Sammia Poveda Villalba

Sammia Poveda Villalba

Miss

  • TW20 0EX

Personal profile

Research interests

Sammia is interested in finding the connection between basic IT skills training courses and the student's views on ICTs. Even thought current discourses support the idea that ICTs can be used for development purposes, when refering to day to day usage, people seem to use ICTs mostly for communication and entertainment. When situated outside an specific development project, the individual's choices are the ones that will determine the type of usage she is giving to ICTs. Why is that people just use computers for Facebook, when they could use it ALSO for studying online? Why they know how to use youtube to find videos they find funny, but don't use it to find videos that may help them solve practical problems at home?

According to the Capability Approach (CA), a person improves her development when she is capable of doing or being what she values and has reasons to value. Therefore, ICTs may help to improve a person's development, if they become instrumental to achieve her values. However, what if that person does not know what she values? or, what if her values have been altered by poverty, depravation or inequalities? The CA defines this issue as adaptive preference. This situation, is also understood by Paulo Freire, brazilian pedagoguish, as oppression (Freire 1970), seems to be one of the main challenges for individuals to use ICTs for their own development. People who have limited view of their lives, have difficulty defining what their values are. How to increase an individual’s development, if on the first place, she does not know what she values? If several individuals suffer from this lack, how to provide support to improve their social inclusion?

To investigate this scenario, fieldwork was performed with two organizations in Campinas, Brazil. While both intent to promote citizenship by allowing free access to computers and internet, and to free basic IT skills courses, one is a NGO that applies Freire's methodology, trying to promote a critical view about ICTs, and the other is a governmental program which applies a more traditional approach.

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 8 - Decent Work and Economic Growth

Education/Academic qualification

Social Studies, Master, Information and Knowledge Society, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

20072009

Award Date: 19 Sept 2016

Communications, Master, Multimedia Creation and Production, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya

20052007

Award Date: 19 Jul 2016

Management, MBA, Marketing Strategical Management, Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV)

20052006

Award Date: 19 Jun 2016

Design, Bachelor, Design, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador

19992004

Award Date: 19 Apr 2016

Teaching, Certificate, Programme in Skills of Teaching to Inspire Learning IinSTIL), Royal Holloway, University of London

18 Sept 201115 Jul 2012

Award Date: 30 Sept 2012

External positions

PhD tutor, The Brilliant Club

Apr 2014Jul 2015

Co-coordination of the Technology Group, Human Development and Capability Association

2013 → …

Keywords

  • ICT4D
  • ICT for development
  • Latin America
  • public policy
  • capabilities approach
  • human development