Presentation

1. Presentation • Brief overview of gender concerns with the WSIS • Empowerment of rural women using ICTs • Recommendations of WOUGNET online conference “Information Access for Rural Women” • Information sharing and dissemination: WOUGNET

2. Overview of gender concerns with the WSIS Two major WSIS Gender Advocacy groups: WSIS GENDER CAUCUS: A multi-stakeholder caucus formed during the African Regional PrepCom in Bamako, Mali, May 2002. The caucus includes men and women from National Governments, International Government Agencies, UN Specialized Agencies and the UN System, Civil Society organizations and the Private Sector. The caucus provides support for national and regional WSIS preparatory processes to enable gender advocates to be directly involved in influencing the negotiating positions adopted by their governments. Web: http://www.genderwsis.org NGO GENDER STRATEGIES WORKING GROUP (GSWG): Formed during the first WSIS PrepCom in Geneva, July 2002, as a Sub-Committees of the Civil Society Coordinating Group. GSWG members include the African Women's Development and Communications Network (FemNet), Agencia Latino Americana del Informacion, Association for Progressive Communications/Women's Network Support Programme, International Women's Tribune Centre, and Isis International/Manila. Web: http://www.genderit.org

3. Overview of gender concerns … [2] At 2003 Commission on the Status of Women, action items identified for gender equality in the information society are: • Access and control of affordable ICT • Training on the strategic use of ICTs • New opportunities for women’s economic empowerment • Opportunity for lifelong learning for girls and women (social empowerment)

4. Overview of gender concerns …[3] • Cultural and local content development • Enabling ICT and media policy environment • Research, monitor and evaluate ICT for development • Positive representation and portrayal of women in the media • Active participation of women in national delegations to ICT fora

5. Empowerment of rural women using ICTs • Access to accurate and timely information by rural women can result in enhanced economic and social development • Example: Uganda government recognizes that information is key for programs such as the Poverty Eradication Action Plan and the Plan for Modernisation for Agriculture. • Note: Information is of limited use unless it is appropriately packaged and communicated.

6. Empowerment of rural women using ICTs …[2] Examples of ICT potential: • Multimedia electronic information resources for women who are non-literate, e.g., CD-ROM “Rural women in Africa: Ideas for making money” http://www.iwtc.org/files/!start.html or http://www.wougnet.org/News/cdupdate.html • Use of video documentaries for women to document their situations, e.g, Isis-WICCE http://www.isis.or.ug • Community radio programs and stations focused on women, e.g., Mama FM http://www.wougnet.org/Profiles/umwa.html

7. IARW Online Conference • IARW online (email) conference hosted with support from ENDA (Senegal) and several volunteers • Objective: facilitate exchange of ideas and experiences on information access for rural women • 264 participants - about 80% female • 53 countries - from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, North America • Languages: English, French, Spanish. (Final report also available in Swahili)

8. IARW Online Conference …[2] • Specific themes chosen to guide weekly discussions Week 1: information needs and role of ICTs for rural women Week 2: challenges/difficulties in making ICTs available and accessible to rural women Week 3: lessons learned, best practices and recommendations • Summary prepared at end of each week to synthesize contributions and facilitate following week discussions http://www.wougnet.org/Events/iarw.html

9. IARW Online Conference …[3] Key issue highlighted by the conference, is as one participant put it: “There is an important aspect in terms of access to information at the rural level: WHICH information - For WHICH purpose - To serve WHICH needs? At the urban level these components do not need the same type of control, the space is larger, the media are broader but at the rural level there is a need to tailor the medium AND the message with more details.”

10. IARW Online Conference …[4] The relevance of ICTs in support of information access for rural women should be based on the understanding of the following factors: • The process by which the ICTs are being introduced and how the women are adopting the new technology • Active participation of women in the development, planning and implementation of ICT initiatives • Sustainability of the ICTs • Assessment of the potential impact of the ICTs • Implications of the ICTs on communication and development for the women

11. Information sharing and dissemination: WOUGNET • NGO established in May 2000 by women organisations in Uganda. WOUGNET website <http://www.wougnet.org> and mailing lists are hosted by Kabissa. • Goal: Develop and promote use of ICTs among women as tools to share information and address issues collectively. • ICTs: Primarily email and the web, with interest in integration with traditional means such as radio, video, print for wider outreach.

12. WOUGNET …[2] • While many challenges exist for ICT use in Uganda, a number of women organisations have had a long interest in the use of the internet to share news and announcements, as well as tips on computer and Internet usage. • Consultations with several women organisations led to a consensus that a network should be formed and that WOUGNET, upon formation, should establish a companion website on which to profile the work of women organisations as well as an electronic mailing list to facilitate information sharing and dissemination. • The WOUGNET website and mailing lists are key sources of information about and for women organisations in Uganda, and are a key resource for members and interested partners. • Because a variety of information is available, a lot of interest has been generated which is reflected in the growing membership. The number of women organisations in Uganda that are WOUGNET members has increased from 18 by year-end 2000 to 41 presently.

13. WOUGNET …[3]

14. WOUGNET …[4] WOUGNET Challenges in Promoting ICT Usage •  Limited outreach mainly based in Kampala where Internet access is more readily available yet majority of women are in rural areas • Access to and availability of relevant information (content) for members’ development needs • Limited awareness about the potential of ICTs as a tool for information exchange and dissemination that produces results. • Limited skills that call for a lot of training and hands-on demos on the usage and application of ICTs.

15. WOUGNET …[5] Challenges of ICT usage among women in Uganda • Language is a constraint to information access especially to the non-literate. Furthermore, most information is in English and little has been translated into local languages. • Lack of access to ICT equipment and services. Whereas there are efforts to package the information on CD-ROMs that are user-friendly, these are still limited. • The multiple roles of women impose heavy time constraints that are prohibiting them from visiting ICT centers even when they are given free services. • Lack of ICT skills. WOUGNET information is available through the new ICTs like the Internet as opposed to traditional ICTs such as radio. However, this tends to exclude those that lack the skills to use computers. • Technophobia especially among women and girls. • Gender issues like the control by men over women’s decisions also impact negatively on women’s effective participation. • Irrelevant content - where by most of the information being disseminated is not addressing the local needs of the people, which has created an information poverty society. • Lack of infrastructure especially in rural areas.

16. WOUGNET …[6] In the recent evaluation of the WOUGNET mailing lists and website, members made the following recommendations for information sharing and dissemination by WOUGNET:  • Provide information that is relevant to the nature of work of a given organisation • Facilitate networking with like-minded organisations • Diversify mechanisms used for dissemination of information. In particular, consider mechanisms to reach out to women with no access to the Internet. • Promote the use of local language, either by encouraging members to post in local languages or by translating information to local languages

17. WOUGNET …[7] An example of online/offline networking: Linking Radio Apac In an August 2002 meeting between women in the community served by Radio Apac, the Regional Women Programme Officer for AMARC-Africa, and the WOUGNET Coordinator, the following issues were identified: • Women need to have their own radios since the men travel with theirs whenever they leave house • Women lack of transport to travel to the station and participate in radio programs. • There is need for peace and conflict radio programs, given the threat of rebels who abduct women and children. • There is need for additional women programming addressing good farming practices, HIV/AIDS, etc. • There is need for tape recorders so that the women can prepare their own programs to be aired by the community station. • There is need to address low literacy levels among women in the community by providing basic reading and writing skills. An integrated information sharing and dissemination program to support the women’s programming with information sourced from the internet has been developed for funding.

18. Opportunities for Women and ICTs in Uganda • Energy for Rural Transformation (ERT) Programme The ERT is aimed at improving the rural quality of life and facilitating rural non-farm income by accelerating electrification and other forms of energy. Under this programme, sub-county information centres will be established in each of Uganda’s 56 districts. • Formulation of the National ICT policy Gender mainstreaming is one of the specific objectives of the draft national ICT policy. The consultative formulation approach adopted offers advocacy space for gender/women advocates to articulate ICT-related gender concerns. Under guidance of Uganda National Council for Science and Technololgy (UNCST), formulation of national implementation plans has began. • Rural Communications Development Fund (RCDF) Rural Communications Development Fund (RCDF) is in place to promote ICT service provision in rural and/or underserved regions in Uganda.The RCDF is managed by the Uganda Communications Commission. • Active gender advocates There are a number of active individual women/organizations gender advocates with skills and experience in policy advocacy. Currently, the Uganda Women Caucus on ICT (UWCI) is being established with WOUGNET as the secretariat.

19. WOUGNET is committed to networking and sharing experiences with all stakeholders and • welcomes ideas, technical and financial support in her efforts to make gender central in all ongoing • ICT interventions in Uganda.