Report of the meeting of the African Regional Group WSIS Gender Caucus

Report of the meeting of the African Regional Group WSIS Gender Caucus
May 4, 2003, Kampala, Uganda

Active participants in the WSIS Gender Caucus hailing from the African region met in Kampala on Sunday May 4th for a strategy and brainstorming meeting. The WSIS GC participants had come to Kampala to participate in the Bridging the Gender Digtial Divide through Strategic Partnerships organised by UNIFEM and other partners. The WSIS GC meeting provided an opportunity for many of the active participants in the on-line list to meet face to face for the first time, and also brought together some of the formation team, who had initiated the WSIS Gender Caucus, 12 months ago during the African Regional PrepCom for WSIS in Mali. The group meeting in Kampala agreed to continue working on African issues as a regional group within the global Caucus.

The Caucus was very pleased to have the opportunity during this meting to brief Dr Noleen Heyzer, Executive Director of UNIFEM, and Dr Laketch Dirasse, Chief UNIFEM Africa on the work of the Caucus. Over the course of the two day UNIFEM meeting, there were many opportunities for Caucus members to present ideas on gender and ICT advocacy issues and to identify concrete possibilities for partnership with UNIFEM in its strategic gender and ICT programme in the Africa region, at regional, sub-regional and national levels.

The African regional group, meeting in Kampala agreed to take the following actions to consolidate and strengthen the activities of the WSIS Gender Caucus:

Organise and deliver capacity building training on advocacy and lobbying for gender advocates, including through partnerships with other NGO bodies and national governments.
Lettie Longwe (AMARC Africa) winafrica@global.co.za
Produce research and publication materials that document and tell the "stories" of African women's leadership in Information Society issues.
Shafika Isaacs (Schoolnet Africa) s.isaccs@schoolnet.org and Ruth Ochieng (ISIS-WICCE) isis@starcom.co.ug
Coordinate participation in African regional Information Society events, including by providing a calendar of upcoming events and mobilising WSIS GC participants to attend.
Atieno Aluoch (AIS-GWG) saluoch@yahoo.com
Mobilise funding to enable participation by African women in WSIS events, including at the regional level and design appropriate guidelines for the work of the regional group in collaboration with the WSIS Gender Caucus Coordinator.
WSIS Gender Caucus Steering Committee email: wsisgc-steering@wougnet.org
Organise advocacy and outreach workshops on gender and ICT issues, in partnership with national governments, regional institutions, civil society and the UN system. The team agreed to accelerate these efforts in preparation for WSIS, by supporting national level efforts by providing the WSIS Gender Caucus Sourcebook on organising national programmes on gender and ICTs as the foundation materials. The first of these sessions will be organised in Uganda, in mid June, working in partnership with WOUGNET, as part of a APC/CTO Civil Society Training Programme.
African Regional group WSIS Gender Caucus secretariat-wsisgendercaucus@wougnet.org
Strengthen electronic networking capability of WSIS -Gender Caucus, including by providing regional e-spaces for communication and networking on a regional basis.
Constantine Obuya (ACWICT) cobuya@acwict.or.ke and Atieno Aluoch (AIS-GWG) saluoch@yahoo.com providing leadership for the electronic admin team WSIS Gender Caucus
Undertake a creative and targetted membership drive to increase participation of African women in the Caucus, including those those who do not have access to online tools.
African regional group WSIS Gender Caucus (email: secretariat-wsisgendercaucus@wougnet.org )

The following timelines were also agreed upon:

Produce and distribute report of meeting May 14 GMM

Distribute Gender Caucus statement from
Bridging the Digital Divide Meeting May 14 GMM

Announce logo competition May 14 GMM

Produce strategy paper on electronic networking May 21 CO and AA

Progress report on electronic networking May 21 CO and AA

Deliver training programme in Uganda mid June LL and CO

Implement electronic networking strategy end June electronic admin team

Implement communications strategy end June comms and outreach team and ACWICT

Partnership with the UNIFEM Digital Diaspora Initiative

The WSIS Gender Caucus meeting in Kampala from May 5-7 resolved to work in partnership with the Digital Dispora Initiative on Bridging the Gender Digital Divide through Strategic Partnerships. We offered three concrete and specific areas of support to the DDI.

Organising advocacy and outreach activities on gender and ICTs at the national level.
Delivering advocacy and lobbying training on ICT policy issues to gender advocates.
Information dissemination on the DDI initiative via the WSIS GC lists and website and its research and documentation activities.

The full statement of the WSIS GC, presented by Rita Mijumbi Epodoi has already been circulated on the WSIS gc mailing list. All the relevant documents from the meeting, including the panel presentation by Gillian Marcelle and the WOUGNET paper on its activities in preparation for WSIS will be posted on the WSIS GC web site shortly in a new section on African regional activities.

We urge all participants of the WSIS Gender Caucus to contact the persons named if they are interested in finding out more about these activities and contributing to their success.

Acknowledgments

The WSIS Gender Caucus Regional group meeting would not have been possible without financial assistance from UNIFEM. We are also grateful for the vital logistical support provided by Ruth Ochieng of ISIS-WICCE and colleagues from WOUGNET. Thanks to all those who attended the meeting and contributed their ideas and energy -- Lettie Longwe, Ilaria Carnevali, Hadijah Namumbya, Milton Aineruhanga, Shafika Isaacs, Ruth Ochieng, Constantine Obuya, Jane Were, Hendrica Okondo, Tacko Ndiaye, Atieno Aluoch, Rita Mijumbi Epodoi, Nyaradzai Gumbonzvanda, and Gillian Marcelle

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Report prepared by Gillian Marcelle
May 10th 2003
Email: secretariat-wsisgendercaucus@wougnet.org
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =