FOREWORD by Dr. K.Y. Amoako to
'NET GAINS: African Women Take Stock of Information and Communication Technologies',

a joint research project of
APC - Africa - Women and FEMNET,
June 2000.
Compiled by Colleen Lowe Morna and Zohra Khan, Gender Links

As we enter the 21st century, Africa is in the throes of major social, economic and political transformation. When I am asked if there is hope at the end of it all, two bright spots spring to mind. One is gender equality and the human energy that this could unleash for Africa. The other is the immense possibilities opened by information technology: a tool that is becoming cheaper, that is far more accessible than any we have ever had; that could wipe out ignorance and give a new meaning to governance and participation.

It gives me great pleasure to write a foreword to this seminal piece of research that in effect brings together these two great pillars of hope for Africa's future.

If Africa is at the periphery of the information revolution, it follows that because of where women are located in our society they are currently in the "margins of the margin" of this development. Conversely, if African women could harness ICTs, they could surely become a tool for their emancipation and indeed for the emancipation of Africa as a whole.

There are six reasons why the ECA believes that information technology is central to poverty reduction, which in turn is central to the empowerment of women:

ICTs provide the most cost-effective way of serving remote, rural areas without the huge infrastructure costs of traditional landlines. The capacity to acquire and communicate knowledge is the foundation of development. If development depends on empowering people and communities to take control of their own lives, access to information through improved communications is an essential component of growth. The application of ICTs to improving social services is enormous. Basic education could be vastly improved (for example, through teacher training and reaching un-served populations). The World Health Organisation (WHO) claims "40% of health is exchanging information." Many of the problems of health prevention relate to poor communications and limited access to information. ICTs are of enormous value in the control of epidemics and contagious diseases. Participation in the information economy and the development of e-businesses itself offers many possibilities for wealth creation particularly for small and micro enterprises. ICTs have the potential to improve the ability of marginalized groups to participate in governance across the spectrum - from local, to national, to global where the voice of the South, and especially of women, is still far too weak. The bottom line is that there is no longer a choice: we live in a global village. There are great risks associated with globalisation and information technology. But the greatest risk of all is to pretend they don't exist!

There is a story about a Dutch journalist travelling in rural Kenya with her laptop, and showing women how to log onto the Internet to get the latest coffee prices. They were fascinated. But they were also angered to learn that what they got paid was a mere fraction of what their coffee was selling for at the auctions in London.

Imagine if they logged onto a Starbucks website and found out how much an espresso costs in Manhattan! The information would be a powerful tool for lobbying for a more just global order. But on its own, it could simply breed an even greater sense of powerlessness. This is why ICTs cannot exist in a vacuum. They must be part of a wider campaign for a more just world order in which every individual, from North and South, male and female, has both the opportunity and the means to realize their potential.

It is significant that this research is being launched at the five- year review of the Fourth World Conference on Women at the United Nations headquarters. African women and, might I add, African men committed to true social justice, know the ends we want. We have greater access to the means and need to make sure that this access is far more universal than it currently is. We also need to make the means serve the ends. May the dawn of the new millennium inspire us to achieve both the means and the end- the full emancipation of the women of Africa!

KY Amoako
Executive Secretary
Economic Commission for Africa
June 2000