Comment by Francis Mwathi on November 7, 2008 at 5:02pm

This is a great Idea, having this group to address the Issue of Gender especially among telecentres. We all know that empowering females has far reaching advantages. A very popular politician in Africa said that educating a girl child is educating a nation. Another African country has been grappling with population growth that is threatening to put a strain on available resources. After countless researches there was still no solution until one research provided the long sought solution. The solution was simple: EDUCATE THE GIRL CHILD. It noted that when a girl is educated, she becomes aware of her rights and becomes ambitious. She gets other priorities other than child bearing and in a bid to become successful in this competitive world an educated woman will have less time to look after children. They therefore settle for less children compared to uneducated women which in effect reduces population growth to manageable pattern.

At UgaBYTES initiatives- Kampala, Uganda- we have partnered with Association for Progressive Communication (APC) based in South Africa to evaluate Gender and ICTs through telecentres. So far we have a preliminary visit to two telecentres in Uganda, a visit that has prepare for a Data collection to be done in a fortnight or there about.
You can read some of our blogs through this link:
http://ugabytes.org/nod/?q=node/385
http://www.apcwomen.org/
Lets keep this group alive and we will help in shaping up a better tomorrow.

Comment by DR. SYED MD. ZAINUL ABEDIN on November 7, 2008 at 7:31pm

I am very encouraged by the informative comment of Mr.Francis.I invite the learned members to consider his valuable points.May I also request Mr.Francis to place some important points for discussion here from the blogs referred in the links.I appreciate Mr.Francis for his call to keep the
group alive.

Comment by DR. SYED MD. ZAINUL ABEDIN on November 7, 2008 at 7:42pm

I thank Sheenu Rajan for her evaluation on the aspect of gender.Yes,it is universal cutting across cultures,countries and professions.Special attention on the plight of women in the context of the telecentre activities may invariably help to advance our societies.You may kindly elaborate this aspect in some discussion.

Comment by Shipra Sharma on November 8, 2008 at 5:56pm

Thanks Dr. Syed for creating this group. I had the priviledge to visit the Embalam village knowledge centre near Pondicherry, which is operated and managed entirely by the women of the village. They are not very highly educated women, but the dexterity with which they use the technology-- from computers, internet, to the video conferencing system-- is remarkable. This is, in fact, one of the first telecentres started by MS Swaminathan Research Foundation and at a point when MSSRF was going to close the telecentre because of problems with the village community, the women came forward to take over this responsibility. They assured them that they will run it properly and this is what they are doing till date. therefore, I feel that if women find ICTs contributing to their and their community's well being, they don't hesitate to use technology or learn to use it.

Comment by DR. SYED MD. ZAINUL ABEDIN on November 8, 2008 at 6:20pm

Thank you Ms. Shipra for indicating the dexterity and leadership capability in managing the telecentre of MSSRF.It is really an example of
great achievement where higher education was not the determing factor.
May I emphasize the point that education coupled with experience of those leading and enterprising women saved the centre from extinction.
I salute and congratulate those enterprising leading women for their dexterous contribution towards saving an ICT centre named after a famous scientist.
I take the opprtunity to express my gratefulness to you for syrfacing
such a nice case study that reflects the potential power of the women.

Comment by DR. SYED MD. ZAINUL ABEDIN on November 8, 2008 at 6:33pm

Thanks Mr. Francis for pointing out very pertinent information on gender
and development of ICT.I appreciate you for emphasizing on the EDUCATION OF THE GIRL CHILD for the development of families and nations.Your points have been mentioned while replying to the comment placed by Mr.Nabil.
Hope you will continue to contribute more on the issue of GENDER AND TELECENTRE.
Regards,
Zainul

Comment by DR. SYED MD. ZAINUL ABEDIN on November 8, 2008 at 6:36pm

Thank you Ms. Shipra for joining the group GENDER AND TELECENTRE.I earnestly hope that the issue of gender in the context of telecentre will
be immensely benefitted by your talented contributions.
Best Regards,
Zainul

Comment by Sandra Nassali on November 11, 2008 at 3:57pm

Hello Dr. Syed, am grateful that you invited me to be apart of this group. It's indeed paramount today to involve and evaluate the role being played by women in the ICT and telecentre movement. Because of cultural mandates, women repress a lot of their skills or just think these should be used only to serve others, do house work, raise children, look after the elderly- according to Association for Progressive Communication {APC}. However through empowerment by use of ICT4D and telecentres, they begin to understand that the skills they have could turn into powerful tools to play positive roles in their own homes and communities.This empowerment leads to social and economic development.
Hope through knowledge sharing in this group, a lot shall be unveiled and learnt.
Sandra

Comment by DR. SYED MD. ZAINUL ABEDIN on November 11, 2008 at 8:31pm

Hello Ms Sandra,
I am very happy that you have responded to my invitation and joined the group on Gender and Telecentre.Thanks also for your nice comment.
It is true that the contributions of women are still not recognized properly.But,it is also true that women are emerging from their traditional image and taking challenging positions everywhere.They are taking these positions not by any pity or favour rather they are taking them through their ability.
In this group,we will show the potential opportunities so that women can make best use of them and thus can move with the male counterparts with equal strength.I hope your talented writing will inspire the learned members to contribute profusely in this forum and make it an enjoyable one.
Best Regards,
Zainul

Comment by Nalwoga Sarah Mpagi on November 12, 2008 at 3:52pm

Thanks Dr. Syed for inviting me to this important group. Gender in telecentres and ICT remain an issue to be addressed thoroughly if we are to increase gender equity of access and use of telecentres. Francis noted the partnership UgaBYTES has with APC of using Gender Evaluation Tools in telecentres; yes, next week we are starting field visits to telecentres just to start the evaluation of the two telecentres taking a gender perspective. The purpose of this is to determine access, usage and suitability of telecentres to women and men. And the results are expected to help telecentre s streamline their activities to ensure equitable access to information and relevance of content to men and women users of different ICTs. It is also to re-focus on how ICT initiatives intend to address women and the marginalized groups for leveraging ICT access and usage.

This forum will help us understand better gender and ICT in telecentres.

Best
Sarah

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