Hi everyone,

Following is the set of discussion messages that will be used during the
online
conference on information access for rural women, June 3-21. If you have not
already registered for the conference, you can register online at:
http://www.wougnet.org/Events/iarw.html [2]
or by email, contact [email protected] [3]

Your participation and contributions are greatly welcomed.

Regards,

Dorothy

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Conference Discussion Messages in English
(http://www.wougnet.org/Events/IARW/iarwdiscuss.html#EN [4])
=========================================================

WEEK 1: Information Access for Rural Women

Information, communication and entertainment are as critical for
rural living as they are for urban living, and indeed there is
increasing demand for information and communication equipment and
services in rural areas. Information and communication technologies
(ICTs) can be broadly classified as either traditional (e.g.
drama, print, radio, television) or new (e.g email and the web).
It is widely recognized that ICTs have potential in rural
development by opening up communication channels for the exchange of
new and indigenous knowledge and information with and among rural
communities. However, major challenges exist in terms of available
means of information access and dissemination as well as how to
operate the audio-visual systems.

Issues related to rural areas are only part of the challenge,
gender-specific issues faced by rural women should be addressed as
well. In a TeleCommons Development Group (TDG) report on "Rural
Access to Information and Communication Technologies: The Challenge
of Africa", three key lessons are identified on the subject of ICTs
and Gender: (1) More involvement of women is needed in the
development of ICT initiatives; (2) Women entrepreneurs who provide
rural ICT services can not only advance their own social and economic
well-being, but can also provide access to ICT services to other
rural women; (3) More attention needs to be paid to women's needs in
relation to ICTs. In addition, women need to be actively engaged in
the production and dissemination of information.

The objective of this conference is to facilitate the exchange of ideas and
experiences on information access for rural women. We shall begin by
considering how rural women access and share information as well as the
setup of
rural information centers (RICs). Your replies, comments and examples to the
following questions are greatly welcomed.

* How are rural women exchanging knowledge and communicating within
and beyond their communities? What are the advantages and/or
disadvantages?

* What kind of information do rural women need and how can they get
it? What are their unfulfilled information needs?

* How are traditional means and technologies, and modern ICTs being
applied in support of information access for rural women?

* What information and communication policies are available at regional and
national levels to support information access for rural women?

* What kind of rural information centers (RICs) and other types of
infrastructure are available to support information access for rural
women? Are cellular and satellite technologies the answer to
universal access concerns?

* How are these RICs or other information projects maintained and
managed (for example, in terms of financing, operations, staffing,
outreach and promotion)?

* What type of projects are initiated and what partnerships are
established between government/donors/private sector/NGOs and rural
communities to address information access for rural women?

* How is the relationship between women, communication and development
policies affected by (a) globalization and (b) privatization?

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WEEK 2: Challenges/Difficulties of setting up and maintaining rural
information centers

Experience has shown that information and communication technologies
(ICTs) have become part of the development process all over the
world. For example, networking between donors, beneficiaries and
development workers can accelerate and improve the delivery of
programs.

Recognising the potential benefits due to ICTs and the fundamental
role played by women in development, many organisations are trying to
facilitate women's access to information and ICTs -- inspite of a
wide range of difficulties that has hampered access to information by
rural women. Indeed, a number of women organizations seek to modify
existing practices in rural communities. They are working with
national and international government and grassroots agencies to make
information about ICTs more easily available so that public policies
can be better informed on issues that disproportionately affect the
rural communities.

In addition, some socio-cultural and religious norms may restrict
women's access to information centers. In some regions, women are
often not allowed to go to public venues without supervision. Women
may also be uncomfortable frequenting a cybercafe with predominantly
male users or seeking help from male staff at a cybercafe.

Also, lack of skills and inappropriate education is often cited as an
impediment to women 's participation in ICTs and to expanding
women's integration into the paid-work force.

For the second week of the conference, we shall discuss the various factors
that attribute to the challenges and difficulties of setting up rural
information centers (RICs). Your replies, comments and examples to the
following questions are greatly welcomed.

* What challenges and difficulties has your organisation or community
encountered in setting up RICs (or alternative mechanisms) for information
exchange by rural women?

* What prerequisites are required in order to apply ICTs or setup
RICs in rural areas? How can the rural population be sensitized about
ICT applications?

* What is the role of and the actions taken by government in the
implementation of RICs?

* An often-cited challenge to women's empowerment is the low
literacy levels among rural women. How can the challenge of education
and adult literacy in rural areas be addressed?

* Are the priorities and policies of development organizations and
donors justified when it comes to using ICTs and setting up RICs?
Would the money be better spent on other projects?

* Can ICTs and RICs really make a difference for rural women? How has
information access and dissemination helped rural women, local
organisations and community groups achieve their goals?

* What can be done to overcome the challenges and difficulties in rural
information access?

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WEEK 3: Best practices/Lessons learned and Recommendations

Among the efforts on narrowing the 'information gap', community access to
information and communication technology (ICT) has been widely considered
the most realistic method in bringing universal access to ICT to all
developing countries, especially in reaching out to rural areas. As we have
seen from the discussion during week 1-2, a wide range of community
organisations, NGOs and donor governments and institutions have therefore
initiated different pilot projects in search of viable models of community
information centres and information access for rural areas
(such as content, language, technologies, financing, management,
reaching out, integration with community setting, available means of
communications and other means of satisfying needs of the
community). These attempts are forming an ever-flourishing basis
of experience and source for learning.

However, it should not be forgotten that the rural information center (RIC)
aims at satisfying information needs at the very grassroots level in
a community. While there is great potential for experience sharing
and collective learning for rural development to the advantage of
women, a lot of attention should be paid to the huge diversities in
the reality and specificity of each community, where women face
opportunities and threats from social, cultural and religious norms
which are not necessarily identical. In such communities, women's
needs, priorities (daily, social and economic, protection, etc.),
endowments and potentials also vary.

The same is true of their information needs. Also, other means of
communication within and beyond the community may already exist, and
varying levels of information access may already be available to women in
these communities before the introduction of rural information
centres (as seen from the discussion in Week 1). The arrival of RICs
has changed the palette for rural women, but in what sense? (For
example, have they created synergy or competition?)

Your contribution would therefore be pivotal in our collective
reflection on these past initiatives, which would enable us to draw
lessons from them and prepare ourselves for future strategizing. Including
but not limited to the examples discussed during Week 1 and 2:

* In what cases do you consider the introduction of RICs successful? Why?
How and in what circumstances have they been able to succeed? What are the
benefits accrued? What are the potentials/limitations/precautions for
replication or transfer?

* On the other hand, in cases where results are less desirable, what are
the reasons? What could have been / can be done to redress them? How can we
avoid similar problems in the future?

* Facing the challenges / difficulties discussed, or even in the
successful cases where there is still room for improvement, what
would your recommendation be for addressing these issues at hand?

* Have new ideas / innovative approaches been inspired by your
experience?

* From a more macro perspective, have we been able to identify any
policy implications from these successes, challenges and lessons
learnt? What are the attributes of a policy environment/interventions
that are (a) conducive to enhancing the potential benefits of rural
information centres? or (b) hindering or delaying the realisation of
such benefits?

* Does the arrival of RICs influence the social / economic /
cultural / gender / power dynamics in the community? And how? What
would the implication be for future deployment of RICs and/or other
means of information access for rural women?

* What can be done to facilitate the process of continuous collective
learning among RICs and with other attempts that share the same goal
as RICs?

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