School of Built Environment & Development Studies

Kathleen Diga

Kathleen Diga

Last Updated 5 years ago

Ms Kathleen Diga

Position Research Project Manager/Lecturer
Discipline
Phone 031 260 1191
Email digak@ukzn.ac.za
Campus Howard College
Office Address Room F206 Memorial Tower

Qualification: 

  • M.Dev (UKZN)

Bio

  • Kathleen Diga is the Research 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. Her main focus of research is in the poverty and economic dimensions of information and communication technologies for development.        
    She is currently completing her PhD at the Institute for Social Development, University of the Western Cape.
    Prior to joining UKZN, Kathleen worked for the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) as a research officer under the ICT4D Africa (Acacia) initiative in Johannesburg and Nairobi.

Publications

Books

  • Ofwona-Adera, E., Waema, T., May, J. Mascarenhas, O., & Diga, K. (eds) (2014). ICT Pathways to poverty reduction: empirical evidence from East and Southern Africa. Practical Action Publishing.

Chapters

  • Attwood, H., May, J., & Diga, K. (2014). The complexities of establishing causality between an ICT intervention and changes in quality-of-life: the case of CLIQ in South Africa. In: Ofwona-Adera, E., Waema, T. M., May, J., Mascarenhas, O., Diga, K. (eds.), ICT Pathways to Poverty Reduction: Empirical evidence from East and Southern Africa. Rugby, UK: Practical Action Publishing.
  • Diga, K., Bizimana, C., Akorli, F., & Bar, F. (2014). Mobile phones and the food price crisis in Rwanda. In: Ofwona-Adera, E., Waema, T. M., May, J., Mascarenhas, O., Diga, K. (eds), ICT Pathways to Poverty Reduction: Empirical evidence from East and Southern Africa. Rugby, UK: Practical Action Publishing.
  • Diga K. (2013) Access and usage of ICTs by the poor (Part I). In: Elder L, Emdon H, Fuchs R and Petrazzini B (eds) Connecting ICTs to Development: The IDRC experience. London: Anthem Press; IDRC.
  • Diga, K. (2013). Local economic opportunities and ICTs: how ICTs affect livelihoods (part II). In H. Emdon, L. Elder, B. Petrazzini & R. Fuchs (eds), Connecting ICTs to development: the IDRC experience. London: Anthem Press; IDRC.

Articles

  • Bryant, K. and Diga, K. (2013). W/righting research capacity building: A preliminary model to inform writing support activities for African researchers. Alternation, 9, 46-73.
  • Diga, K., Nwaiwu, F., & Plantinga, P. (2013). ICT policy and poverty reduction in Africa. info, 5(5), 114-127.
  • Attwood, H., Diga, K., Braathen, E., & May, J. (2013). Telecentre functionality in South Africa: Re-enabling the community ICT access environment. Journal of Community Informatics, 9(4).
  • 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 10.1145/1978822.1978837More

Monographs

  • Rogan, M. Diga, K. and Valodia, I. (2013) Labour market analysis and business process services in South Africa: poverty reduction through information and digital employment initiative. Research Report 2013 No 1, August 2013

Conference papers

  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.

Other

  • Rogan, M. Diga, K. and Valodia, I. (2013). The labour market and digital jobs in Africa: South Africa’s workforce potential in impact sourcing. Research Brief No.1
  • 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.More