ICTs as tools of communication among women Experience of Women of Uganda Network WOUGNET By Angela N

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ICTs as tools of communication among
womenExperience of Women of Uganda Network
(WOUGNET)ByAngela Nakafeero, Member,
WOUGNET
       

• Track 2B Overcoming Gender Barriers When using
  ICTs for Formal and Non-Formal Education
  
• Forum on ICTs and Gender Optimizing
  Opportunities
  
• Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• August 20-23, 2003

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Introducing WOUGNET Women of Uganda Network (WOUG
NET) is a non-governmental organisation
established in May 2000 by several women
organisations in Uganda to develop the use of
information and communication technologies (ICTs)
among women as tools to share information and
address issues collectively. We define ICTs to
include email, the web, radio, television and
print media. However, WOUGNETs emphasis is
directed towards email and the web, and how these
technologies can be integrated with the
traditional means of information exchange and
dissemination for maximum outreach.
Goal WOUGNETs goal is to improve the living
conditions of Ugandan women by enhancing their
capacities and opportunities to exchange and
share information, and to collaborate.
Area of Operation Currently, WOUGNET operates
primarily online and most members are based in
Kampala, where it is relatively easier to gain
Internet access in comparison to other places in
Uganda. Members can also interact with WOUGNET
by alternative means such as by telephone, fax,
post, or at the WOUGNET office.    
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Why WOUGNET is focusing on the Internet?
While many challenges exist for ICT use in Ugand
a, as in many developing countries, a number of
women organisations have had a long interest in
the use of the internet to share news and
announcements, as well as tips on computer and
Internet usage. Consultations with several wom
en organisations led to a consensus that a
network should be formed and that WOUGNET, upon
formation, should establish a companion website
on which to profile the work of women
organisations as well as an electronic mailing
list to facilitate information sharing and
dissemination. Thus, WOUGNET emerged to fill t
he need for information sharing and dissemination
by capitalising on the opportunities available
with email and the Internet. The website was
launched in May 2000 and can be accessed at
http//www.wougnet.org   The WOUGNET website and
mailing lists are key sources of information
about and for women organisations in Uganda, and
are a key resource for members and interested
partners. Because a variety of information is a
vailable, a lot of interest has been generated
which is reflected in the growing membership.
The number of women organisations in Uganda that
are WOUGNET members has increased from 18 by
year-end 2000 to 41 presently.
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WOUGNET Activities WOUGNET activities can be
categorised as email-based, web-based and
on-ground/outreach.

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• Email-Based Activities
• WOUGNET Mailing List
• Administering a mailing list as a place for women
  and women organizations exchange and disseminate
  information. Information posted has included
  conferences and workshops, requests for
  information (RFIs) in a variety of areas such as
  gender, agriculture, technology as well as
  postings by potential volunteers for various
  activities.
• WOUGNET Update Newsletter
• Production of a monthly electronic WOUGNET Update
  Newsletter that provides details on activities of
  women organizations in Uganda, upcoming
  conferences, workshops, training programmes,
  funding opportunities and tips on
  computer/internet usage.
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• Hosting of online discussions
• Two major foras that have generated a lot of
  ideas and promoted the participation of women in
  a more effective and efficient manner have been
  hosted 
• Information Access for Rural Women, June 2002.
  Facilitated exchange of ideas and experiences on
  enhancing access to information for rural women.
  
• An Information Society for Uganda, April 2003.
  Gathered contributions to the World Summit on the
  Information Society (WSIS) working documents and
  Ugandas input to the WSIS PrepCom 2.
• Our experience from the online discussions is
  that Ugandan women have important ideas to share
  once given an opportunity and a lot of
  information can be generated in a short time as
  long as the women are mobilized.

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• Web-Based Activities
• The website profiles Ugandan women
  organisations and their activities. In addition,
  the website contains practical information and
  documentation on topics of interest to women
  organisations and the general public, and links
  to national and international projects.
• In May 2003, the WOUGNET website was selected as
  winner of the 2003 African Information Society
  Initiative (AISI) Media Awards in the
  International Institute for Communication and
  Development (IICD) Local Content Applications
  category. The website was selected as a good
  source of information, knowledge, best practices
  and lessons learned on womens issues, and a
  variety of socio-economic issues.
• The WebDesign program was initiated in April
  2001, in collaboration with InterConnection.org,
  to develop websites for WOUGNET members. To-date,
  five members have had websites developed under
  this program SOS Sudan Association (SOSSA), Hope
  After Rape (HAR), Association of Uganda Women
  Medical Doctors (AUWMD), National Association of
  Women Organizations in Uganda (NAWOU) and Uganda
  Media Womens Association (UMWA).

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• On-Ground Activities
• Sourcing relevant information from women
  organizations, newspapers, the Internet, etc.,
  for posting on the WOUGNET website and/or mailing
  list.
• Conducting searches, online or otherwise, for
  information as requested by WOUGNET staff,
  members and partners.
  
• Contacting WOUGNET members for news and reports
  on their programs for updating their profiles on
  the WOUGNET website.
  
• Promoting WOUGNET membership to women
  organizations in Uganda.
  
• Lobbying and advocacy activities on Women and
  ICT and ICT policy issues in Uganda
  

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• An example of online/offline networking Linking
  Radio Apac
  
•  
• In an August 2002 meeting between women in the
  community served by Radio Apac, the Regional
  Women Programme Officer for AMARC-Africa, and the
  WOUGNET Coordinator, the following issues were
  identified
• Women need to have their own radios since the
  men travel with theirs whenever they leave house
  
• Women lack of transport to travel to the station
  and participate in radio programs.
  
• There is need for peace and conflict radio
  programs, given the threat of rebels who abduct
  women and children.
  
• There is need for additional women programming
  addressing good farming practices, HIV/AIDS,
  etc.
  
• There is need for tape recorders so that the
  women can prepare their own programs to be aired
  by the community station.
  
• There is need to address low literacy levels
  among women in the community by providing basic
  reading and writing skills.
  
• An integrated information sharing and
  dissemination program to support the womens
  programming with information sourced from the
  internet has been developed for funding.

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• WOUGNET Challenges in Promoting ICT Usage
•  Limited outreach mainly based in Kampala where
  Internet access is more readily available yet
  majority of women are in rural areas
  
• Access to and availability of relevant
  information (content) for members development
  needs
  
• Limited awareness about the potential of ICTs as
  a tool for information exchange and dissemination
  that produces results.
  
• Limited skills that call for a lot of training
  and hands-on demos on the usage and application
  of ICTs.
  

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• Challenges of ICT usage among women in Uganda
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• Language is a constraint to information access
  especially to the non-literate. Furthermore, most
  information is in English and little has been
  translated into local languages.
• Lack of access to ICT equipment and services.
  Whereas there are efforts to package the
  information on CD-ROMs that are user-friendly,
  these are still limited.
• The multiple roles of women impose heavy time
  constraints that are prohibiting them from
  visiting ICT centers even when they are given
  free services.
• Lack of ICT skills. WOUGNET information is
  available through the new ICTs like the Internet
  as opposed to traditional ICTs such as radio.
  However, this tends to exclude those that lack
  the skills to use computers.
• Technophobia especially among women and girls.
• Gender issues like the control by men over
  womens decisions also impact negatively on
  womens effective participation.
  
• Irrelevant content - where by most of the
  information being disseminated is not addressing
  the local needs of the people, which has created
  an information poverty society.
• Lack of infrastructure especially in rural
  areas.
  

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• Opportunities for Women and ICTs in Uganda
•    Energy for Rural Transformation (ERT)
  Programme
  
• Government of Uganda (GoU) approved the ERT
  Programme aimed at improving the rural quality of
  life and facilitating rural non-farm income by
  accelerating electrification and other forms of
  energy. Under this programme, sub-county
  Information centres will be established. This
  will improve the ICT infrastructure status in
  Uganda.
•    Formulation of the National ICT policy
• GoU initiated the process of formulating an ICT
  Policy. Gender mainstreaming is one of the
  specific objectives of the draft policy. The
  consultative and participatory approach that has
  been adopted offers advocacy space for gender and
  women advocates to articulate ICT related gender
  needs and issues.
• Positive political environment for active
  policy advocacy
  
• There is space and freedom of expression in
  Uganda which has further improved with a vibrant
  and fast growing media industry.
  
• Active gender advocates
• There are a number of active individual
  women/organizations gender advocates with skills
  and experience in policy advocacy.
  
•  

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Conclusion WOUGNET is committed to networ
king and sharing experiences with all
stakeholders and welcomes ideas, technical and
financial support in her efforts to make gender
central in all ongoing ICT interventions in
Uganda.