Strategies for Information Communication and Technology (ICT) Adoption in Rural Areas

ICT has been recognized as a powerful tool for a country’s development. The focus of the study is to identify the current level of ICT adoption in the rural areas, the challenges the local agencies faced in delivering public services, and to recommend next course of action to improve the adoption of ICT. Twenty-two villages were involved in the study with total of 922 respondents. Fieldworks were carried out involving questionnaires and interviews. The findings show that ICT adoption in the rural communities is still very minimal and at its early stage. The use of computer and Internet is quite low, and their awareness on public online applications is very minimal. Among the challenges faced by the local government agencies are: (i) limited manpower to support the operation, (ii) problems when dealing with customers, (iii) lack of cooperation from the community, and (iv) limited resources. They are also instances where the agencies face with infrastructural problems such as interruption of network services. To enhance ICT adoption in rural areas and to increase the public services delivery, some recommendations are put forth as strategies to be carried out by the state government.