Making Technology Fit: Designing an Information Management System for Monitoring Social Protection Programmes in St. Kitts

This paper reports on the development of an Information Management System to monitor and plan social protection programmes for the St. Kitts’ Department of Social Work. Best practices for the design of such technologies require special consideration of users’ needs; in the case of St. Kitts, this included meeting the constraints of the small island environment. The collaborative process between the software developers and users, wherein users explain what they need and the software is designed accordingly, was complicated by the existence of a disconnect between users’ work practices and those supported by the proposed system. The challenge was thus to design a viable and sustainable information management system (IMS) relevant to the users’ work, and responsive to local constraints. The project revealed cultural differences between department workers and software developers. It suggested new methodologies for assessing user needs, eliciting their preferences, and building their capacity in electronic recordkeeping. It also highlighted the need to develop communication strategies for both clients and developers of technology. The lessons learnt have implications for improved practice when introducing IMS technologies into work contexts in microstates where they are currently not used.