This is the summary of the exchanges, experiences, analysis and suggestions provided during the AFR-FEM Internet Working Group's third week of activity. This Group was organised by the World Bank and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, as an associated activity to the Conference "African Women and Economic Development: investing in our future", to be organised by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, in Addis Ababa, 28 April - 1st May, 1998. The facilitation of the conference is being done in collaboration with the Association for Progressive Communications / APC - Women's Africa Program

The mandate of the Internet Working Group is to support the Conference, by gathering a basis of field information pertaining to the Conference themes. The Internet Working Group activity reports are also posted to the GKD main list Global Knowledge for Development and are also available on the ECA 40th website.

This is the summary of the exchanges, experiences, analysis and suggestions provided during the AFR-FEM Internet Working Group's second
week of activity. This Group was organized by the World Bank and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, as an associated activity to the Conference "African Women and Economic Development: investing in our future", to be held by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, in Addis Ababa, 28 April - 1st May, 1998.

The mandate of the Internet Working Group is to support the Conference, by gathering a base of field information pertaining to the Conference themes. The Internet Working Group activity reports are also sent to the GKD main list, Global Knowledge for Development.


Conference Information

During the conference celebrating its 40th anniversary, ECA will provide an Electronic Media Centre and a Cybercafe.


Women's Participation in Economic Development

Africa's difficulty in setting value on its own resources for development is obvious. The result puts into question the usefulness of development
programs that have been launched, and especially in those that relate to raising the value of human resources. That is particularly the case when
these programs undermine indigenous practices that really more fully support sustainable development.

The issue of African womens' participation in development cannot be isolated from the issue of development in Africa as a whole, nor from  its
economic and political context. Women, as well as other marginalised groups, are used to reinforce the current economic systems, and gender
constraints further contribute to this trend. Externally-driven actions for the improvement of African womens' contribution to economic
development is not the best strategy for the development of the continent.

        Recommendations

- Promote the combination of indigenous practices for survival and development with global systems of education and human and
  community resource management

- Link empowerment of African women to contribute to African economic development, to actions for economic empowerment of African societies.
- Support indigenous African women's empowerment to their participation in the development of African economies.


Resources: Human Beings, Knowledge, Land

It is important to install infrastructures for economic development. But the real point is to empower human resources - and especially women - to be able to conceive and benefit from this process, in a way that reflects their own perspectives.  The future of the world economy is based on
knowledge and information. Addressing the issue of access to land, a fundamental requirement for women's participation in economic development in Africa, must also be supported with knowledge and information.

Women's rights of access to land are not considered in land policies in Africa, although women are the main producers for sustainable development.
Traditional land systems do not allow women to have access to land, except through their relationship to men. In current land systems, land is seen as an issue of property: women's contributions to economic development cannot take part in this vision, and the possibilities of civil society's actions are limited.

        Recommendations
- Focus development policies on access to knowledge and learning,
  especially when it concerns women.
- Integrate the issue of access to land in the process of alleviation of
  poverty, and reassess alternative ways of access to land that women
  have experimented with, from the perpective of productivity improvement.


Governance

The governance issue needs to involve community organizations derived from
the communities, rather than the groups or persons that provide services
to the communities. This implies support for indigenous capacities,
especially those of African women, in the fields of self-organization,
conception, formulation and networking, instead of doing so in favor of
other actors in development. The high level of selflessness, involvement
and cohesion in indigenous communities is linked to the homogeneous
conditions and expectations of their members. The point is to promote
these positive aspects, in a development dynamic, when current leaders and
institutions are facing a profound legitimacy and credibility crisis. The
indigenous organizational capacities in terms of accountability and care
for resources are an asset in that field.

        Recommendations
- Work with indigenous community organizations, and particularly women's
  organizations. Support their self capacities for organization,
  conception, formulation and networking.
- Make sure that women participate in the construction of solutions to
  the problem of governance, based on indigenous capacities of
  self-organization, coexistence and interactions in the communities.
- Draw from indigenous capacities in resources and community managment,
  particulary when it comes to women's prerogatives.
- Build on grass-roots women's organizations and networks, by supporting
  their capacities of action through indigenous networks, as well as the
  development of their contacts outside Africa.
- Support for the existing local structures, and their interactions with
  NGOs and civil society organizations.


ICTs Contribution to Sustainable Development

ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) are not an end in
themselves. They will contribute to a more just and participatory
development if ICT policies are oriented towards the needs of the poor,
and sustain a democracy more horizontally than vertically oriented.

Many African political systems see ICT as a threat to their own
They thus bear direct responsibility for their country's marginalization
from the world environment evolution.

In some regions, communications infrastructures are relatively advanced,
but policies, and supporting strategies are limited to physical aspects of
connectivity. The fields of utilization, training, and accessibility, in
the scope of sustainable development, are not mainstreamed.

The support for investiments in ICT, the negotiation of ICT international
agreements and the current rules on international trade reflect more the
governmental and private interests than those of grass-roots democracy.

        Recommendations
- Focus ICT policies towards the needs of the poor.
- Support for more democratisation in the field of: policy
  formulation, utilizations for sustainable development, training,
  accessibility, and impact assessment.
- Give priority to access and support to ICT uses for women engaged in
  development actions in Africa, with the aim to support their actions.
- Focus the power of mass-media towards actions for poverty alleviation.
- Organize affirmative action in the private sector so that they
  contribute to meeting civil society and women's organization needs
  (technical support, recycling of equipment, specially-designed training).
- Give special attention to the factors contributing to meeting women's
  needs in telecentres.
- Support indigenous production of content by women.
- Empower civil society and marginalized categories to take part in ICT
  policy formulation.
- Work for a better balance in terms of access to and utilization of ICT
  according to cultural diversities (francophonie).


New Opportunities for Youth

        Recommendations
- Provide free schooling for girls.
- Develop programs that encourage women to pursue non-traditional
  occupations and careers with advancement potential.


Resource People

- Grassroots-based initiatives for building a culture of peace:
R. Berewa Jommo, Regional Director, African Community Education Network,
P.O.Box 29214, Nairobi, Kenya

- Women and Land Rights issues (the Kenyan experience):
Elizabeth Akinyi-Nzioki, Researcher based at the Royal Netherlands
Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya


Web Resources

- National Housing Forum Trust in South Africa, <http://sn.apc.org/nhft>
- Teledensity in South Africa: Universal Service Agency
  <http://usa.org.za>
- Grameen Bank : <http://www.grameen.com>
- BRIDGE: <http://www.ids.ac.uk/ids/research/bridge/index.html>
- IDS Virtual Bookshop : http://kipper.ntd.co.uk/ids/ids.htm
- Devline: <http://www.ids.ac.uk/index.html>
- ELDIS (Electronic Development and Environment Information System):
  <http://nt1.ids.ac.uk/eldis/eldis.htm>
- Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA):
  <http://nt1.ids.ac.uk/eldis/pra/prabib.htm>
- AHRTAG Library catalogue: <http://nt1.ids.ac.uk/ahrtag/dbase.htm>
- Women and International Development at Michigan State University:
  Section Publications including Newly Available, Working Papers, &
  WID Forum lists
- Mario Einaudi Centre for International Studies, links "Gender and
  Global Change", and "Institute for African Development"
- International Development Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada
- International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW), links:
  PUBLICATIONS, DEVELOPMENT LINKS, WIDTECH, PROWID Centre for
  Development Research (Copenhagen), "Gender and inequality"
- Women, INK
- Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA): <http://www.cpha.ca>
- Reseau de Developpment Durable, PNUD, <http://www3.undp.org>
- AISI, African Information Society Initiative,
  <http://www.bellanet.org/partners/aisi>


Documents, Research, Books

- Uganda, 'School to School Initiative'
- Bulletin de liaison du Reseau FEMMED - WOMMED Network Afrique - Africa
- Book: "Race, Politics, and Economic Development: Community
  Perspectives," edited by James Jennings, Verso, 1992
- EMPARC Publications (Nigeria) : "Development and Women's Health in
  Africa...in search of mutually reinforcing Human centreed paradigms"
  (Annual Lecture series 3); "Family violence And Human Rights"
  (monograph series no. 1) ; "Nigerian Women's Family Planning
  Experiences And Perspectives: insight from Metropolitan Lagos"
  (monograph series no. 2)
- Dede Amanor-Wilks, "Invisible Hands: Women in Zimbabwe's Commercial
  Farming Sector", in Southern African Feminist Review (SAFERE),
  Vol 2, No 1, 1996
- Peg Snyder, Mary Tadesse  "African Women and Development: A History"
  ZED, London, and Witwatersrand U.Press, S.Africa, l995
- UNIFEM  "Transforming Development: Women, Poverty and Politics"
  IT Pubs, London l995
- Information Technology Agreement, WTO, March 1997
- Ballara Marcela, "Women and Literacy" Women and World Developement
  Series, Zed Books, U.K. 1992
- Locoh Therese, Labourie-Racape Annie et Christine Tichit. "Genre et
  developpement: des pistes a suivre", CEPED (Centre francais sur la
  population et le developpement), Paris, France.
- Thesis 'Electoral Law and Women in Cameroon since 1975'
- Working Draft "Communications for Social Change: Understanding,
  Supporting, and Spreading this Work" Spring 1997,
  Rockefeller Foundation, Bellagio Conference Centre, Italy.


Experiences Mentioned

- National Housing Forum Trust in South Africa, web-based housing
  literacy program in partnership with Wayne State University in Detroit,
  Michigan, and, with the Interfaith Community Development Association
  (South Africa), support program for homebuilding activities.
- IDRC/ACACIA in Uganda: Consensus building workshop
- Uganda: 'School to School Initiative', linking schools project
- UNESCO, programme "communication, information informatique"
- Reseau FEMMED  - WOMMED Network Afrique - Africa
- ABANTU: Women and Entrepreneurship program
- Literacy Assistance Centre, New York
- Trickle Up, New York (grants in India for women starting small
  enterprises)
- Open Channels: project Asociacion Aurora Vivar (AAV), Lima, Peru and
  projects in South Africa and West Africa.
- Panos Institute's Southern Africa office:  Media Sensitization Project
  on Farmworkers
- Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), regional NGO
- Association pour le Soutien et l'Appui a la Femme Entrepreneur
  (ASAFE), Cameroon NGO for women entrepreneurs
- Experience with rural out-reach media/information program - the Uganda
  Media Women's Association.
- Literacy Support Initiative (University of Massachusetts, Amherst)
  training literacy practioners in Senegal and Nepal
- African Women and Peace Support Group
- UNESCO et UIT:  telecentre communautaire d'information
- "Plain Words for Health" service, National Literacy & Health Program
  (NLHP), Canadian Public Health Association (CPHA) Ottawa
- Uganda Debt Network
- "Global Learn Day II"
- Reseau de Developpment Durable, PNUD Brazzaville
- Cegep de Jonquiere, Canada
- AISI, African Information Society Initiative
- Reseau informel Partnership for ICT in Africa PICTA
- ATAC, African Technical Advisory Committee
- Uganda Land Alliance
- Uganda Women's Network
- Association of Women  Parliamentarians and Forum for Women in
  Development (FOWODE)
- African Information Society Initiative (AISI) and Partnership for ICT
  in Africa (PICTA): Telecentre Audit in Africa
- Africa Strategic Research Corporation, Johannesburg, South Africa

For questions and/or suggestions on the following Working Sessions, please send an e-mail to dialogue@un.org or eca40th@un.org or ecainfo@uneca.org

Secretariat of the Conference for information and correspondence:
Economic Commission for Africa
African Centre for Women (ACW)
P.O. Box 3001
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Tel: (251.1) 51 89 19 (Direct)/51 72 00 Ext. 33700
Fax: (251-1) 512233 (Direct)/512785
E-mail: eca40th@un.org
Internet: http://www.un.org/depts/eca/eca40th