E-participation as a Mechanism of Stakeholder Engagement in the City of Harare
Cities in emerging economies, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, are beginning to leverage the power of information and communication technologies (ICTs) by incorporating e-participation as the key mechanism of public participation. However, there seems
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E-participation as a Mechanism of Stakeholder Engagement in the City of Harare Linos Mapfumo and Sybert Mutereko
Abstract Cities in emerging economies, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, are beginning to leverage the power of information and communication technologies (ICTs) by incorporating e-participation as the key mechanism of public participation. However, there seems to be an overwhelming consensus among scholars on its lack of effectiveness. This chapter contributes to the growing body of literature on e-participation as an alternative governance mechanism and as an innovative technology for African cities in transition by providing insights into its application or lack thereof in politically polarised cities such as the City of Harare. In doing so, the chapter draws strongly on a case study of the City of Harare in Zimbabwe and on data gleaned through surveys and documentary analysis. The data for this chapter emerged from a broader project that used interviews with purposefully selected informal traders and their customer participants (N = 195) randomly chosen for the surveys. The chapter argues that the effects of political and debilitating economic challenges, which have resulted in skyrocketing prices and diminishing disposable incomes, have been to limit citizen’s resources for data which could enable them to be actively involved in various ICT platforms for e-participation. This, together with frequent power outages, is a huge barrier to the application of alternative governance and innovative technologies for African cities in transition. This study not only highlights the importance of e-participation but underscores the need to understand the heterogeneity of the context of its application. Keywords E-participation · Local government · Public participation · Social media · Stakeholder engagement
L. Mapfumo · S. Mutereko (*) University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa e-mail: [email protected] © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 P. S. Reddy, H. Wissink (eds.), Reflections on African Cities in Transition, Advances in African Economic, Social and Political Development, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46115-7_8
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L. Mapfumo and S. Mutereko
Introduction A growing corpus of literature demonstrates that electronic participation (e-participation), as a part of e-governance, has in recent decades proved to be an effective means through which government, at different levels, can engage the citizenry (Macintosh (2004); (Conroy and Evans-Cowley 2006). Proponents of e-participation argue that the adoption and application of innovative ICTs in the governance of cities allows a wider audience to engage in such governance and it deepens the level of democratic debate on issues that affect citizens (Macintosh 2004). Some studies have explored the impact of e-participation by examining the levels of satisfaction by citizens and government responsiveness to it. For instance, drawing on the rich and extensive data from a 2009 E-Participation Survey undertaken for the Seoul Metropolitan Gov
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