Subject: [fem-women2000 507] GENDER-BALANCED INFO REVOLUTION 2000.07 ECOSOC (short version)
From: lalamaziwa <lalamaziwa@jca.apc.org>
Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2000 04:29:41 +0900
Seq: 507
HIGH-LEVEL SEGMENT 2000: INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGIES (ICTS) IN DEVELOPMENT ECOSOC July 2000 A GENDER-BALANCED PERSPECTIVE ON THE INFORMATION REVOLUTION Anne S. Walker, Ph.D. (Conference of NGOs at UN, Task Force on Gender Issues- ITU, WomenAction 2000, Executive Director of International Women's Tribune Centre) Mr President, I am speaking today on behalf of both the Tunisia 21 NGO Association, who were unable to be present at this meeting today, and an NGO Global Communications Network for Women, set up to increase access to information around the Beijing plus Five Special Session. More specifically, this presentation proposes the need for an ICT Gender Action Plan to be implemented with the support of a facility established under the auspices of the United nations. Mr. President, an information and communications revolution is taking place worldwide. It has become increasingly apparent that information and communications are fundamental to the achievement of a world that is gender-equitable, sustainable, just and peaceful. Women play an enormous role in the development of their communities, but without access to the information they want and need, without a means of public expression and without the ability to share knowledge, they are severely handicapped. Shutting women out of the information and communication revolution handicaps the development of all. The statement from the Tunisia 21 NGO Association states that: "The explosion of information technology in the world today means that women who lack skills and access to the information super highway are even more disempowered than before. An action plan to involve women must include the development of targeted methods for taking the benefits of the information revolution to women. Women's networks should use the worldwide web to create our news and views....... We believe that information technology is central to poverty reduction, which in turn is central to the empowerment of women. Indeed, ICTs offer immense possibilities for reducing poverty, improving governance and advancing gender equality in North Africa provided they are made more accessible and consciously applied toward the achievement of these objectives." The Tunisia 21 NGO Association has undertaken computer training sessions for members of NGOs and the setting up of a computer center equipped with PC's for children at a hospital in Tunis. The Association believes that the range of applications for technologies in North Africa is endless, and includes: electronic commerce; governance; education; health; agriculture and environmental and natural resource management. They recommend that capacity building to ensure gender equity and empowerment with regard to ICTs should be integrated into the national education curriculum, and that mobile Internet services and kiosks should have a specific focus on women and girls. Mr. President, a coalition of more than 40 women's media networks worldwide has formed a global NGO communications network for women. Known as WomenAction 2000, this network, in the space of one year, has set up a global web-site and regional websites in Africa, Asia/Pacific, Latin America/Caribbean, Eastern and Western Europe and North America. Plans call for links with emerging community telecentres in Africa, Asia/Pacific and Latin America/Caribbean, providing access to appropriate information for women in those regions. WomenAction 2000 has undertaken global and regional workshops to train women from every world region in the construction of web-sites, the facilitating of regional and national dialogues, and the "repackaging" of information downloaded >from the internet, -information that is transformed into radio programmes, brochures, newsletters, posters, etc, using local languages. At Beijing Plus Five, WomenAction 2000, in collaboration with the Conference of NGOs in Consultative Relationship with the UN, undertook a full programme of information sharing and dissemination so that women worldwide could participate in the discussions underway in New York. Regional focal points downloaded and distributed the daily newspapers (one international, one with a focus on Africa) prepared by WomenAction 2000 teams in New York. Via interactive radio and TV webcasts, women worldwide took part in live discussions around important agenda items. An Internet Cafe ran throughout each day, making it possible for hundreds of women to be in daily contact with their home groups and media contacts. A Global Media project brought 20 women writers and journalists for training in use of ICTs and in coverage of women's issues. Finally, Mr. President, we recommend that: * The United Nations (UN), at the Millennium Assembly in September 2000, proclaims the right of democratic and equitable access to information and communication services, such as the Internet and community services such as telecentres, with a focus on access for women and other marginalized groups, as an important new component of the United Nations principles and conventions on human rights and development; * The Task Force on Gender Issues (TFGI) established by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), World Telecommunication Development Conference (Valletta 1998) and unanimously endorsed by the Plenipotentiary Conference (Minneapolis 1998), be strengthened so that it can play a more decisive role in ensuring that telecommunications services and programmes are widely available equally to men and women and in ensuring gender equality within the ITU. To effectively reach these goals, particularly women's democratic and equitable participation in ITU policy decision-making process, the TFGI should have the necessary resources for its recommendations to be meaningfully implemented. * The mandate of the ITU/TFGI "to secure financial and other resources to carry out its work, including through partnerships with the private sector, multilateral development finance bodies and other donors", be expanded to direct the attention of and solicit resources from corporate members of ITU towards supporting democratic and equitable access to telecommunications services for women and other marginalized groups. * That an ICT Gender Task Force be set up by the UN Secretary General to bring together all departments and specialized agencies of the UN system, multilateral development institutions, private industry, foundations/trusts, mass media and NGOs, including women's information and communication networks, to develop an ICT Gender Action Plan. Such an Action Plan would address the broader issues and obstacles identified, including the need for training in both hardware and software usage, the development of networks and online dialogues, the management of information and communication projects and enterprises, etc.; * A facility be created to carry out the ICT Gender Action Plan with monies solicited from a variety of sources, including private industry, foundations and trusts, and Member State contributions. The facility could leverage additional resources through matching programmes within countries. It is suggested that UNIFEM may be the most appropriate UN agency to administer such a facility. This facility could be integrated into the Global Knowledge II (Malaysia 2000) recommendation for a Gender and ICT Replication and Learning Fund. _________________________________________________________________________ fem-Women2000@jca.apc.org for Women 2000, UN Special Session on Beijing+5 Searcheable Archive http://www.jca.apc.org/fem/news/women2000/index.shtml visit fem-net HomePage for other mailing lists http://www.jca.apc.org/fem