| Summary: | Philosophiae Doctor - PhD === The aim of this thesis is to examine the association between information and
communication technologies (ICTs) and poverty reduction in South Africa. ICTs
have been argued to be a means to improve household livelihoods and thereby to
provide people with the capability of changing their existing poverty trajectories.
The study conceptually investigates ICTs as a contributor to human development
through the theoretical lens the sustainable livelihoods framework (SLF). Since
ICTs broaden the asset base of the poor, the study first theorises household access to
ICT as a new form of capital, termed as the ‘digital basket’. This new wealth
indicator augments the current well-developed list of capitals adopted within the SLF
approach. This digital basket concept and the ICT systems that provide its
components are described, establishing the theoretical contributions of this thesis.
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