 |
 |
 |
||||
 |
 Position: Project Manager, South African Research Chair in Applied Poverty Assessment. Qualification: M.Dev (UKZN) Address: Room F206 Memorial Tower, Howard College, University of KwaZulu-Natal, 4041, South Africa. Phone: +27(31)2602336 Fax: +27(31)2602359 E-mail: digak@ukzn.ac.za Projects:  Determinants of Child Welfare Outcomes in SA: a comparative analysis of cross-sectional and panel data
Quality of Life (Land Reform)
A Socio-economic Impact Assessment of the Local Competitiveness Fund Implementation Projects Under Gijima KZN LED Support Programme.
Labor Market Analysis for the Rockefeller Foundation’s PRIDE (Poverty Reduction through Information and Digital Employment) Initiative
Poverty & Information and Communication Technology Systems in Urban and Rural East-Africa (PICTURE)
Community-based Learning, ICT and Quality-of-life (CLIQ): A participatory approach to assessing the impact of ICT access.
Biographical sketch: Kathleen Diga is a Project Manager South African Research Chair in Applied Poverty Assessment at the School of Built Environment and Development Studies, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), South Africa. She is current completing her PhD at the Institute for Social Development, University of the Western Cape, South Africa. Her main focus of research is in the poverty and economic dimensions of information and communication technologies for development. Prior to joining UKZN, Kathleen worked at the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) as a research officer under the ICT4D Africa (Acacia) initiative in Johannesburg and Nairobi. Community Activities: United Nations Academic Impact Professor Julian May, assisted by Kathleen Diga, moderated an e-discussion on ‘Addressing poverty issues through education’ under the auspices of the United Nations Academic Impact, from 2-8 March 2011. The United Nations Academic Impact Initiative was officially launched by UN Secretary - General Ban Ki-moon, on 18th November 2010, at the UN Headquarters in New York. UKZN was the only institution from South Africa, invited to the launch. The main objective of the initiative is to align institutions of higher education with the United Nations in actively supporting the following ten universally accepted principles in the areas of human rights, literacy, sustainability and conflict resolution: 1) Commitment to the United Nations Charter; 2) Human Rights; 3) Educational opportunity for all; 4) Higher education opportunities for every interested individual; 5) Capacity-building in higher education systems; 6) Global citizenship; 7) Peace and conflict resolution; 8) Addressing poverty; 9) Sustainability; 10) Inter-cultural dialogue. The United Nations Academic Impact has been endorsed by 30 international networks and more than 300 institutions. By formally endorsing the ten principles in the Academic Impact, member institutions make a commitment to use education as an engine for addressing global problems. UKZN successfully bid to be the coordinator of Principle Eight (8) for the next two years. The mandate of the coordinating institutions includes the following responsibilities: • Maintaining on their websites repositories of activities undertaken in respect of the specific principle by member institutions during the year and sharing best practices • Developing a database of academic experts who could participate in conferences, media opportunities and the like on the principle. The UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs partnered with the United Nations Academic Impact initiative to host an e-discussion series on the theme “Building a Future for Today’s Youth: Improving Access to Education. For period of one month, from 16 February to 15 March 2011, there were four e-discussions in total. Each e-discussion was moderated by a UNAI member for one week. For further information on Principle Eight and the role of Development Studies in this initiative see UNAI Website and the following links to e-discussions> 1) May 2012: http://outreach.un.org/unai/2012/04/02/building-the-research-agenda-for-impact-assessment/ 2) October 2011: http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unyin/onlinediscussionweek3/index.html 3) Sept 2011: http://outreach.un.org/unai/2011/09/19/e-discussion-on-skyp-in-the-classroom-starts-join/ 4) June 2011: Virtual panel and book launch of “Poor Poverty”: http://www.unmultimedia.org/tv/webcast/2011/06/book-launch-poor-poverty-the-impoverishment-of-analysis-measurement-and-policies-to-be-confirmed.html 5) March 2011: E-discussion on Poverty & Education – no weblink found.
Diga, K., Nwaiwu, F., & Plantinga, P. (2012). Variations in the relationship between ICTs and poverty: a comparison of policies in three African countries. Paper presented at the 3rd Communication Policy Research Africa (CPRafrica) Conference, 5-7 September 2012, Port Louis, Mauritius. Diga, K. (2012). Facing the African ICTD academic divide. Presented at International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR 2012), 15-19 July 2012, Durban, South Africa. Jukuda, A. & Diga, K. (2012) The information cost of youth unemployment. Presented at the Africa Institute in South Africa conference. 21-23 March 2012, Venda, South Africa. Community-based Learning ICTs and Quality of Life (CLIQ) Community report: A participatory approach to assessing the impact of ICT access on the quality of life in KwaZulu-Natal. CLIQ, September 2011. Gitau, S. Plantinga, P. Diga, K. and Hutchful, D. (2011) African ICTD research (or the lack thereof). Interactions 18(4), July/August. p74-77. DOI 10.1145/1978822.1978837 Diga, K., May, J., and Reynolds, H. (2011). The process of building social networking for academic purposes pilot (SNAPP). Presented at the 2011 5th Annual UKZN Teaching and Learning conference. 26-29 September 2011, Durban, South Africa. Attwood, H., May, J., and Diga, K. (2011). The complexities of establishing causality between an ICT intervention and changes in quality-of-life: the case of CLIQ in four poorer communities in South Africa. Conference paper presented at the 5th International Development Informatics Association (IDIA2011) conference, 26-28 October 2011, Lima, Peru. Hakizimana, C. and Diga, K. (2011) Agriculture and poverty reduction: an assessment of the benefits of avocado production for smallholder farmers in Giheta – Burundi. School of Development Studies Policy Brief, 3, November. Gitau, S., Bidwell, N., Diga, K., Mardsen, G. (2010). Beyond being a proxy user: a look at NGOs. Paper accepted for Poster Presentation at International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD 2010) Conference 16-19 December 2010, London, UK. Gitau, S., Plantinga, P., Diga, K., (2010). ICTD Research by Africans: origins, interests and impact. Paper accepted for Oral Presentation at International Conference on Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD 2010) conference 16-19 December 2010, London. |
 |
||||
 |
|
 |
 |
||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||
