ICTs as frugal innovations: enabling new pathways towards refugee self-reliance and resilience in fragile contexts?

This chapter explores the growing influence of Informational Communication Technologies (ICTs) as a form of frugal innovation in less certain refugee contexts. It discusses gaps in understanding the scope, usage and impact of ICTs for refugee self-reliance and enterprise, and explores deeper social dynamics, especially risks related to (growing) digital and social exclusion for more marginalized groups and the implications for broader integration. It then looks closer at grassroots use of ICTs in boosting refugee innovation and micro-entrepreneurialism. Towards appreciating gender and ICTs in fragile contexts, the chapter examines empirical insights into refugee women’s experience with mobile apps in Kenya. In particular, online communication platforms may be permitting new collective capital and economic coordination among refugee women, and a deeper sense of personal confidence and identity. Yet with varied access and use of smartphones and apps, there may be emerging subtle divides between the women themselves. The discussion considers the impact of ICT use on local social dynamics and the role of women’s groups, shaping inclusion, integration and potential pathways of local development.