Evaluating ICT for Education in Africa - Royal Holloway, University of ...

2008). Thus, at the extreme, partnerships are considered as primarilyconstituting a means by which to reach a pre-determined end. If the primaryobjective of the private sector is accumulation by dispossession (Harvey2003) with associated shift of communal resources towards investmentopportunities (Loftus 2008) then there is substantive reason for scepticismregarding their value within development partnerships.Conversely, there is currently widespread enthusiasm regarding the potentialfor market-enhanced development, with partnership as a central tenet of theassociated discourse. A strong proponent of market enhanced development isPrahalad (2005), promoting the role of the private sector in povertyalleviation and education in catalysing the poor into consumers, facilitatingthe opening of previously inaccessible markets and supplying access toproducts and services. The eminence of economic growth (Raworth et al.2008) as primary driver for development has gained momentum byconceptualising development through a neo-liberal framework, emphasisingthe role of the entrepreneur (Prahalad 2004, Collier 2008). Alongside this isthe renewed emphasis from DFID (2008) for private sector engagement indevelopment, incorporating it within the mainstream of business practice.Despite the widespread adoption of the neo-liberal rationale it is importantthat this is not accepted uncritically, as becoming inextricably interwoveninto a capitalist system of accumulation cannot be the sum total or objectiveof development efforts (Loftus 2008). Although a well regulated privatemarket may lead to significant improvements in quality and cost of servicesand provide increased opportunities and choices (Marker et al. 2002), thisshould not be misrepresented as a panacea for development. Expansion ofthe market, by its essence, only occurs in the areas of greatest potential profitgeneration and so solely capital-driven poverty alleviation will always serve tomarginalise and exacerbate inequality for some. As Leach (2006 p.42) notes,„Despite all this dynamism, it is clear that the private sector, even in alliancewith innovative new forms of public support, cannot always make technologywork for the poor. There will continue to be areas of technology and areas ofthe world where markets are thin or non-existent.‟ Indeed, whilst it is positive230