AFR-FEM Working Group: Summary Six (4/26 - 5/02)

This is the summary of the exchanges, experiences, analysis and suggestions provided during the AFR-FEM Internet Working Group's sixth 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 posted to the GKD main list "Global Knowledge for Development" and are also available on the Global Knowledge Partnership Web Site <http://www.globalknowledge.org> as well as on the ECA 40th Anniversary website <http://www.un.org/depts/eca/eca40th>.

 AFR-FEM: USAID Discussion Panel

Questions directed towards the USAID team (Gender in Development Office and Africa Bureau) will be received by the moderators up to the 8th of May.

 The ECA Conference

More than 900 people attended the ECA Conference in Addis. Around thirty of them are members of the AFR-FEM Virtual Working Group. The recommendations made by the AFR-FEM Virtual Working Group have been consolidated with the recommendations of the Beijing Platform for Action to indicate which platform recommendations we reaffirmed and which werenew from AFR-FEM. They have been presented to the conference organisers and have been distributed to the conference experts, resource-persons, and working group presidents and facilitators, to serve as references for the working sessions. The members of the Virtual Working Group present in Addis have been able to present their group recommendations during the working sessions. The recommendations made for each theme by the Virtual Group members follow the same lines as the recommendations expressed by the Conference participants. The recommendations expressed by the conference participants must be accompanied by committments for concrete actions, from governments, donors, NGOs and private sectors, working in partnership.

 The Activities of the AFR-FEM Virtual Working Group

Some participants of the Virtual Group and in the Conference have wondered whether the recommendations issued by the Conference will be implemented, after the numerous recommendations issued at the multiple conferences that have taken place in recent years. Their concern is that there are so many recommendations covering so many areas with demands for so many actors, (e.g. donors, NGO's, governments) that as the number of recommendations grows the chances of any of them being implemented is diminished.

Some participants question whether ICTs will be able to contribute to the implementation of their recommendations. This can be doubted, when one sees the tendency to control communication and information access, the high costs of ICTs, and the scarcity of available facilities. But the issue is more political, regulatory, and organizational rather than economic or technological. Opening to the private sector, in terms of competition and liberalization, could be a possibility.

Internet Resources

- Women's Caucus of the U.S. African Studies Association, Spring 1998 newsletter: <ksheldon@ucla.edu>

- iComm: <http://www.icomm.ca>

  Books, Documents, Research

- "Courtyards, Markets, City Streets: Urban Women in Africa", published by Harper Collins/Westview Press, 1996

- International Policies and Commitments; a draft commentary, Susan James, 1997

- Demographic and Health Survey for the year 1990, DHS Headquarters Macro International Inc. 11785 Beltsville Drive, Suite 300, Calverton, MD, USA.

- AFR-FEM Group Recommendations to the ECA Conference, "African Women and Economic Development: Investing in Our Future"

- Symposium "University students Think The Unthinkable: Key To A Better Future", Recommendations , RASIT-UNESCO, Tunisia 17-20 April,1998

 Experiences Related

- African Community Education Network (ACEN): pilot Electronic-Based Participatory Action Research (EBPAR) Network