AFR-FEM Working Group: Summary Nine (5/17 - 5/23)

 

This is the summary of the exchanges, experiences, analysis and suggestions provided during the AFR-FEM Internet Working Group's nineth 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>.

The Future of AFR-FEM

All the members agree that the group should be able to continue its virtual exchanges. AFR-FEM may become a tool for advocacy and networking, by gathering local NGOs, African institutions, and professionnals in order to share experiences and practices, to monitor the implementation of the conference recommendations, to circulate information relevant for professionals in Africa, and to discuss policy issues. AFR-FEM has evolved as a tool for information for members within and outside Africa. No proposal has been presented on practical modalities for maintaing this space, and some practical information is still missing, such as financial, technical and human resources, as well as time demands. Some members regret the low participation from women in Africa and think that this virtual space functions according to rules unfamiliar to them. Others, while assessing the real difficulties of access that penalize these persons, feel that African women must put forward their own concerns and demands.

It is hoped that future activities of the group would be oriented towards partnership facilitation among members, particularly in terms of integration of ICT in development actions, especially in the field of policy, access to learning resources for women in Africa, and information resources on projects and initiatives able to help women with technical support around Internet issues.

 Women and ICT

It was obvious, in Addis, that a number of African women consider ICTs more as "a thing for the future", rather than as a tool for development.

The economic and social realities experienced by most of these women do not allow them to think differently, unless specific efforts can be made to demonstrate how ICTs can change the realities that form the primary concerns of women. Thus the question is not about making a choice between development or ICT, but to integrate the view that development means the ability to telecommunicate. In that sense, women's involvement in ICT issues is inseparable from other complementary actions for development. The point is not that all women must be connected now. What is important is to focus on strategic uses and users in the field of ICTs for development.

 Synthesis of questions posed to the USAID panel

The questions have been assembled along three themes, one of which has already been answered:

- USAID Programs and Projects:

Information on USAID local projects, partnerships with local and non-govermental bodies, in the field of women's economic and social empowerment, micro-credit, support for actions in line with the AFR-FEM recommendations, project results assessments, inclusion of ICTs and community information centres, procedures for support, networking, and sharing experience, ideas and resources, priorities for support policies.

- Connectivity

Questions around the announced U.S provision of one million dollars for women's networking in Africa: modalities, connection with US private initiatives for telecommunication infrastructure in the African continent, conditions of granting, the role of African women representatives in decision-making, links with the current US policy for  Africa, assesment of USAID support for wiring in terms of job training and skill developments among the poor.

- Gender issues

Can donors put a new condition on aid : making gender equity/participation in every sector of assistance compulsory, including in data collection, gender research and gender impact studies ; what is the nature and characteristics of USAID direct support to african women's groups.

 Answers from USAID panel: Connectivity

USAID uses ICTs but not nearly well enough. Many projects address women's economic and social empowerment, from microenterprise to health to environment to education. Through the Leland Initiative and the bilateral USAID field mission many of these projects are exploring the potential of the Internet to connect partners with each other and begin sharing vital development - related information. However, the challenges are enormous: physical connectivity as well as the search for relevant information. ICTs are most useful when there is a link between producers and consumers of information. This would suggest a very powerful role for the NGO that knows how to teach its beneficiaries to identify their information needs, and teach information producers how tailor their products. To date, there is no central USAID/Washington fund to support these efforts.

POWERNET - The (emPOWERment NETwork) announced by the First Lady while in Ghana, is currently in the early formulation stage. It will bring together, through Internet, a network of the leading female elected officials in Africa and the United States to share information and lessons learned on their respective efforts to increase the participation of women in - and impact on - the political and economic development process, in order to link their plans, strategies and approaches to further democratization and good governance, improved economic policy management and a broad array of development activities.

The explosion of the Internet and the growing movement to liberalize and privatize telecommunication in Africa are the best hope for efficient, rationalised, sustainable and accessible connectivity for all. USAID, through the Leland Initiative and AfricaLink, and through its local field missions, fosters connectivity among African countries, and its uses for agriculture research and the natural resource management community in Africa. However, specific applications of the Internet for job training and skills development among the poor are still in a very primitive stage.

 Internet Resources

- Global Fund for Women: <http://www.globalfundforwomen.org/>

- DECCO-N, electronic discussion forum for practitioners, educators, researchers and scholars. Southern African Development, Culture, and Communication Network (SADECCON): DECCO-N@grove.iup.edu <ftp://ftp.iup.edu/DECCO-N/archive/> ; <CWMalan@silwane.hsrc.ac.za>

- ICT-JOBS Virtual Working Group: <Majordomo@mail.edc.org> (send a message with the words 'subscribe ict-jobs' in the body of the text); <http://www.globalknowledge.org>

- AF-LIB (African Libraries) list

- World Bank InfoDev program: <http://www.worldbank.org/infodev>

 Activities, Documents, Projects

- "Rise with the Sun: women and Africa", a major international exhibit of contemporary African art, The Provincial Museum of Alberta, June 6 to September 7, 1998.

- SISTERHOOD FOR AFRICA (project)

- ECA Press Release No. 48 "ECA To Host Conference on Global Connectivity  for Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2-4 June 1998" Addis Ababa, 13 May 1998.

- UNDP Beijing Progress Report, May 1998, UNDP Gender Beat, #5: May 21, 1998.