前最著名的发展观点之一——阿马蒂亚·森的能力方法——特别相关，该方法关注的是商品产生的自由，而不是商品本身。 具体来说，本研究考察了两类 Kudumbashree 计划：提供数据输入和硬件组装等服务并不同程度依赖政府支持的信息和通信技术 (ICT) 企业以及提供反映本土生产模式服务的传统企业例如餐饮和工艺品生产，并在公开市场上竞争。 核心问题是这些努力在社会和经济成果以及可持续性方面是否有所不同。 在喀拉拉邦首府特里凡得琅及其周边地区，与 Kudumbashree 企业团体和个人团体成员以及 Kudumbashree 高级官员和该组织的社区支持者进行了 80 次面对面的定性访谈。 还观察了每个企业集团的日常活动并分析了其年度财务报告。 本研究的智力价值在于其目的是对两个经常在理论上讨论但很少进行实证检验的主题进行评估：信息通信技术发展政策和能力增强。 这项研究有助于性别、技术和发展的讨论以及对能力方法的理论理解。 它通过增强我们对发展政策与实践之间关系的理解，包括在发展中地区的贫困妇女中培育和维持经济增长方面显示出希望的战略和策略，对发展实践产生更广泛的影响。