25 July 2002

A strong message that will be made in the Know-How Conference declaration tomorrow and carried to the UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) in Geneva in December 2003 is that new technologies can only become relevant for African women if they are interfaced with what already exists.

The WSIS aims to "develop a common vision and understanding of the information society...and to draw up a strategic plan of action for succesfully adapting to the new society."

"There is a recognition that ICTs are here to stay and that both the rural woman and the workers in the field of information believe in its powers of emancipation, reflected Isis WICCE director and Know How convenor, Ruth Ojiambo-Ochieng, "But this also challenges Know How to seal the gaps between making these tools accessible, in packages that suit the needs of all women in an environment that is conducive to meaningful sharing."

Another gap is in content. The issues on the global agenda that are critical for women have different implications in different parts of the world. In Ojiambo-Ochieng's opinion, the Know How declaration should enable local women's issues to be understood on the global platform. "No matter how much we debate the new information technologies, the existing media in Africa remain the most powerful tools because they are accessible to the majority of African women, thus the need to interface the new and the old."

At Isis WICCE this interface is already underway with the telecentres already adopting and translating the information available on CD ROM into the local languages. Let us not rely on assumptions," the Isis WICCE director says. "Let us get research on what women's needs are and how they intend to utilise these tools in relation to their environment."

Ojiambo-Ochieng is also optimistic about engaging private sector support in making information accessible to women. She notes that a large percentage of the consumers of industrial and commercial goods are women, and the time is ripe for private sector investment in a knowledge-based society with the potential to yield untold dividends for education, health, development, democracy and many more benefits.

"Women in Africa have the potential to be the largest homogeneous clientele of private enterprise and consumer goods, surely this is a good enough incentive," she argues.

Dorothy Okello, Director of Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET), echoed similar sentiments: "It is not so much about bridging the digital divide as it is about making the content relevant using the appropriate technologies."

For instance, interventions sometimes overlook the fact that women are in constant communication with each other at household and community levels, yet women's indigenous knowledge is often neglected or dismissed as unimportant despite the fact that their survival strategies are key to their community's development.

The results of a three-week online conference organised last month on information access for rural women, recommended ensuring access to relevant information on issues close to the hearts of these women. They recommended that information programmes involve women in the definition of purpose, content and delivery mechanisms as well as having a say on whether or not ICTs are appropriate and feasible in rural areas.

The conference attracted 264 participants, of whome 80 percent were women, from 53 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America and North America. "The conference and participation levels themselves make a case for ICTs as tools of empowerment, but they must go hand in hand with the right approach -- one that is appropriate, accessible , participatory and attentive to gender issues," says Okello.

According to Lin Pugh, programme manager for the International Archives for the Women's Movement that hosted the Know How conference in Amsterdam two years ago, having the conference in Africa for the first time has helped to place the focus on "making informaiton work for women." She noted that about 40 different nationalities had been represented in the field trip to the Nakaseke rural telecentre on Wednesday, and learned first hand about the information needs of rural African women.

Among the issues to be decided at the business meeting Saturday is where the next Know How conference will be held. So far, an NGO in Poland has put in a bid.

--Juliana Omale