WOUGNET submission to Uganda's input
In preparation for PrepCom 2, WOUGNET recommends the following documents as useful in understanding the issues for women's participation in the WSIS process and in providing suggestions and recommendations for gender equality and increased women's participation in the WSIS:
- Bamako 2002 Africa Regional WSIS PrepCom statement
http://www.wougnet.org/WSIS/genderstatement.html
This document was prepared at the African Regional PrepCom for the WSIS held in
Bamako in May 2002. The document lays out recommendations for different stakeholders. It was also at this meeting that the WSIS Gender Caucus was initiated.
- WSIS Gender Caucus submission to the Prepcom II, Geneva
http://www.wougnet.org/WSIS/wsisgcdocs.html
The issues outlined in the Gender Implication sections are also issues in Uganda and target the three main categories of the WSIS: Access for all; ICTs as a tool for economic and social development; and Confidence and security in the use of ICTs. The Gender Caucus submission also provides a platform for action.
- Addis Workshop statement
http://africa.rights.apc.org/workshop_dec_eng.shtml
This statement was produced at the November 2002 workshop on ICT policy and
Civil society. It emphasises the need for civil society to engage with the ICT
policy processes again to ensure that the WSIS goals can be attained.
In preparing this submission, WOUGNET further draws upon the following:
- Declaration of the Kampala Know How Conference 2002
The Kampala Know How conference had four themes which address the three main categories of the WSIS. The conference themes were:
- Making information from the village level available to the national, regional and international policy levels and vice versa.
- Engendering women's information through the use of mainstream media.
- Women's information and ICTs: policies and innovations.
- How ICTs affect the lives of women in general.
The Kampala Declaration is available online at: http://www.isis.or.ug/knowhow/kdeclaration.html
- WOUGNET meeting: Information sharing on the application of ICTs, January 2003
The objective of this meeting, open to the WOUGNET members and the public, was to share experiences on the challenges of using ICTs. Following is a summary of the recommendations made by participants on a way forward for WOUGNET and for the application of ICTs:
- Information/content should be available in local languages and in easily accessible formats.
- Research needs to be conducted on information needs in order that appropriate and relevant information is made available to the target audience.
- Training is required in the usage and application of ICTs.
- Traditional and modern forms of ICTs should be used for information sharing and dissemination.
- Sensitization and awareness campaigns should be conducted on the use of ICTs.
- Regular public fora should be conducted for information sharing on ICT usage and application.
The need to incorporate a gender-aware planning, design and implementation of the principles and plan of action of Uganda's vision for ICT development and the WSIS. A gender analysis of ICT projects revealed that women do not benefit equitably from such projects unless special efforts are made to identify their situation and needs, and to take effective action to incorporate their participation1. Further, gender awareness does not mean counting the number of women in a project activity, but taking into account societal relations between men and women and the impact of these relations on other areas of community life.
Following here on are the proposed additions and amendments to Uganda's working document for the second preparatory meeting for the WSIS:
Theme (1): Infrastructure: financing, deployment and sustainability
Add to Actions: Apply gender evaluation methods that integrate gender analysis in the evaluation of initiatives and programs for the inclusion of remote/underserved areas and of women in the deployment of infrastructure.
Theme (2): Identifying and overcoming barriers to the achievement of the information society
Amend third action item: The government to work with local authorities to develop indigenous information content in various formats, taking into account the special needs of women and of disadvantaged groups.
Theme (3): The role of government, the business sector and civil society in the promotion of ICTs for development
Add to Actions: Ensure that policy, legal and regulatory frameworks created for ICT development incorporate a gender perspective.
Theme (4): Education, training and human resource development
Amend second action item: Develop and manage ICT Centres of Excellence to provide basic and advanced ICT training. Ensure active participation of gender equality experts in the development and management of the Centres.
Theme (5): Access to information and communication technologies
Add to Actions: Facilitate the generation and delivery of information in appropriate formats that are easily accessible by rural/non-literate men and women.
Theme (6): Information network security
Amend third action item: Develop, implement and monitor programmes to create public awareness about rights and responsibilities regarding proprietary information. Ensure programmes developed incorporate a gender perspective.
Theme (7): Development of a policy and regulatory framework
Amend third action item: Develop and manage mechanisms that involve the public and stakeholders in the policy formulation and development process for ICT. Facilitate and encourage participation of women and disadvantaged groups in the policy formulation and development process.
Theme (8): ICT Applications (education, health, culture, poverty eradication, government, employment, business
Amend first action item: Develop, implement, monitor and regularly circulate a comprehensive public information and communications programme on ICT. The programme should explicitly address issues of gender and of disadvantaged groups.
Amend fourth action item: Establish infrastructure that addresses ICT needs of specific and crosscutting sectors like health, education, agriculture, local administration, etc. Infrastructure established should incorporate a gender perspective.
![WOUGNET - Women of Uganda Network [Logo]](/img/WOUGNETlogo.gif)
