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 “The Burden of The Struggle” - Engendering Change in ICT Policy
Cheekay Cinco, member of APC WNSP, interviews Nancy Hafkin, woman pioneer of networking and ICTs development in Africa on her thoughts about the current gender and ICT policy environment. She reflects on the WSIS process and the recent Commission on the Status of Women, and articulates what is urgently needed to render visible the gender dimensions of ICTs at policy levels. 
, Apr 2006
General Reference, Communication Rights || Global
ICT gender issues past, present and future
As women living in Africa we have many things to confront: the process of African enlargement and our participation in the globalised world, the decline of national states, the dominance of market and consumerism, growing poverty, social and political inequalities or insecurities within Africa and outside in the face of neo-conservatism and dominance of the United States.
Brenda Zulu [APC Women's Networking Support Programme ], Dec 2005
General Reference || Africa
Comment/s: 1 Gender equality may constitute a normative consensus, but the political will is lacking
 Heike Jensen, researcher and lecturer at the Department of Gender Studies of Humboldt University in Berlin, (Germany), is one of those hardworking gender advocates, whose “effort and time spent gathering information, sleepless nights, many cups of coffee , talking, training, skills sharing, lobbying and writing” focussed on integrating gender as a relevant dimension of WSIS process and outcomes. She has been involved in the process almost since the beginning, worked as member of the German Civil Society Coordinating Group, the NGO Gender Strategies Working Group and the WSIS Gender Caucus, where she is a member of the Steering Committee. In contrast to GenderIT.org writer Jac sm Kee, she sees the results of seven years advocacy more optimistically. Here is her initial assessment of the achievements in terms of gender written few days after the conclusion of WSIS process.
Heike Jensen , Dec 2005
General Reference || Global
Funding ICTs: where will the money come from?
The Digital Solidarity Fund (DSF) was proposed by Senegal's President Abdoulaye Wade at Phase I of the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) Summit. It was inaugurated by the Nigerian President Olusegun Odasanjo in March 2005, in Geneva. This fund is seen a voluntary and complementary financing mechanism to supplement existing financial mechanism. It is registered in Switzerland.
Brenda Zulu [APC Women's Networking Support Programme ], Dec 2005
Universal Access || Global
From Geek to the WSIS Gender Caucus
Jac sm Kee grabs a conversation with Jacqueline A. Morris during WSIS PrepComm3 at Geneva, and finds out about how a girl from Trinidad & Tobago ends up being a gender & ICT advocate, her insights about the two priority issues in WSIS Phase II – financing and internet governance – as well as the efficacy of the WSIS Gender Caucus.
Jack sm Kee [APC Women's Networking Support Programme ], Dec 2005
General Reference || Global
Solidaridad: PARM cancela presentacion de manual GEM
Finalmente, luego de casi cinco años de trabajo no fue presentado el Manual de GEM, en un acto de solidaridad con las entidades de derechos humanos tunecinas que ayer fueron duramente reprimidas por la policía en pleno centro de la ciudad. La publicación es fruto del trabajo del Programa de Apoyo a las Redes de Mujeres de la Asociación para el Progreso de las Comunicaciones, que recoge la producción colectiva de una Metodología de evaluación con perspectiva de género de proyectos de nuevas tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (GEM)
Dafne Sabanes Plou [APC Women's Networking Support Programme ], Nov 2005
|| Arab States :: Global
WSIS Tunis: In the face of police repression, civil society cancels activities
Many international NGOs taking part in the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) have collectively decided to cancel their activities planned for today, November 15, at WSIS. This measure is to make government, private sector and civil society delegates aware of the human rights violations that have been adding up over the last two days including beatings of journalists by police and the breaking-up of meetings since November 13. It is also a clear showing of solidarity with all independent NGOs in Tunisia who seem to have to put up with police repression on a daily basis. Markus Beckedahl interviewed APC's Anriette Esterhuysen on the reasons for this drastic decision. Listen to the interview.
Markus Beckedahl , Nov 2005
General Reference || Arab States :: Global
Publication Digitall Future gives a feminist perspective to the Information Society
A team of feminist journalists from Asia, Latin America, North Africa, the Middle East and Eastern and Western Europe will take part in the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) from November 16-18th in Tunis, Tunisia.
Lin McDevitt-Pugh [ENAWA], Nov 2005
General Reference || Global
Africa Grassroot Caucus prioritise the WSIS and MDGs as part of development
 Africa Grassroots Caucus has prioritised the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS) and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as part of development. This was the outcome of the second Grassroots Caucus Regional Consultation that took place in Lusaka, Zambia on 26-28 July 2005. The participants from Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Congo Brazzaville and the Democratic Republic of Congo addressed the serious omission of non-representation of grassroots issues in the WSIS Action Plan, and highlighted health, livelihood, education and environment to be the priorities in the ground. Gender, culture and traditional access to information were identified as cross-cutting themes.
Brenda Zulu [APC Women's Networking Support Programme ], Oct 2005
Universal Access, Cultural Diversity and Language || Africa
After sessions ending at 4 am, do gender issues count?
The belief that technology is gender-neutral is still rife. Representatives of international organisations, financing institutions, and governments simply overlook gender concerns in ICTs (information and communication technologies). Dafne Plou, APC WNSP regional coordinator for Latin America and Caribbean, reflects on her recent experience at regional World Summit on the Information Society meeting in Rio, where this point was driven home once more.
Dafne Sabanes Plou [APC Women's Networking Support Programme ], Jul 2005
General Reference || Latin America
Gender and ICT Issues at Women's World Congress
Gender and ICT advocates from all world regions joined some 2,000 other women activists at the Women's Worlds Congress 2005, Korea, June 19-24. The advocates met separately for 2 days at Sookmyung Women's University to discuss gender and ICT issues at the World Summit for the Information Society (WSIS 2005). The meeting produced the Seoul-Gyeonggi Declaration which outlines gender issues and recommendations in relation to internet governance and financing mechanisms.
Mavic Cabrera-Balleza [International Women's Tribune Centre], Jul 2005
Governance || Global :: Asia-Pacific
Gender and ICT policies: it's time to reorder our forces and understand what is happening
Magaly Pazello is the only Brazilian feminist who’s been active in the WSIS process since its inception. A member of the WSIS Gender Caucus, she is also member of the DAWN network - Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era. In the Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Preparatory Conference, held in June 2005 in Rio de Janeiro, Graciela Selaimen interviewed Magaly Pazello, speaking about the participation of Latin American women in the WSIS process and other themes.
[APC Women's Networking Support Program in Latin America and the Caribbean], Jun 2005
General Reference, Governance || Latin America
WSIS Rio regional meeting: very few doors open for the gender perspective
 No participation of civil society as observers in the governmental delegations' meetings; no gender working group in the final regional action plan ELac 2007; almost no women, black people or indigenous people as panelists. Although the Rio WSIS Regional Meeting opened two slots for civil society statements in the plenary and produced documents which were fairly positively received by NGOs and social movements, there was a step back regarding women's participation in the regional action plan.
[APC Women's Networking Support Programme ], Jun 2005
General Reference, Governance || Latin America
Women, Gender & Media
When I was a trainer at a media and gender workshop in 2002, the only male participant there confessed, “Our organisation is not prioritising gender actually. We are more concerned about other issues – issues which are political”. This statement reveals much about the stand that most media institutions take on gender.
[APC Women's Networking Support Programme ], May 2005
Women's Presentation in Media, Communication Rights || Asia-Pacific
ICTs for Grassroots: Women from South Asia
Like bright flowers in a grey space, the grassroots women of India livened up February’s Prepcom proceedings and it wasn’t just their stylish saris that did the trick. Undaunted by the suits and officialdom of Geneva’s UN machinery, these Indian representatives vigorously demonstrated the value of ICTs in their working lives and made a cogent case for finances to build more equitable ICT infrastructures in developing countries like India. Over chappatis and chi, they shared their stories with Maud Hand for APCNews.
Maud Hand [Association for Progressive Communications], Apr 2005
Strategic Use and FOSS || India
ICTs break Sharia compliances in Africa
 Information communication technologies (ICTs) have broken sharia compliances as the women farmers in Nigeria learned how to make their own video films and also take still pictures. However african women continue to face tough challenges in their battle to get their voices and concerns heard in development matters, as revealed a case study of women farmers of Kano in Nigeria presented by Salamatu Garba, National Coordinator for Women Farmers Advanced Network (WOFAN), as the part of Workshop on ICTs and Poverty Reduction during African regional preparatory conference for the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS).
[APC WNSP], Feb 2005
Economic Empowerment, Strategic Use and FOSS || West Africa :: Africa
Comment/s: 3 The Latin American and Caribbean Regional Ministerial Preparatory Conference for the World Summit on the Information Society, from the point of view of the NGOs
The Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Conference (one of the Preparatory Conferences for the World Summit on the Information Society) was held in Bávaro, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, from the 29th to the 31st of January, 2003. In this article, Magaly Pazello, a member of the DAWN network, makes a report of the event and points out the small participation of women's groups and feminist groups: "With the exception of DAWN, the Centre of Investigation for Women's Action (CIPAF) and the APC Women's Networking Support Programme (WNSP), there did not appear to be representation from other women's groups, and even less from feminist groups (only DAWN and CIPAF)".
[DAWN network], Mar 2003
General Reference || Latin America
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