African women and ICTs

Sophia Huyer (mailto:shuyer@IFIAS.CA)
Thu, 16 Jan 1997 15:21:34 -0500 

Message-ID:  <32DE8DCE.6FD@ifias.ca>
Date:         Thu, 16 Jan 1997 15:21:34 -0500
From: Sophia Huyer <mailto:shuyer@IFIAS.CA>
Subject:      African women and ICTs
To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>


January 16, 1997


Dear Colleague,


The Gender and Sustainable Development Unit at the International
Development Research Centre (IDRC) in Ottawa, Canada is working to
develop a Üdefinitionß of information and communication technology (ICT)
use by African women which takes into account the uses of ICTs by
African women, barriers to the use of ICTs, and strategies to facilitate
the access of women in Africa to ICTs. This definition or profile of
women¬s use of and access to ICTs in Africa wil be submitted to the IDRC
ÜAcaciaß project, a project on facilitating and supporting access to
information and communications technologies (ICTs)  for African
institutions in an attempt to ensure that women¬s particular concerns in
this area are incorporated into the project definition and activities.


To this end, the International Federation of Institutes for Advanced
Study (IFIAS) is undertaking an initial survey. The purpose of the
survey is to assemble African women¬s stories which convey the types of
experience of  community-related ICT use, and will contribute to an
analysis of factors which contribute to or impede successful access to
ICTs by women in Africa. This information will be used to help formulate
hypotheses, to identify research needs and to generate new ideas which
could guide future directions for the Acacia initiative.


We have two goals for this initial survey:
       to compile a preliminary inventory of ICT activities undertaken by
women, and of organisations and programmes supporting women¬s access to
ICT in Africa.
       to compile 5-10 detailed discussions of projects or activities
demonstrating women¬s use of ICTs in Africa.


If you can contribute information to either of these project activities,
please contact me (contact information below). If you would like to
contribute a 4-5 page detailed discussion of an example of women¬s
community use of ICTs, please send me a 2 paragraph summary of the
Üstory.ß If we are interested in receiving more information, IFIAS will
contact you to pursue it further. IFIAS is also looking for
Üsub-contractors,ß i.e. individuals who could arrange for one or more
5-10 page profiles of women¬s ICT activities or use to be written and
sent to me. Again, if you are interested in this, please contact me with
a summary of the information you could provide.




For the purposes of this study, Ücommunityß will be
geographically-defined communities which have initiated community-led
development efforts which draw on the capabilities of digital computing
and communications media. There is a desire to select communities to
reflect the experience in urban and rural settings. We hope theselection
of communities will identify stories that offer insights into real world
practice and experience which will either confirm or challenge the
theoretical expectations of the planners and programmers about the
involvement of women¬s groups in ICT development efforts, identify
barriers to their involvement, and demonstrate how women¬s access to ICT
technologies and information can contribute to the success of community
projects.


Attached is a summary of the topics and issues we have identified around
women¬s use of and access to ICTs.


We are working with a very close deadline for this preliminary survey,
so if you would like to participate, please contact me immediately. My
email address is mailto:shuyer@ifias.ca; fax 1-416-926-9481.


Sincerely
Sophia Huyer
Project Leader
Women in Global Science and Technology
International Federation of Institutes for Advanced Study (IFIAS)
Toronto, Canada
Tel (905) 372-9372
Fax (416) 926-9481
mailto:shuyer@ifias.ca




ANNEX I


Project Title: African Women¬s Experience with ICT-Enabled Community
Development


Part B


Three or four-page summary descriptions of the experience of each
community with community-led ICT deveopment efforts, including a
description of:


        i)      the community development objective of the undertaking or project;


        ii)     how the community used or applied ICT-enabled resources to achieve
the community development objective;


        iii)    the ICT tools which were implemented or used by the community in
the development effort;


        iv)     the technological, physical, economic and human resources
infrastructures which were used by the community in the development
effort;


        v)      any programs or public policy structures which either supported or
impeded the implementation of the development effort;


        vi)     any approaches or strategies the community employed to support
access  and participation by marginal groups in the development effort
(e.g.  outreach structures, capacity building, etc.);


        vii)    any planned or attempted ICT projects which were unsuccessful,
with an analysis of the factors contributing to lack of success.




Any discussion of the barriers to women¬s access to and use of ICTs,
based in your experience and knowledge, is also of interest.