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.

The list after the conference The list will continue until at least May 31, 1998. The members wish that it will inform the of the activities and recommandations made at the conference. Other whish that the list will help to the identification of funding sources for small-scale income-generating projects for women, and be an exchange forum about Technologies of Information and Communication (ICTs) for women in Africa.

Women and economic development : poverty/growth, resources, rights  Women's contribution to economic development in Africa must be appraised in the context of poverty, and situated along the organizational and technological capacities to harness the natural ressources of the
continent, for the benefit of everyone, instead of in the context of access to one or another one ressource. Gender disparities in terms of social
roles, and gendered-differentiated access to resources may have a direct impact on economic growth capacities.

Women's difficulties of access to land and to ownership impact on difficulties of access to credit. Most probably, these difficulties arise
from the inequal personal rights of women. In order to ensure women's access to economic resources, the need is to make a comprehensive review of personal human rights, specially in the fields of ownership, inheritance and divorce. The customary laws must be reviewed, in order to reflect the dynamic changes of the African societies. Beyond the issue of access to land, all the economic processes must be reoriented towards women's interests : credit, infrastructure, technologies and assistance to production, processing and marketing, in all economic sectors, beside
agriculture.

Recommandations
- Analyse poverty and wealth-distribution in relation to organizational and technological capacities.
- Lighten the domestic works of women
- Review the laws, - traditionnal as well as
modern - dealing with the personnal status and rights of women, specially in the fields of ownership within mariage, divorce, inheritance, so that
they reflect the social dynamic evolution of African societies.
- Develop the whole range of economic production factors : infrastructure and equipement, irrigation, seed improvements, fertilisers, alternative
energies, water ressources, credit, services  to production and marketing, processing.
- Provide women with appropriate services in training and technical support for communication and networking.

Women in the information age : shape a new world benefitting to women Community telecentres, as long as they really meet the need of women, are true development tools. But other alternative techniques (radio, wireless) that would  bring help in many African areas, are insufficiently developped and supported.

All women should be able to benefit from training, support and parternship activities, so that they can use ICTs for their own benefits. Emphasis must be made on content production, self-appropriation by women, inclusion of cultural and gender aspects.

Nevertheless, it is urgent that African women determine the various implications of the information age, and how they want to take advantage of
it.The Information and Communication age may present various aspects, and reflect the difference of wealth among the countries.  Not all of the
consequences  are fully positive  (telework, micor-production, pollution, harmfull effects). African women should pay attention to this, and try to
orientate policies and law in that field according to their choices.

ICT policies are internationnally oriented along trade liberalisation trends. National policies benefit more to private interests. The interests
of women, grass-root communities and marginalised groups are, in general, ignored. It is urgent that these groups assess the impact of ICTs and
related policies according to their own development perspectives. This must be done through a better understanding of their needs, in order to impct on the policies formulation.

Recommandations
- Increase the number of telecentres, along rules that answer really to the needs of women.
- Develop alternative and integrated communication and information technologies, and support their diffusion through appropriate policies.
- Support training in ICTs for all categories of women, towards more self-appropriatedness, more cultural diversity, more gender awareness, and
increased networking among women's groups.
- Support the analysis by african women of future trends in ICTs, and their implication on African women's future
- Improve the analysis of ICT policies from gender perspective, and how these analysis must be translated in the policies formulations. The
analysis must be based on a better assessment of women's needs of information, and oriented towards strenghtening women's capacities of
networking, specially at the subregional and continental level, as well as the reinforcement of alliances with civil society groups.

Governance : actors and partnerships, primacy of peace

The main concern is the implementation of  the results of the conference and that the beneficiaries  - the African women - could monitor them. The main indicator of this conference utility will be the efficiency of the monitoring. ECA recognase the privotal role of NGOs and civil society, and has already engaged structural actions towards parternships. NGOs and NGO networks, specially women's, must be associated with the conception and definition of the main range of development policies : economic, land, credit, communication policies, etc.

The political participation of women must be supported though affirmative actions at various levels, including at the higher one, though the
reinforcement of self-organization capacities, in particular based on traditional models of organization and power-sharing.

The prevalence of conflicts and war situations, and the heavy tribut that women, youths and environments pay for them, impose that actions are in
priority focused on peace and security-seeking, at the collectve as well as at the individual level. Reinforcing the traditionnal community mechanisms of protection and security can contribute to the limitation of conficts sources.

Recommandations
- Reaffirm the primacy of peace and security, individually and collectively, as sustainable development factor.
- Limit the development of arm trade.
- Work in partnership with civil society and women groups on mechanisms for confict prevention.
- Identify and reinforce traditionnal processes of conflicts prevention and security protection of persons and groups.
- Develop refugee women's participation to the management of refugee camps.
- Develop new models of manliness, not based on violence.
- Involve civil society organizations and women's organizations to schemes of prevention and managment of conflicts and insecurity situation
processes, including in refugee camps.
- Develop partnerships between the social  actors, including governments representatives and from civil society, NGOs, bi- and multilateral
organizations.
- Strenghen the networking among the civil society organizations, including women's organizations, and involve the in all the key-sectors of social organizations.
- Develop affirmative actions for the reinforcement of equal political representation of gender, at every level.
- Analyse the traditionnal models of women's participation to political power, and publicise women role-models.
- Develop and disseminate a comprehensive analysis of the central place of women in the societies, of primacy of live and life-sustainability, of
education and solidarity.


Internet resources
- Universal Service Agency in South Africa : http://usa.org.za
- Ubutabera, independent newsletter on the International Criminal Tribunal
for Rwanda : http://persoweb.francenet.fr/~intermed/uk/ubu32.htm
- Communication between some American and Ghanaian schools :
http://www.uts.oise.utoronto.ca/academics/specproj/ghana ;
http://www.ghana.com.gh/republic/education
- TIC en Afrique  : http://www.regards.cnrs.fr/africanti/problem.html

Documents, books and researches
- IPS : Soudan : Women Remain Behind a Wall of Inequality, Distributed by
HURINet - The Human Rights Information Network
- Study of the impact of microcomputer use on  management decision-making,
Kenya,1984
- Rhonda Copelon : "Gendered War Crimes: Reconceptualizing Rape in Time of
War," in Julie Peters and Andrea Wolper, eds., Women's Rights, Human
Rights: International Feminist Perspectives, (Routledge: New York and
London, 1995).
- Musse, Fouzia, "Women victims of violence: Rape in Kenya's Refugee
camps," Refugee Participation Network, #16, March 1994,
- Invitation to TechNet-EDI-WTO Think Tank "Intellectual Property Rights
and Economic Development", April 27 to May 15, 1998
- UgandaCommunications Commission (UCC) : studies on the technical issues
and potential applications of the ISM band in Uganda


Experiences related
- Universal Service Agency in South Africa (telecentre in Gaseleka in the
Northern Province), one of 70 centres
- ECA : African Centre for Civil Society, Development Management Division (DMD)
- ECA/UNDP/ Special Initiative on Africa : First African Forum on Governance
- National Telephone Cooperative Association (United States)
- VR-Interactive International Inc. (Canada)
- Leland Initiatives
- (Project) Centre for Women's Information,Research and Support (CWIRS)
Accra, Ghana
- Land law in Senegal
- Project on Natural Resource Management by Women in Uganda,  funded by the
European Union
- ITDG : appropriate technology : mango & other fruit preserving
- Community media pilot project in Tanzania Uganda and Kenya (EcoNewsKenya)
: pastoralist group  in Simaanjiro District (Tanzania)
- African Centre for Women (ECA)
- APC Women's Networking Support Programme
- Bushnet, Uganda
- Uganda Communications Commission (UCC)
- Women Linking Project between partners in the US and Action for
Development (ACFODE),

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