Dissertation Information for Wendy Ann Simmons NAME: - Wendy Ann Simmons
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- Library and Information Science
SCHOOL:
- University of Maryland (USA) (1990)
ADVISORS: - Jerry S. Kidd
COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - M. Delia Neuman - Paul Wasserman - Anne Scott Macleod - Remi Clignet
MPACT Status: Fully Complete
Title: Volunteer intermediaries in rural information services: A study of Seke District, Zimbabwe
Abstract: This dissertation examines an information service implemented in the Seke District of Zimbabwe, Southern Africa. The service provided legal advice and referral for rural people through the use of volunteer intermediaries. The volunteers, their clients, and the organization conducting the project are elements examined in this research.
Foci of the study were: appropriate means of introducing and operating an information service for rural people; qualities and abilities needed for intermediaries to carry out their role successfully; community reactions to information services; and the role of literacy and printed information in the transfer of information for development. Qualitative research methods were used. Data were collected from observational notes, open-ended interviews, and the organization's written records.
Findings indicate that most volunteers, chosen for previous community activism, carried out their duties adequately. Those with the lengthiest activity in the community had higher numbers of consultants. As a group, they were helpful and sympathetic to clients. Individually they differed in levels of ability, initiative and investment of time learning the content necessary to make quality referrals. All were angry at the expectation that they continue to act as volunteers, most having been volunteers for up to ten years.
Clients came primarily from the poorer segment of the community. Their major problem was a need for child support, through suing errant fathers in court or applying for subsistence payments. Most clients' problems had not been solved after one year, indicating slow and unresponsive bureaucracies at referral agencies.
Literacy was absent in the information transfer process described. Although the volunteers and most clients were literate, printed matter was not part of their everyday life, and not the means they used to find information.
Conclusions emphasize the need for local involvement in planning rural services, the importance of appropriate introduction of a service to a community, the need for adequate training programs that assist intermediaries in dealing with challenges they will face, and the need for abundant quantities of printed information to be available at the beginning, so that it becomes a normal part of the information process.
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MPACT Scores for Wendy Ann Simmons A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-01-31 06:18:02
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