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Investigation of a Co-Design Approach for a Civic Engagement Mobile Application

Given the continued state of the digital divide, the South African government has made several strides to advance the availability of broadband internet to meet objectives outlined in its National Development Plan. Government at all three levels has over the recent years been deploying broadband internet infrastructure and associated access infrastructure, such as the Smart Cape programme, to citizens in poor communities. This has provided government an opportunity to develop innovative e-service delivery initiatives. Various surveys have indicated that mobile phones are the most prolific amongst citizens in poor communities, and thus is the basis on which government can address community-based problems. Unfortunately, citizens in marginalized communities are not enjoying the e-government benefits associated with broadband internet. Mobile applications, which are mainly developed by NGOs and private companies, do exist for citizens, but are either being rejected or aren’t easily accessible or usable given the lack of citizen involvement in the application development process. In light of this there is a need to investigate co-creation methodologies which involve grassroots communities, given that traditional systems application methods may not be suitable for the development of e-government applications in such circumstances. In light of this problem, this paper reports on an investigation in which a community based co-creation approach for the development of a mobile application was investigated. For the purpose of the research a Civic Engagement problem was identified, using a group of randomly selected users in a township in the Western Cape, South Africa.