APC Africa-Women Programme

The Association for Progressive Communicationsⁱ Africa-Women Programme (APC-Africa-Womenⁱ) is a network of over 70 organisations and individuals that work to empower African women's organisations to access and use information and communication technologies (ICTs) for equality and Development. The PC-Africa-Women are the African regional programme of APC's Women's Networking Support Programmeⁱ (APC WNSP). Working in partnership with women's organizations and with women in Africa they focus on women's empowermentⁱ through:

• Lobbying and advocacy on gender and ICT policy at national, regional and global level in partnership with other civil society organisations
• Participation in regional and global events by disseminating information, online discussion forums and running Internet cafes and providing ICT training
• Information facilitation by providing information to women about gender and ICTs and how they can access useful tools and resources
• Providing regional support to women's organizations through developing their capacity to network and to use ICTs strategically
• Delivering ICT training to African women's organisations, networks and initiatives
• Conducting research in the area of gender and ICTs in Africa

MEMBERSHIP At present we have over 70 members from Anglophone and Francophone Africa. Africa-based women and women's organizations working to empower African women in media and ICTs can join as institutional or individual members. Membership of APC-Africa-Women enables membership to APC WNSP, the global APC women's network. There are no membership fees.

SELECTED ACTIVITIES Since its first official activity in 1996, APC-Africa-Women has succeeded in raising African women's awareness of ICTs and broadening the strategic useⁱ of ICTs by women in important social justice and development processes.

Gender and ICT Policy Advocacy. APC-Africa-Women are involved in both regional and global lobbying and advocacy efforts including ongoing contributions to the WSIS process, in collaboration with WNSP and the APC. Its members have contributed to the APC ICT Policy for Civil Society training workshops, which produced a training curriculum. APC-Africa-Women members are also involved in advocacy for gender inclusion in National ICT policy processes, and active in the WSIS Gender Caucus Africa Region.

Production of PULA a quarterly e-newsletter on African Women and ICTs. PULA aims to promote and profile the work and activities of women's ICT initiatives in Africa and to link women to each other and to initiatives and opportunities. www.apcafricawomen.org/pula.htm

Women's Electronic Network Training Workshop (WENT Africa 2003). A training workshop aimed to build the capacities of women and their organisations to utilise new Information and Communication Technologies in social development work and policy advocacy. WENT Africa 2005 is in the planning stages. www.apcafricawomen.org/went_rep.shtml

FOSS for women workshop.Women'sNet hosted a SADC regional workshop to build awareness of and the potential use of Free and Open Source Solutions (FOSS) in the non-profit sector, and women's organisations specifically. womensnet.org.za/FOSS/Index.html

E-consultation on "ICTs for the advancement of rural women's empowerment: Strategies, platforms, tools and training". The e-consultation increased the number of voices in the FAO/Women'sNet/DIMITRA workshop on advancing rural women's empowerment and widened the space for dialogue and sharing of experiences, information and resources. womensnet.org.za/dimitra_conference/econsulation.htm

Gender Research in Africa into ICTs for Empowerment (GRACE). This pan-African research project has15 sub-projects, reflecting 14 research sites in 12 countries aims to explore the ways in which women in Africa use ICTs to empower themselves, the external, structural barriers as well as the internal factors which prevent them from using ICTs to their advantage, and the strategies they employ to overcome these impediments. It is undertaken in partnership with IDRC.