A qualitative comparative case study of youth digital participation across the rural–urban divide in Hawassa and surrounding woredas Ethiopia

Digital transformation creates new opportunities for youth engagement across Sub-Saharan Africa, yet localized rural-urban inequalities often limit equitable access. While continental reviews establish broad patterns of exclusion, context-specific empirical studies are required to understand implementation dynamics at the local level. This qualitative comparative case study investigates how youth in an urban center (Hawassa) and rural districts within the Sidama Region of Ethiopia access and use digital tools for community participation, examining the localized barriers shaping engagement. Semi-structured interviews ( n = 48) with youth aged 18–35 were complemented by key informant interviews ( n = 12) and six focus group discussions disaggregated by binary gender and site. Document analysis of regional strategies and local development plans provided institutional context. The analysis reveals that youth digital environments in these two case sites are highly stratified: urban youth participants utilize multi-layered, redundant digital options, whereas rural participants rely on fragile community infrastructure. Barriers operate through a recursive infrastructure-skills nexus that compounds exclusion, further aggravated for rural young women by layered constraints involving mobility, institutional design, and cultural legitimacy. Viewed heuristically through the lens of Positive Youth Development (PYD) and the 5Cs model, digital engagement among rural participants in this study remains predominantly informative (passive reception), which stalls the development of Connection and Competence, whereas consultative and collaborative forms are restricted to urban sub-samples. Furthermore, marginalized sub-groups navigate these constraints through hidden practices of informal appropriation. The findings demonstrate that, within these case sites, policy execution faces severe capital expenditure biases and localized staffing challenges. Rather than supporting broad macroeconomic generalizations, these site-observed patterns suggest that bridging subnational digital divides requires spatially differentiated interventions, local language capacity, and institutionalizing support for grassroots, informal adaptations. The study contributes empirical specification of how digital inequality mechanisms operate in a low-connectivity, state-directed context, with implications for similar settings across Sub-Saharan Africa.