LINUXCHIX AFRICA LAUNCHES AN ORGANIZATION THAT WILL POSITION AFRICAN WOMEN WITHIN THE FREE AND OPEN SOURCE (FOSS) MOVEMENT

Linuxchix Africa was formed in 2004 by African women and for African women. Itis a chapter in Africa affiliated to Linuxchix worldwide. The aim of the African chapter is to help toward building the critical mass of Linux skills among African women, and to advocate for the use of Free and Open Source Software for the many community development challenges being faced by Africans, especially African women.

The challenges of Africa are well documented, with HIV/AIDS representing the most significant development challenge of our times. Community development can no longer be viewed in isolation but require multi-tiered, cross-sectoral, and well-coordinated approaches that are aligned to Information and Communications Technology (ICT). Without ICT, communities get left behind and are unable to take advantage of the social and economic benefits that come with ICT. This integration of ICT into social development programmes is often referred to as eDevelopment, eHealth and eLearning and represent models of ICT intervention in development, health and education respectively.

With the advent of Free and Open Source Software, it has now become possibleto make software available to people who would otherwise not afford it. With FOSS, countries will no longer have to prioritise between poverty and then digital divide. Also since women are the ones mostly affected by poverty and HIV/AIDS, it is relevant that they be properly tooled and positioned to make that difference in their lives. Furthermore, ICT is still male dominated, moreso the Open Source technical environment, so Linuxchix Africa will play a role as a catalyst that will demystify FOSS to the people who stand to benefit the most from it.

For more information contact:

Anna Badimo Co-Founder Linuxchix Africa Email: [email protected] Phone: +27 11 717 6197 Dorcas Muthoni Co-Founder Linuxchix Africa Email: [email protected] Phone: +254 20 675 0212 Visit us at http://www.africalinuxchix.org and subscribe to [email protected].