The Contribution of Information andCommunication Technologies (ICTs) in Climate
Change Awareness in Seke and Murewa Districtsof Zimbabwe
RESEARCH PAPER

No. 24

ATPS (2013): The Contribution of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Climate Change Awareness in Seke and Murewa Districts of Zimbabwe.
ATPS Research Paper No. 24

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ATPS (2013): The Contribution of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Climate Change Awareness in Seke and Murewa Districts of Zimbabwe.
ATPS Research Paper No. 24

2The Contribution of Information andCommunication Technologies (ICTs) in
Climate Change Awareness in Seke andMurewa Districts of Zimbabwe

Shakespear Mudombi
Institute for Economic Research on Innovation
Tshwane University of Technology
Pretoria, South Africa
Mammo Muchie
Institute for Economic Research on Innovation
Tshwane University of Technology
Pretoria, South Africa

	
  ATPS (2013): The Contribution of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Climate Change Awareness in Seke and Murewa Districts of Zimbabwe.
ATPS Research Paper No. 24

3This paper should be cited as:
African Technology Policy Studies Network, ATPS 2013: Contribution of Information andCommunication Technologies (ICTs) in Climate Change Awareness in Seke and Murewa
Districts of Zimbabwe (Shakespear Mudombi, Mammo Muchie), ATPS RESEARCH PAPER
No. 24© 2013Published by the African Technology Policy Studies Network

ISBN: 978-9966-030-68-9

ATPS (2013): The Contribution of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Climate Change Awareness in Seke and Murewa Districts of Zimbabwe.
ATPS Research Paper No. 24

4

Table of Contents
Acknowledgements						

6Abstract								

7

1Introduction						

8

2Literature Review						

10

3Methodology						

15

4Results and Discussions					

19

5Conclusion and Recommendations				28

References							

29ATPS (2013): The Contribution of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Climate Change Awareness in Seke and Murewa Districts of Zimbabwe.
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Acknowledgement
This report was produced as part of the implementation of the African Technology Policy
Studies Network (ATPS) Phase VI Strategic Plan, 2008 – 2012 funded by ATPS Donors
including the Ministerie van Buitenlandse Zaken (DGIS) the Netherlands, amongst others.
The authors hereby thank the ATPS for the financial and technical support during theimplementation of the program. The Authors specially thank Prof. Kevin Chika Urama, the
ATPS Executive Director for his visionary leadership as Program Director; Prof. Atieno
Ndede-Amadi, Program Coordinator; Dr. Nicholas Ozor, Senior Research Officer, ATPS;
Mr. Ernest Nti Acheampong, ATPS Research Officer and the ATPS Team for the technicalsupport during the research process.

ATPS (2013): The Contribution of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Climate Change Awareness in Seke and Murewa Districts of Zimbabwe.
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6Abstract
This study seeks to explore the role of ICTs in climate change awareness in rural areas.
It is based on a cross sectional study that was conducted in Seke and Murewa districtsin Mashonaland East province of Zimbabwe. The findings indicate that the majority of
respondents in the two districts were aware of climate change. Significant differences in
the level of climate change awareness were observed between those who had access andthose who did not have access to ICTs (radio; television; video cassette recorder (VCR);
digital video disc (DVD) player; fixed telephone; mobile phone; satellite decoder; computer;internet; and the traditional print media (newspapers; farming/environmental magazines;
business magazines; entertainment magazines; church magazines; and posters)), with those
who had access having a higher level of awareness than those who did not have access.
However not all ICTs were found to significantly influence the likelihood of a respondent
being aware of climate change. The following ICTs were found to have a significant positive
influence on the likelihood of an individual being aware of climate change: reading farming/
environmental magazines; access to radio; access to mobile phone. A negative relationshipwas observed between access to television and the likelihood of an individual being awareof climate change. However this does not mean access to television reduces climate change
awareness but it means that in the study area it decreased the likelihood of a respondent
being aware of climate change. These findings highlight an important aspect of ICTs which is,
ICTs are just technologies that facilitate information dissemination and communication, but
how these technologies and their capabilities are utilised is dependent on the users.

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1. Introduction
1.1 Background
The paper examines the role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) inclimate change awareness. The focus of the paper is at the local/community level in the rural
areas of Seke and Murewa districts in Mashonaland East Province of Zimbabwe. It is basedon a cross sectional survey that was conducted in the two districts from May to August 2010.
Climate is recognised as one of the biggest risk factors affecting the performance andmanagement of agricultural systems, and its variability and change contribute to thevulnerability of individuals, businesses, communities and regions (Meinke, et al. 2006). The
decline in rainfall and extreme weather patterns such as heavy rains, cyclones and droughts
are becoming more frequent throughout the continent especially in Sub-Saharan Africa (IFAD,
2010). Agricultural production relies mainly on rainfall and will be severely compromised inmany African countries, particularly for subsistence farmers; under climate change muchagricultural land will be lost, with shorter growing seasons and lower yields (UNFCCC, 2007).
Cooper et al., (2008) noted that whilst the exact nature and extent of the impacts of climatechange on temperature and rainfall distribution patterns remain uncertain, it is the poor andvulnerable who will be the most susceptible to changes in climate. Though these farmers
have developed several adaptation options to cope with current climate variability, such
adaptations may not be sufficient for future changes of climate (Boko, et al., 2007). Becauseof rural households’ vulnerability to climate change, there is need to devise strategies andcoping mechanisms that enhance rural households’ capacity to adapt to and also participate
in the mitigation of climate change. In order to strengthen farmers’ capacity to adapt toclimate change, it will be necessary to implement adaptation strategies through educating
farmers with tested and proven methods (Ngigi, 2009). Awareness creation can strengthen
farmers’ capacity to adapt to climate change through sensitization and dissemination ofclimate change information (ibid). Climate change awareness plays a critical role within
decision-making processes and is the basis to mobilise action within and for rural agriculturalcommunities (Ospina & Heeks, 2012).
1.2 Problem statement
There are various ways in which technologies both old and new can help in reducing theeffects of climate change. ICTs can play an important role as a medium of information andcommunication in climate change awareness, adaptation and mitigation strategies. However,
the availability and adoption of ICTs is varied between areas: developed and developing
countries; urban and rural areas and within rural areas themselves. Even when the ICTs areavailable, the information that is transmitted is also varied and its reception is varied.
Thioune (2003) noted that ICTs are known to transform communities, however the detailsof these transformations, the degree and pace of such changes are yet to be fully grasped,
hence the link between development and use of ICTs are yet to be clearly established andsupported by empirical results from Africa. Ospina & Heeks (2010) also noted that experiencesfrom vulnerable communities in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean point to theuse of ICT applications as part of climate change responses, however, this constitutes a very
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8new field of enquiry where much remains to be explored. Hence the need for studies that
explore the level of climate change awareness and how ICTs contribute to climate change
awareness amongst rural households.
1.3 Objectives of the Research
The main objective of the study was to analyse the contribution of Information andCommunication Technologies (ICTs) in climate change awareness in rural communities. The
main objective was supported by the following sub-objectives:• Assess if there is a positive difference in the level of climate change awareness between
those who had access and who did not have access to information and communication
technologies (ICTs).
• Establish if there is a positive relationship between access to information andcommunication technologies (ICTs) and climate change awareness.
1.4 Justification
Most of the studies that have looked at ICTs have focused on the application of ICTs indevelopment, with the majority being theoretical papers and ex-post evaluation of ICTdevelopmental projects. Also most studies that have looked at climate change have focused
mainly on adaptation, there are very few studies have looked at climate change awarenessespecially in the African context. The UNFCCC (2007) noted that it is not just climate datathat is needed for effective vulnerability and adaptation assessments to climate change,
equally as important, and very much lacking at present, is the need for accurate socioeconomic data. Little is known about the level of climate change awareness in rural areas.
In addition most studies that have looked at access to information by rural households focus
mainly on traditional agricultural extension. Kalas and Finlay, 2009 noted that ICTs, with afocus on information and communication (including the media), are tools that can facilitate
systematic awareness raising and knowledge sharing about the effects of climate change
and possible coping strategies at all levels of society, but in particular in the world’s mostvulnerable groups. The study explored the contribution of Information and Communication
technologies in climate change awareness amongst rural people.

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92. Literature Review
Ospina and Heeks (2010) in the scoping study on the links between ICTs and climate change
in developing countries noted that literature linking both the potential and challenges of ICTs
in the climate change field began to emerge at the beginning of the 2000s; they identify
three distinctive strands of research in the field. The first strand of research addresses
broad issues concerning ICTs, sustainable development and the environment from a global
perspective. The second strand is characterized by the emergence of more topic-specificand technical research covering aspects of climate change mitigation, and driven primarily bydeveloped countries’ priorities in the field. The third strand is characterized by an increasing
acknowledgement of developing countries’ needs and priorities in the climate change field.
This strand is characterized by emerging evidence on the use of ICT applications in vulnerable
contexts and adaptation strategies of developing countries (ibid). It is the third strand that is
the focus of this paper.
2.1 Climate variability and change in Zimbabwe
Climate change leads to variations in the amount of rainfall received, with some regions
experiencing too much rainfall which might result in floods while other areas receive lessand inconsistent rainfall, which result in droughts (Hulme et al, 2005). The Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)’s regional scenarios for Africa for the next century indicatethat East Africa could receive more rain while southern Africa will probably become drier, anddesertification will remain a major threat in arid and semiarid regions (UNEP, 2003). Studies
by Janowick (1998) and Ropelewski and Halpert (1987) confirmed that El Nino Southern
Oscillation (ENSO)1 is one of the most important controlling factors with regard to interannual rainfall variability in some regions of Africa. These studies found that two regions
having the most dominant ENSO influences are eastern equatorial Africa during the short
October to November rainy season and south-eastern Africa during the main November to
February wet season. Southern Africa’s sensitivity to ENSO is strongest over South Africa
during December to February before migrating northwards over Zimbabwe and Mozambiqueduring March to May season (Hulme et al, 2005).
The factsheet on Climate variability and change in Zimbabwe highlighted a number of issues
on the country’s climate. Zimbabwe is experiencing more hot and fewer cold days than before;
with the country’s annual mean surface temperature having warmed by 0.4oC between 1900
and 2000 (Coping with Drought & Climate Change (CwDCC) (b), n.d.). The period between
1980 and 2000 was the warmest and the driest at the same time; and the timing and amountof rainfall received became increasingly uncertain. The last thirty years (from 1980) haveseen a trend towards reduced rainfall or heavy rainfall and drought occuring in the same
season. Mutekwa (2009) also concurred noting that Zimbabwe has of late been experiencing
frequent droughts alternating with periods of very high rainfall, in some cases, floods andmid-season prolonged dry spells being experienced in the same season. Balling (2005 citing
Unganai, 1997) noted that data from Zimbabwe’s rural areas on temperature trends 1933 to
1993, show a rise in maximum temperatures, a decrease in minimum temperatures and asubstantial rise in the diurnal temperature range.
1
El Niño-southern oscillation (ENSO): is a complex interaction of the tropical Pacific Ocean and the global atmosphere that results in irregularly occurring episodes ofchanged ocean and weather patterns in many parts of the world, often with significant impacts, such as altered marine habitats, rainfall changes, floods, droughts, and changes instorm patterns (UN/ISDR, 2010).

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2.1.1 Initiatives that were undertaken to enhance climate change awareness in
Zimbabwe
The Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Management (formely, Ministry ofMines, Environment and Tourism) (1998) noted that in 1987 the Government of Zimbabwe
produced a policy document which was a blue- print for the conservation of the environment
called “National Conservation Strategy”. This document paved way for most environmental
programmes in Zimbabwe, including the signing and ratification of the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) by Zimbabwe in Rio de Janeiro. Climatechange activities which followed the issuing of this document were part of environmental
programmes based on this historic policy document. In an attempt to meet the obligation of
Article 6 of the UNFCCC which requires Parties to the Convention to promote and facilitate
the development and implementation of educational and public awareness programmes on
climate change and its impact, Zimbabwe conducted climate change awareness workshops
targeted at the grassroots community, industry, schools and universities, professional groups
and policy makers (ibid).
The Zimbabwean government also took other initiatives to increase climate change awarenessin the country, these initiatives include workshops such as the Climate Change Roundtableorganised in 2009 by the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources Management inconjunction with COMESA with financial support from the Norwegian Embassy (Ministry ofEnvironment and Natural Resources Management, 2009). It was highlighted that the aimof the workshop amongst other objectives was to create awareness and initiate dialogue
on climate change in the country with full participation of legislators, industry and insurance
sectors, bankers, and other players. However, the impact of all these inititiatives has notbeen documented.
2.1.2 Barriers to smallholder farmers’ adaptation to climate change
Given the threats to livelihoods due to current climate variability and expected change thereis need for rural households to adapt. Gbetibouo (2008) noted that the extent to which theadverse impacts of climate change are felt depends in large part on the extent of adaptationin response to climate change, without adaptation, climate change would be detrimental tothe agricultural sector, but with adaptation, vulnerability can be significantly reduced.
The Coping with Drought & Climate Change (CwDCC) project in Zimbabwe identified somebarriers to replication of successful adaptive strategies, these are: information; institutions;
inclusion; and finance (CwDCC (a)). Information barriers are due to limited awarenessamong policy makers and development practionioners about the risks posed by climatechange and how these relate to local development priorities. Institutional barriers contributeto weak coordination between those working on climate change, development and disasterrisk reduction. Inclusion barriers occur because there are limited platforms to share andcapture experiences from different stakeholders while financial barriers are there because
the cost of adaptation is substantial (ibid).
2.2 The Link between information, knowledge and adaptation
For meaningful adaptation and mitigation, individuals, households, and communities should beaware and have the necessary knowledge on what should and should not be done in addressing
the challenge. If rural households have access to information, it will enhance their awarenessand adaptation capacity, as Thioune (2003 citing Brodnig and Mayer-Schonberger, 2000)
noted that accurate and reliable information is a key element for sustainable development.
Information can lead to knowledge which is a prerequisite for development (Mansell and Wehn
1998; Danofsky 2005; Hamel 2005; Ahmed 2005 as quoted by Ahmed 2007). Farmers’ ability
to perceive climate change is a key precondition for their choice to adapt (Gbetibouo, 2008).
The African Climate Change Resilience Alliance (ACCRA) consortium identified fivecharacteristics of adaptive capacity, and one of the characteristics is knowledge and
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11Information. It highlights that successful adaptation requires information and understandingof future change, knowledge around adaptation options, whereby it is important to ensurethat systems are in place to distribute relevant information at both national and regional
scales e.g. early warning systems; meteorological data and forecasting; and climate impact
data (ACCRA, 2010). Mutekwa (2009) studied climate change impacts and adaptation in thesmallholder sector in Mazvihwa area of Zvishavane District in Zimbabwe, and the findings
were as follows. The majority of the farmers (53%) professed ignorance about climate change
and its potential consequences, whilst 47% indicated that there was some kind of change thatthey had observed in recent years.
2.3 Applications of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)
The term ‘Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs)’ is used to refer to hardware,
software, networks and media for collection, storage, processing, transmission andpresentation of information in the formats of voice, data, text and images (World Bank (n.d.);Nyirenda-Jere, 2010). Greenberg (2005) noted that ICTs are often categorized based on
how long they have been in common use, and to some extent the technology used for thetransmission and storage of information. Greenberg identified three categories namely: new;old; and really old ICTs.
•••

New ICTs are mainly based on digital technology, these include: computers, satellites,
wireless one-on-one communications; mobile phones, the Internet, e-mail and multimedia.
Old ICTs have been in reasonably common use throughout much of the world for many
decades, these include: radio, television, land-line telephones and telegraph. They
are mainly based on analogue technology though some are now migrating to digitaltechnology.
Really Old ICTs have been in common use for several hundred years, these include:
newspapers, books and libraries.

This paper takes into consideration both old and new ICTs namely: radio; television; video
cassette recorder (VCR); digital video disc (DVD) player; fixed telephone; mobile phone;satellite decoder; computer; internet; and the traditional print media (newspapers; farming/
environmental magazines; business magazines; entertainment magazines; church
magazines; and posters). Though the term ICTs is generally used to refer to informationand communication technologies that are electronically based, in this particular study it wasdeemed necessary to include even those in print format.
The primary purpose of ICTs is to provide an enabling environment for the generation ofideas, their dissemination and use. Through ICTs, the diffusion and sharing of knowledge isenabled through open access to information and better coordination of knowledge. ICTs havebeen and continue to be used to an ever increasing extent in education and learning throughcomputer aided learning and distance learning (ITU, 2008). Likening the ICT revolution to thefirst machine-driven industrial revolution, Baskaran & Muchie (2006) noted that ICTs havegenerated fundamental changes in the socio-economic life of people and nations across theworld.
The UN Millennium Project (2005) noted that ICT will become one of the main enablers
in pursuit of poverty alleviation, as a facilitator of networking, processing, distribution andsharing of knowledge and information. Current mainstreaming approaches that integrate
ICTs as a strategic tool into development programmes (e.g., education, health, governance)
can be directly applied to climate change strategies (Kalas & Finlay, 2009). There aremany ICT applications in environmental issues which are categorised as: environmental
observation; environmental analysis; environmental planning; environmental management
and protection; impact and mitigating effects of ICTs utilization; and environmental capacity
building (ITU, 2008). The role of ICTs in capacity building is very important. ICTs help reducethe vulnerabilities and risks faced by the poor and marginalised due to climate change by:
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12raising awareness at the grassroots level; enabling access to relevant information and locallyapplicable knowledge to help save lives; facilitating learning and practical knowledge sharing;and empowering the poor and marginalised to raise their voice for political accountability andmeaningful action (Kalas & Finlay, 2009)
There are few studies that have been done that focus on the application of ICTs in different
aspects of climate change. However, there are some initiatives that are being undertakensuch as the Climate Change, Innovation and ICTs Project at Centre for Development
Informatics at the University of Manchester which is at the forefront of doing research inthis regard. It provides evidence through the various case studies on the application of ICTs
on the different aspects of climate change. In one of the case studies Saravanan (2011) ina case study on using ICTs to facilitate “climatesmart agriculture” among farmers in NorthEast India highlighted the need to prioritise appropriate ICTs in rural areas especially thosethat are already in use such as the radio and TV for general awareness raising, and mobile
phones for more individualised assistance.
2.4 Conceptual Framework
The role of ICTs in climate change awareness was conceptualised using the sustainable
livelihoods (SL) framework. Other researchers who have used the SL framework include
Duncombe (2006) who analysed the ICT applications for poverty reduction via microenterprise in Botswana. Sife, Kiondo, & Lyimo-Macha (2010) also employed the SL framework
in studying the contribution of mobile phones to rural livelihoods in Morogoro region of
Tanzania. Duncombe (2006) integrated the information chain proposed by Heeks (1999;2005) to show the information and communication processes in the livelihoods framework. In
this paper, climate variability and change aspects were added to the Duncombe and Heeks
framework as shown in Figure 1.

	
  Participatory
assessment

Data-Trends-Shocks-Seasonality

Vulnerability
context of rural
people:Climate variability &change	
  Information	  	
  Pro-poor
application

Action via
transforming
structures
andprocesses

Communication	  Livelihood Assets-Physical-Social-Financial-Human-NaturalFigure 1: Climate change information and communication processes in the livelihoods
framework (Source: Adapted from Duncombe (2006) who adapted it from theinformation chain by Heeks, 1999)
Lack of livelihoods assets in rural areas heightens their vulnerability to climatic impacts, and
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13also undermines their capacity to respond to the challenges and to benefit from potential
opportunities derived from climate change (Ospina & Heeks, 2012). Knowledge andinformation play a key role in overcoming the challenges and constraints that communities
face, and are pivotal for building and strengthening the capacity of multiple stakeholders
involved in adaptation strategies at the micro, meso and macro levels (Ospina & Heeks,2011).
ICTs can be used in a number of effective ways to enhance current livelihoods or to create newones (Greenberg, 2005). From the conceptual framework, ICTs will contribute to sustainable
livelihoods in rural areas when they are utilised for information generation, exchange andknowledge creation; when they facilitate communication amongst the people within andoutside the rural areas; and when they reduce transaction costs. Climate change awarenessis the basis of all other responses to climate change. Duncombe (2006) noted that information
has both an analytical and a functional role within the SL framework. Of importance is, if
climate variability and change data on trends, shocks, and seasonality is available and throughparticipatory assessment is converted to information and communicated to the people, they
are better able to adapt to and also participate in the mitigation of climate change.
The adaptation and mitigation actions that rural households and communities undertakein response to climate change is dependent on the availability and utilisation of livelihood
assets within their reach and these adaptation and mitigation actions will in turn impact on
the livelihood assets. Appropriate introduction and utilisation of ICTs in rural areas is likely
to directly and indirectly enhance all the livelihood assets (physical; social; financial; human;and natural). However in terms of climate change awareness, ICTs are likely to enhance
the human capital component of livelihood assets by availing information and facilitating
communication which are essential in knowledge creation. ICTs also play an important roleby transmitting climate change information from the research field to the rural people andfrom rural people to researchers; however this information is important only if the rural people
understand the information, which can contribute to knowledge.

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3. Methodology
3.1 Study area
Zimbabwe has 10 provinces, and from the 10 provinces one province (Mashonaland East)
was selected. According to the 2002 Census, Zimbabwe had a total population of about 11,634, 663 people, and Mashonaland East province had a total population of about 1,127 413
people and 309,198 households. Most of the population in the province is rural while theurban population accounts for about 24 percent. Figure 2 below is the Mashonaland Eastmap; it has 11 districts, two of which were selected for the study namely Seke and Murewa.

Figure 2: Mashonaland East Province map showing Seke and Murewa districts
Source: CSO (2004)
3.2 Data collection procedure
Before commencing the actual data collection the first activity was to apply for approvalthrough the Government of Zimbabwe through the Ministry of Local Government to undertakethe research which was approved at the end of May 2011. The enumerators were thenidentified and trained in data collection, and then the questionnaires were pre-tested. The
data was collected using a general household questionnaire and key informant interviews.
Data collection was conducted from May to August 2011.

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3.3 Sampling method
A multi-stage sampling approach was used. The sampling unit was a household2. A sample
size of 300 households was used in the study, with 150 households coming from each of thetwo districts. One respondent was selected from each household, who was supposed to be
the household head, however if the household head was not available any adult member ofthe household could respond on behalf of the household head.
3.4 Specification of model and techniques
Measurement of variables
The study focused on two main issues namely: access to and use of Information andCommunication Technologies (ICTs) and climate change awareness. Various questions were
formulated to explore different aspects of access to and use of the ICTs. Climate change
awareness was evaluated. In measuring climate change awareness, the aim of the study
was not to solicit a scientific definition of climate change from respondents; the aim was toevaluate people’s knowledge on various aspects of climate change. This was done by asking
the respondents, if they had some knowledge relating to changes in the climate. This wasa yes/no question which separated those who were aware and those who were not awareof climate change. For the respondents who had indicated that they were aware of climatechange, they were further asked 11 questions/statements which had five point Likert scale(strongly agree; agree; undecided; disagree; strongly disagree) in which the respondent was
expected to indicate his/her level of agreement with the statements. Whyte (2000) noted
researchers can manipulate variables to create various types of scales, particularly ordinal
and interval scales, which enable them to apply various types of statistical tests; whereby
one can combine the initial variables to create indices, either by simply adding them or bysome other means. The responses to the 11 questions were used to create a climate change
awareness index. The index was calculated as follows: the scores from the 11 questions
were summed up and the minimum and maximum total scores a respondent could get were
-22 and 22 respectively. To get an index between -1 and 1, the total score that a respondent
got was then divided by 22.
Testing for differences using T-tests
T-tests were used to test for the differences on climate change awareness between those
who had access and those who did not have access to ICTs. T-tests can be used to test
whether a correlation coefficient is different from zero; to test whether a regression coefficient
is different from zero; and test whether group means are different (Field, 2000). There are
two different t-tests for measuring differences in means namely the independent-means anddependent-means t-tests. Independent-means (Independent samples) t-test is used when
there are two experimental conditions and different participants were assigned to eachcondition. Dependent-means (matched pairs/ paired samples) t-test is used when there are
two experimental conditions and the same participants took part in both conditions. The
independent t-test was used in this study since it tests differences between different people(those whose had access and those who did not have access to ICTs). The formula of the
independent t-test is shown in equation (3.1).

2. A Household constitutes a person or group of persons, irrespective of whether related or not, who normally live together in the same housing unit orgroup of housing units and have common cooking arrangements (Stork & Stork, 2008)

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(3.1)			

Where

and

are sample means of respective groups while and are population means forrespective groups
and is the estimate of the standard error. Instead of comparing
differences between pairs of scores as for the dependent-means t-test, differences in overallmeans of the 2 samples are compared. Under the null hypothesis (where the hypothesisis there are no differences)equation (3.2)

and therefore

equation (3.1) becomes(3.2) 			Binary logistic regression model
The logistic regression model has been used in many applications due to its mathematicalconvenience (Greene, 2003); in this paper it was used to test the significance of access tovarious ICTs on climate change awareness. The formula for binary logit (Long, 1997; `Field,2009) is shown in equation (3.3) below.
(3.3)

	
  

Pr( y = 1 | x' ) represent the probability of an event happening, the dependent variable takes
a value of 1 given an independent variable . Represents vectors of all the independent
variables. The explanatory power of the independent variable is explained by the coefficient. The dependent variable is the probability of a respondent being aware of climate change.
This dependent variable takes two discrete values, which is 1 if the respondent is aware ofclimate change or 0 if the respondent is not aware of climate change.
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The model predicts the maximum likelihood of a respondent being aware of climatechange versus not being aware of climate change. The coefficient in the model depicts a
relationship of how variations in the independent regressors affect the predicted log of odds
of a respondent being aware versus not being aware of climate change. This relationshipbetween the dependent and the independent variable can be depicted using the antilog ofthe(exp ) which is the odds ratio. The formula of the odds ratio is presented below.

(3.4)

Where

is the probability of being aware of climate change ( Pr( y = 1 | x' )) in equation (1) andis the probability of not being aware of climate change (). Equation (2)represents the odds ratio in favour of being aware of climate change which is the ratio of
the probability that a respondent is aware of climate change to the probability of not being
aware of climate change. An odds ratio that is greater than 1 implies that a unit increase in
the continuous variable or discrete change in the categorical variable in the regressors leads
to a decrease in the odds of a respondent being aware versus unaware of climate change.
3.5 Data analysis
The collected data from the household survey was entered and cleaned in SPSS. SPSS
was also used for descriptive data analysis while STATA was used for the logistic regression
analysis.

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4. Results and Discussions
4.1 Household characteristics
From the sampled households, 32.1 percent were female-headed while 67.9 percent weremale-headed households. The minimum and maximum ages of household heads were 23
and 98 years respectively with a mean age of 52.23 years. The minimum and maximum
household sizes were 1 and 18 respectively with a mean of 5.84 members. The majorityof the household heads had some basic education while only 4.3 percent of the household
heads did not have any form of formal education.
4.2 Knowledge of and access to Information and Communication technologies
Both old and new ICTs were analysed namely: radio; television; video cassette recorder(VCR); digital video disc (DVD) player; fixed telephone; mobile phone; satellite decoder;computer; internet; and the really old ICTs in print format (newspapers; farming/environmental
magazines; business magazines; entertainment magazines; church magazines; and posters).
Greenberg (2005) noted that the categorisation of ICTs (new, old, and really old) generally
apply to the developed world, in many parts of the developing world, and particularly in areas
where literacy rates are low, they are all relatively new. This implies that those ICTs that are
generally classified as old might be new or even unknown in some rural areas. Therefore
in exploring access to ICTs the initial step was to evaluate whether the respondent knew
the various ICTs, which was then followed by assessing ownership of the ICTs by different
members of the household. Ownership of any ICTs by any household member was taken asa proxy of access to ICTs by the respondent. A shortcoming of the approach was the failure
to incorporate access to ICT through people who were not part of the household. The resultson ICT knowledge and access are presented in Table 1 below.

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Table 1: Knowledge of and access to ICTs disaggregated by district
ICT

Knowledge

AccessMurewaSeke

Average

MurewaSeke

Average

%

%

%

%

%

%

Radio access

98.7

97.3

98.0

77.9

71.8

74.8

Televisionaccess

86.7

92.6

89.6

40.7

51.7

46.2

Satellite
decoder access

65.3

60.4

62.9

8.0

13.4

10.7

Video Cassette
Recorderaccess

63.3

61.1

62.2

8.0

14.8

11.4

Digital Video
Disc player
access

65.3

60.1

62.7

15.3

14.1

14.7

Fixed
Telephoneaccess

76.0

65.8

70.9

2.0

2.0

2.0

Mobile phone
access

94.7

95.3

95.0

70.7

85.2

77.9

Computeraccess

65.3

60.4

62.9

2.0

4.7

3.3

Internet access

52.0

45.0

48.5

1.3

2.7

2.0

Source: Survey data, 2011

Generally the majority of respondents knew the ICTs, with more than half knowing each of
the ICTs except for the internet in Seke district. Most respondents knew the radio (98%);
followed by the mobile phone (95%); television (89.6%); fixed telephone (70.9%); computerand satellite decoder (62.9%); DVD (62.7%); VCR (62.2%) and the least known was theinternet (48.5%). In terms of access to ICTs, the greatest percentage of households hadaccess to the mobile phone (77.7%); followed by the radio (74.8%); television (46.2%); DVD(14.7%); VCR (11.4%); satellite decoder (10.7%); computer (3.3%); internet (2.0%); and theleast was the telephone (2.0%). The percentage of respondents who did not have access to
any ICT under consideration including the print media was 5.0%.
The newspapers; farming/environmental magazines; business magazines; entertainment
magazines; church magazines; and posters, were assessed if the respondent or any
household member read them. The results are shown in Table 2 below. The greatest
number of respondents indicated that they read the newspaper (72.4%); followed bychurch magazines (55.2%); farming/environmental magazines (51.5%); posters (50.2%);
entertainment magazines (41.5%) and the least read were business magazines (40.5%).

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Table 2: Readership of various forms of print media
District
MurewaSeke

Average%%%

Newspapers

67.3

77.9

72.6

Farming/environmental magazines

45.3

57.7

51.5

Business magazines

30.7

50.3

40.5

Entertainment magazines

34.0

49.0

41.5

Church magazines

48.0

62.4

55.2

Posters

40.5

59.7

50.2

Source: Survey data, 2011

4.3 Climate change awarenessThe results on climate change awareness are shown in Table 3 below. The majority of the
respondents indicated that they were aware of climate change, with about 86.3% indicatingthat were aware while 13.7% were not. A greater proportion of respondents who were awareof climate change were from Murewa district (94%) while Seke had 78.5%. The level ofclimate change awareness was further evaluated using the climate change awareness index3. The index ranged between -1 to 1; an index value close to 1 means an individual was moreaware of climate change while an index value of 0 or below indicates the respondent was notaware of climate change. The average index in the two districts was 0.54. Murewa district
had a higher climate change awareness index of 0.59 compared to Seke district’s index of
0.48.
Table 3: Climate change awareness by district
Seke

MurewaAverage

Aware of climate change (Yes)

78.5%

94%

86.3%

Climate change awareness index
Source: Survey data, 2011

0.48

0.59

0.54

4.4 Exploring the relationship between access to ICTs and climate change awareness4.4.1 Testing for differences
T-tests4 were conducted to evaluate if there were differences in the level of climate change awarenessbetween respondents who had access and those who did not have access to ICTs. The results arepresented in Table 4 below. Significant differences were observed in the level of climate change
awareness between those who had access and those who did not have access to various ICTs except
for the computer. Those who had access to ICTs had a higher level of climate change awareness thanthose who did not have. Significant differences in the level of climate change awareness were also
observed between those who read and those who did not read the various forms of print media understudy. Those who read had a higher level of climate change awareness than those who did not.
3. The calculation of the change awareness index was described in section 3.4
4. T-tests were discussed in the analytical framework in section 3.4.2

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Table 4: Table 4: T-test results in climate change awareness between those who hadaccess and those who did not have access to ICTs
ICT

Mean Climate change awareness
index

Difference

Hypothesis: difference >0

Own

Do not own

Radio

0.56

0.46

0.10

0.0076***

Television

0.57

0.51

0.06

0.0513*

Satellite decoder

0.63

0.53

0.10

0.0429**

VCR

0.67

0.52

0.15

0.0040***

DVD

0.62

0.52

0.10

0.0287**

Fixed telephone

0.79

0.53

0.26

0.0245**

Mobile phone

0.57

0.43

0.14

0.0013***

Computer

0.55

0.54

0.01

0.4459Internet

0.72

0.53

0.19

0.0820*Print MediaRead

Do not read

Newspapers

0.56

0.46

0.10

0.0092***

Farming/Environmental magazine

0.58

0.48

0.10

0.0062***Business magazines

0.58

0.51

0.07

0.0328**Entertainment
magazines

0.59

0.50

0.09

0.0045***Church magazines

0.57

0.50

0.07

0.0398**Posters

0.57

0.49

0.08

0.0162**

Source: Survey data, 2011		

Significance level: * is 10%; ** is 5%; *** is 1%

4.4.2 ICTs significanceTo further explore the relationship between access to ICTs and climate change awareness,a logistic regression model was used. The dependent variable was a binary variable (1=yes,
0=no) to the question (Are you aware of climate change?) and the independent variables
were access to various ICTs (radio; television; satellite decoder; video cassette recorder;
digital video disc player; mobile phone; computer; internet); and the frequency of: reading
newspapers; reading farming/ environmental magazines; reading business magazines;
reading entertainment magazines; reading church magazines; and reading posters. The
logistic regression results are presented in Table 5 below. The table has two columns, one
for the odds ratio5 and the other for the significance level. Fixed telephone and internet
connection variables were dropped as they predicted success perfectly in the model.

5
Odds ratio is an indicator of the change in odds resulting from a unit change in the predictor. Odds ratio can be interpreted as: if the value
is greater than 1, it means as the predictor increases, the odds of an outcome occurring also increase; a value less 1 indicates that as the predictor
increases, the odds of an outcome occurring decreases (Field, 2009: 270-271).

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Table 5: Logistic regression results
Variable

Odds Ratio

Significance level

Radio access3.42260.003***

Television access0.29150.009***

Satellite decoder access0.7651

0.776

Video Cassette Recorderaccess11.4425

0.185

Digital Video Disc player
access

1.8946

0.480

Mobile phone access1.82690.011**

Computer access

0.14400.140

Frequency of reading
Newspapers

0.8841

0.456

Frequency of reading Farming/
Environmental magazines

1.67230.022**

Frequency of reading Businessmagazines

0.8754

0.657

Frequency of readingEntertainment magazines

1.02470.930

Frequency of reading Church
magazines

1.0242

0.867

Frequency of reading Posters
Source: Survey data, 2011		

0.79070.108
Significance level: * is 10%; ** is 5%; *** is 1%

Four variables were found to have a significant relationship with the dependent variable
and these were access to: radio; television; and mobile phone; and reading of farming/
environmental magazines. The most significant variables were: access to radio and television
ownership, which were significant at 1% significance level. Access to mobile phone andfrequency of reading farming/environmental magazines were significant at 5% level. The odd
ratios of access to: radio; mobile phone; and frequency of reading farming/environmental
magazines are greater than 1, which means access to radio and mobile phone; and reading
farming/environmental magazines increased the odds of an individual being aware ofclimate change. The odds ratio of television ownership is less than 1, which means access totelevision reduced the odds of an individual being aware of climate change.
4.5 Perceptions on the importance of access to ICTs in climate change awareness
Perceptions of individuals are important determinants in the adoption and use of technologies
and ideas. To further explore the role of ICTs in climate change awareness, respondents
were asked whether they considered the ICTs to be important in climate change awareness.
The results are presented in figure 3 below; the figure shows the percentage of respondents
who indicated whether they perceived each particular ICT to be important or not in climatechange awareness. Yes represents the percentage that perceived the ICT to be important
while no represents the percentage that perceived the ICT not to be important in climatechange awareness. N/A is not applicable it represents the percentage of respondents who
did not know the ICT or those who knew the ICT but did not have access to the ICT.

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Figure 3: Perceptions on whether the ICT is important in climate change awarenessSource: Survey data
The results indicate that the following ICTs namely: radio; television; newspapers; farming/
environmental magazines; and business magazines had a greater proportion of respondents
who perceived them to be important than the proportion who considered them not to beimportant in increasing climate change awareness. The radio was perceived as the mostimportant (83%); followed by newspapers (59%); television (57%); farming/environmental
magazines (43%); and business magazines (24%). The other ICTs namely: satellite decoder;
VCR; DVD; fixed telephone; mobile phone; computer; internet; entertainment magazines;
church magazines; and posters had a greater proportion of respondents who perceived
them as not important than the proportion who considered them important in climate change
awareness.
4.6 Discussion
The first finding was that the majority of respondents indicated that they were aware of climatechange. The second finding is that there are significant differences in the level of climatechange awareness between those who had access and those who did not have access to ICTs.
Those who had access to ICTs had a higher level of climate change awareness than those
who did not have. The third finding is access to some ICTs such as radio; mobile phone; andreading of farming/environmental magazines had a significant positive relationship with thelikelihood that a respondent was aware of climate change. However, access to the television
was found to have a significant negative relationship with the likelihood that a respondent
was aware of climate change. These findings indicate that access to old ICTs such as theradio and really old ICTs such as reading farming/environmental magazines increased thelikelihood of an individual being aware of climate change while in terms of the new ICTs only
the mobile phone increased the likelihood of being aware of climate change. This makes it
imperative to briefly discuss each of the ICTs that were found to have a significant influence.
4.6.1 Radio
Access to the radio was found to have a significant positive relationship with the likelihoodthat a respondent is aware of climate change. Its importance as a source of information has
been widely acknowledged by many researchers and it is one of the old ICTs which is widelyadopted even in rural areas. The positive relationship was expected, it was further confirmedby respondents’ perceptions on the importance of the radio in climate change awarenesspresented in Figure 3 in section 4.4.3. The radio was perceived as the most important ICTin climate change awareness with 83% of respondents perceiving it as important compared
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15% who perceived it as not important. Climate change information is disseminated either
directly e.g. through specific programs focused not only on climate change but other related
issues such agriculture and the environment (e.g. radio and TV programmes such as Murimi
wanhasi/ Umlimi wanamhla/ Today’s Farmer) or indirectly through reporting climate related
events happening in other areas.
4.6.2 Mobile phone
Access to the mobile phone was found to have a significant positive relationship with thelikelihood that a respondent was aware of climate change. This finding was expected,
however the results on perceptions (in section 4.4.3) indicate respondents perceived themobile phone as not important in contributing to climate change awareness. Only 13%
perceived the mobile phone to be important against 81% who perceived it as not important;while 6% was not applicable. This paradox can be explained by looking at some of theattributes of mobile phone technology.
The ITU (2010) noted that important ICT developments have taken place in recent years
such as the rise of mobile telephony and its associated applications. The launch of new
standards in the mobile sector, the convergence of technologies (such as broadcasting andtelecommunication) and the steady expansion of high-speed communication infrastructure
have significantly changed the way ICTs are accessed and used. The convergence ofbroadcasting and telecommunication applications on the mobile phone has transformed theway the phone is used, it is no longer just a communication device but also a source of
information since users can also access radio and television applications. This is also being
enabled by the proliferation of cheaper brands of mobile phones (mainly from the Asian
continent) which are popular because they are: cheaper; have converged applications (radio;
television; multimedia); can handle more than one Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card
(which makes them appropriate in areas where network coverage is poor especially in rural
areas, as the user can easily switch between networks). From observation, mobile phones
with radio applications were common in study area, which also explain why the mobile phone
had a significant positive influence on the likelihood that a respondent was aware of climatechange.
The significance of the mobile phone can also be explained by looking at the benefits
associated with its use. Bhavnani et al, 2008 (citing other authors) categorised the benefitsof mobile telephony into three categories: direct; indirect; and intangible benefits. The direct
benefits occur at the macro-level where it has a positive impact on economic welfare by:generating GDP; job generation; productivity increases; and taxation revenue. Indirect
benefits occur at the social or micro-level, as it can produce follow-on economic and social
benefits such as: enhancing entrepreneurship, reducing information asymmetries andmarket inefficiencies, and substitution of transportation. Intangible benefits are difficult tovalue, may not have direct economic benefit, but enhance and promote the growth of culture,society and societal ties. In this regard the mobile phone has benefits in: aiding disaster
relief; enabling the dissemination of locally-generated and locally-relevant educational andhealth information; and promoting social capital and social cohesion (ibid). In the context ofrural areas, it is through the indirect and intangible benefits the access to the mobile phoneincreases the likelihood of climate change awareness.
4.6.3 Farming/ Environmental magazines
Reading farming/ environmental magazines was found to have significant positive influenceon the likelihood of a respondent being aware of climate change. They were also perceived tobe the fourth most important in climate change awareness. 43% of the respondents perceived
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25them as important while 3% perceived them as not important and 49% not applicable. The
positive relationship was expected since these magazines carry agricultural and environment
information of which climate change issues are cross-cutting. Though reading newspapers
did not have a significant influence on the likelihood of being aware of climate change, therespondents perceived newspapers to be the second most important ICT after the radio incontributing to climate change awareness.
4.6.4 Television
The regression results show that access to television had a significant negative relationshipwith the likelihood of a respondent being aware of climate change. This does not meanaccess to television reduced an individual’s level of climate change awareness but it means
it reduced the likelihood that a respondent was aware of climate change. This finding iscontra to a priori expectation, whereby access to television was expected to have a positive
relationship with the likelihood of an individual being aware of climate change. The a priori
expectation is also supported by respondents’ perceptions on the importance of television inclimate change awareness. Television was perceived by the respondents to be the third mostimportant ICT after radio and newspapers in contributing to climate change awareness; 57%of the respondents perceived the television to be important compared to 32% who perceived
it not to be important; while 11% were not applicable.
To explain the unexpected negative relationship between access to television and thelikelihood of a respondent being aware of climate change, there was need to explore howthese variables relate with other variables. Correlation analyses were conducted on four
variables namely: access to television; aware of climate change; whether the household got
agricultural income only; and whether the household got non-agricultural income. The resultsof the correlation analysis are presented in Table 6 below.
Table 6: Spearman’s rho correlation coefficients
Aware of climatechangeAgricultural
income only

Agricultural
income only

Non-agricultural
IncomeCorrelation
CoefficientSig. (2-tailed)

0.199
0.001**

Non-agricultural
IncomeAccess to
television

Correlation
Coefficient

0.081-0.044Sig. (2-tailed)

0.161

0.452

.

Correlation
Coefficient

0.041

0.013

0.212

Sig. (2-tailed)

0.482

0.818

0.000**

Source: Survey data ** Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

Significant association was found between Aware of climate change and Agricultural income
only, however no significant association was found between Aware of climate change andNon-agricultural income. Significant association was also found between having Nonagricultural income and access to television. About 65.6% of household heads who had nonagricultural income sources had access to a television while 41.2% of household heads who
had agricultural income only had access to a television. This could give possible reasons forthe negative relationship between access to television and the likelihood of being aware ofclimate change. The positive correlation between having agricultural income only and aware
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of climate change suggests that people who are mainly dependent on agriculture are likely
to be aware of climate change compared to those with non-agricultural income sources.
For those with non-agricultural income sources, they could be less concerned in climatechange issues, so even if they have access to the television they might be less interested inprograms that relate to climate change and agricultural issues.

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5. Conclusion and Recommendations
Significant differences in the level of climate change awareness were observed between
those who had access and those who did not have access to ICTs, with those who hadaccess having a higher level of awareness than those who did not have access. However
not all ICTs were found to significantly influence the likelihood of a respondent being aware ofclimate change. The following ICTs were found to have a significant positive influence on thelikelihood of an individual being aware of climate change: reading the farming/environmental
magazines (really old ICTs); access to radio (old ICTs); access to mobile phone (new ICTs).
The importance of the mobile phone in climate change awareness can be attributed to theindirect and intangible benefits associated with the mobile phone, and these benefits arebeing reinforced by the convergence of applications (broadcasting and telecommunications)on the mobile phone.
A negative relationship was observed between access to television and the likelihood of
being aware of climate change. This result does not mean access to television reduces
climate change awareness but it means it decreased the likelihood that a respondent wasaware of climate change. Respondents who had non-agricultural income had greater accessto the television than respondents who had agricultural income only which implied that those
who were less dependent on agriculture are less likely to be interested in climate change
issues hence might not utilise the ICT in that regard. These findings highlight an important
aspect of ICTs, that is ICTs are just technologies that facilitate information dissemination andcommunication, but how these technologies and their capabilities are utilised is dependent
on the users.
This paper looked specifically at the role of ICTs in climate change awareness, it did notlook at other sources and means such as extension; farmer to farmer interactions; own
observation; formal and informal school, therefore further research is required in this area.
The study targeted rural areas but it is important to also look at the same aspects in different
settings e.g. in urban areas. Another area of further research is to look at the content that isbeing transmitted in terms of its appropriateness in settings such as rural areas. There isalso need to conduct comparative adoptions studies of new versus old ICTs.
5.1. Recommendations• ICTs should be embraced in enhancing climate change awareness especially in areasthat have limited access to other sources of information. However, this should not bedone in isolation but should intergrated with the broader development agenda.
• There is need to initiate public awareness about climate change encompassing all thedifferent aspects such as: causes; effects; mitigation and adaptation strategies.
• How individuals perceive the technology and its capabilities is an important determinant
in its utilisation to enhance development. Hence these perceptions should be taken into
account.
• The promotion and use of ICTs should not be determined by how long they have beenin use but should be based on the appropriateness of the technology in each particularsetting.

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ATPS (2013): The Contribution of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Climate Change Awareness in Seke and Murewa Districts of Zimbabwe.
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ISBN: 978-9966-030-68-9
ATPS (2013): The Contribution of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in Climate Change Awareness in Seke and Murewa Districts of Zimbabwe.
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