Infrastructuring Voice-Based Distributed Community Engagement in Resource-Constrained Settings

Digital technologies are increasingly employed in international development to support community engagement, knowledge exchange, and participatory decision-making. However, many such approaches presuppose high-bandwidth, low-latency, and reliable connectivity, thereby excluding substantial portions of the target population. This thesis explores the use of traditional telephony infrastructures to enable voice-based distributed community engagement (VDCE), leveraging their extensive coverage, minimal literacy requirements, and widespread availability. While promising, telephony requires targeted innovations to meet the operational and participatory requirements of VDCE. The thesis presents an action research–driven exploration of these requirements through the design, deployment, and evaluation of a candidate VDCE system, Paroli.