Reducing the gender gap in access to ICT: some African initiatives towards change

In March of this year, the ITU and UNESCO-sponsored Broadband Commission for Digital Development met in Mexico City to endorse a new report coordinated by UNESCO, entitled ‘Technology, Broadband and Education: Advancing the Education for All Agenda’.

At the meeting, an ambitious target was set to reduce the gender gap that persists in terms of access and use of the internet, with a new advocacy target: “…to ensure gender equality in broadband access by 2220..”. This is against the backdrop of general recognition that a huge amount of work is required if the Millennium Development Goals of ‘Universal Primary Education’ and ‘Education for All’ are to be achieved. As an article from the UNESCO website on the meeting in March states:-

‘…Less than three years away from the target date for achieving these goals, 61 million children of primary-school age, and a further 71 million of lower secondary-school age, are not in school. In addition, close to 793 million adults – 64% of them women – lack literacy skills, with the lowest rates in sub-Saharan Africa and South and West Asia…’

The article continues with reference to data that was presented at the meeting, highlighting a 25% disparity between men and women in terms of those who used the internet, with the figure being far greater in Sub-Saharan Africa, going up to 45%.

Having these stats to hand is hardly necessary to support the argument that much more needs to be done to close the gender gap – or gender divide (as part of the wider ‘digital divide’), in terms of the number of women in comparison to men who have access to the internet, training in ICT and access to ICT resources in developing countries. Thankfully there seems to be far more global recognition that the existing barriers to opportunity afforded to women in these communities, in terms of career development, social empowerment and global self-expression, will continue to perpetuate without a considerable improvement in the level of accessthey have to ICT education and resources.

Here I have highlighted a few examples of some of the projects and initiatives which have tried to tackle these inequalities, in various communities across Africa, which have been featured in the press in the past year.

Akirachix Training Project: Teaching ICT to high school girls from the slums of Nairobi

“Currently, our country is basking in recognition and appreciation of a robust tech. scene, but we only have a handful of women making an impact in this field”

These are the words of Linda Kamau, Akirachix Training Project Lead, in an article on their work in Nairobi in the BizTech Africa website in May of this year. Akirachix are an all-girl ICT organisation who started offering ICT training to a small group of girls from the slums of Nairobi back in 2010, with the project continuing to develop since then. She goes on to explain how they try to help with other issues as part of the initiative, that may be acting as an obstacle to students continued participation in the scheme:

“Teaching the girls about computers and building their appreciation of science is one thing, but we cannot achieve much when they have to withdraw from class to attend to personal issues. We therefore ensure that we facilitate school attendance with things like bus fare so that they don’t miss class, and give them personal effects for proper hygiene…”

As the article explains, in the coming year since publication the group were intent on further enhancing the curricula they could offer to students to include training in financial literacy and psychological support, with a view to gaining recognition and further input from stakeholders such as the Kenya National Examinations Council in the future.

Senegal: Aiming to educate 100 girls in ICT each year

This is the aim of Bitilokho NDiaye, Technical Consultant in charge of Gender Issues at the Senegal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy, from an interview with The Soleil earlier this year.

In the interview, reported online in the Afrique IT News website in April, Bitilokho explained how they want to “…encourage computer access to women by giving them low-cost computers so that they can be trained in communications…” with the aim of “…promoting female entrepreneurship by making sure that that there are SME headed by women.” Summing up the interview, she explained that the scheme had been a success so far, and hoped to present those who had participated and the projects they had undertaken in ICT since attending the training course.

Telecentre Women Campaign: Joint Scheme in Rwanda, Kenya and Zambia to encourage women to embrace technology through ICT training

As reported on the telecentre.org blog last month, since July the Rwanda Telecentre Network (RTN) Southern Africa Telecentre Network (SATNET) and KenTel have been implementing a digital literacy program of training for women in both rural and urban communities. Working in conjunction with Microsoft, the aim if the initiative as explained in the article is to:

‘…empower disadvantaged community women with knowledge of ICTs for personal growth and expanded opportunities for better lives. Hence boost countries’ aspirations of transforming from an agricultural-based economy to a knowledge-based one….’

One of the students who attended the training explained how she was able to benefit from it with the running of the cooperative of 25 women she was involved in, which produced sweaters and scarves:

“we can now use Microsoft Excel to calculate our profits, book keeping, design a flyer to market our product using Ms Word, and prepare a presentation Powerpoint…”

Chipatala Cha Pa Foni (CCPF): Mobile phone-based initiative in Malawi aims to help women responsible for sourcing medical services and facilities for their family and communities

An article earlier this month in the All Africa website, referencing the Malawi News Agency, explains how a recent development is helping women in rural areas of Malawi (with particular reference to the Nkhotakota region) in their search for medical services and health advice, a requirement that affects whole communities but inevitably falls to women to provide a solution for them.

Chipatala Cha Pa Foni (CCPF), which means ‘Health Centre By Phone’ in English, is a scheme that embraces mobile ICT to specifically help those women who have young children, are pregnant or of child-bearing age,  by provided them with vital healthcare information regarding maternal, neonatal and child-health concerns via their mobile phones.

The result of a competition jointly run by the Malawi Ministry of Health and global NGOs Concern Worldwide and Village Reach, the scheme uses contracts between Village Reach and mobile provider Airtel as its technology platform. Through this integration of mobile technology, it has been possible to extend the reach of existing women’s healthcare education programmes to those who need them most.

Village Reach Program Manager Zachanak Jezman explains the CCPF initiative in more detail:

“CCPF has two components, the first one being a toll free case management hotline which allows women of child bearing age, pregnant women and women of under-five children to talk directly to health workers by dialing 54747 on any Airtel number.

“The second component allows the three groups of targeted women to register with CCPF to receive timely and specialized tips and reminders on healthy information,” he said.

During the launch of CCPF in Nkhotakota, the article quotes National Chairman for the Presidential Initiative on Safe Motherhood, Senior Chief Kwataine as he described the launch:

“…a special day for the three targeted groups of women…CCPF is one way of promoting safe motherhood. It provides a platform to interact with (a health) worker for a long period without actually going to the (health) facility…Women who have reservations about going (to health a facility) will also be served. It’s up to us to use it so that Malawi should continue doing well on maternal health…”

Mobile tech making a difference: learning to read and public health awareness

My last post looked at the importance of prioritising basic IT hardware provision, as much as focussing on the grander, long-term schemes being proposed to provide internet connectivity ‘to all’, such as internet.org and Loon. It goes without saying that the provision of computers and the necessary training and expertise in the schools, colleges and hospitals of developing nations is vital, if those institutions are to fully embrace the digital revolution that the global visionaries mentioned above hope to achieve.

This time around it’s all about mobile technology in developing countries, where the advances and developments that have been made over a relatively short period have been very impressive. Again, referencing my last post, the provision of hardware with these mobile solutions is just as important, and in the two examples I’ve featured here, either the hardware is provided, or the technology involved harnesses the power of the device that’s already in many people’s pockets – the standard mobile phone.

I’ve deliberately picked two very different examples in terms of their aims and approach, and there have been many other varied initiatives in this area, all with their own merits, successes and inevitable issues and challenges in terms of what they hoped to achieve, and how they’ve faired over time.

The two initiatives I’ve focussed on have had a huge impact on the communities they’ve helped and in very different ways, but there is a common theme of connecting disparate, hard-to-reach communities that without the resources these initiatives provide, would be less connected and less able to tackle the basic challenges of life, through greater access to healthcare information, and real, practical educational resources.

Worldreader – ‘Books for all’

Worldreader, a US-based global non-profit organisation, aim to provide widespread access to digital books to children, their families and communities with the aim of improving the lives of potentially millions of people. According to their website, (http://www.worldreader.org/what-we-do/) as of June 2013 they have:

‘…put over 662,008 e-books – and the life-changing, power-creating ideas contained within them – into the hands of 4,300 children in sub-Saharan Africa. Those children now read more, read better, and are improving their communities…’.

There are numerous stories and articles on the web about the successes of Worldreaders’ projects, and how they have had a major, positive impact on education and improved literacy for many people through the provision of reading material via e-readers. What made them stand out for me was in a reference to their Africa programs, where it was noted that Worldreader have made a point of ensuring that many of the books they provide are from African publishers and authors. This clearly has obvious benefits, in that students can engage more easily with content that is familiar to them, and schools are able to use local textbooks that are more relevant and accessible to students and teachers alike. It also seems to be a sensible, ethical approach, to be promoting the work of local authors and publishers, as well as providing access to international books when needed.

For an interesting local insight into one of WorldReader’s recent projects, see a recent blog post from Worldreader’s own blog, on their work at the Dwankhozi Primary School in Zambia: http://www.worldreader.org/blog/new-country-new-project-empowering-zambian-children-with-books/

For more general information on Worldreader, visit their main website at: http://www.worldreader.org/

Frontline SMS

Frontline SMS has been around for a while now, with its first prototype product being launched in 2005, but it’s still worth highlighting as one of the great innovations in truly global mobile communications that has been used so effectively in the developing world, to make a positive difference to people’s lives and the communities in which they live.

The Frontline SMS software is freely available and was developed to give communities and organisations the ability to have two-way connectivity and group text-messaging services in locations without reliable internet access, via standard mobile phone networks. Whilst the service has developed over the years to harness further developments, such as web portals and most recently cloud technology, the principles behind the initiative remain the same.

One example of Frontline SMS in action is with a current project in Kenya, where a combined effort between local communities and Kenyan journalists through the International Media Support organisation (www.i-m-s.dk) is aiming to utilise Frontline SMS services to raise awareness and build up a knowledge base on diabetes in Kenya. In an article on the initiative, Laura Walker Hudson, CEO of Social Impact Lab Foundation who developed Frontline SMS, puts it simply:

“…New technology makes life saving information available for patients and next of kin with limited access to media. Social media and crowd-sourced media are moving the standards and Frontline SMS has been instrumental in using their 2.0 platform to bring a voice to thousands of diabetes affected Kenyans…”

The whole article can be viewed here:
http://www.frontlinesms.com/2013/09/19/a-mobile-phone-text-messaging-service-and-a-new-webportal-are-bridging-the-information-gap-on-diabetes-in-kenya-where-the-disease-annually-kills-more-people-than-hivaids/

The Frontline SMS software is free to download and use. The text messages themselves are the only cost, so the system provides an extremely affordable way of reaching a wider audience when other means of digital connectivity are not readily available. The service has proved invaluable, particularly in communicating messages on public health issues and gathering information from patients and their communities, as can be seen above.

For more information on Frontline SMS, visit their website at: http://www.frontlinesms.com/