ICT in Eritrea: A Gendered Approach

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ICT in EritreaA Gendered Approach
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Introduction

• ICT assessment was conducted at the
  request of USAID/Eritrea
  
• assess IT enabling environment in Eritrea
• examine potential IT opportunities
• March 2001

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Why ICTs?

• Current Discourse Strategic Interests vs.
  Practical Needs
  
• Does not need to be a trade-off
• Basic needs can be addressed in parallel
• Information Exchange and Knowledge Production
• Knowledge gap vs. income gap
• Vehicle for Empowerment
• Create conditions in which individuals can
  participate in economic activity
  
• Active vs. Passive Access to Information

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ICT Assessment Approach

• Pipes - current state of telecom
  infrastructure, including connectivity and access
  to IT
  
• Public Sector - examination of legal and
  regulatory framework
  
• Private Sector - current state of private
  sector
  
• People - examination of human capital, training
  capacity, and educational curriculum
  
• Gender - identification of opportunities or
  obstacles women and men face in terms of
  access to IT

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Why Gender? Integrating Gender into ICT
Assessments

• Taking Gender Seriously
• Focusing on opportunities, constraints and
  risks that both men and women face
  
• Solutions and recommendations should include
  both men and women
  
• While Information Technology may be neutral,
  access however is not
  
• Dynamics of gender relations may be different
• Statistics hide gender disparities
• Sophistication of IT use
• Gender bias data processing vs. content
  development
  

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ICT Findings Pipes

• Telecommunications Infrastructure
• Leland Initiative
• Five-Year 15 million effort in 20 African
  countries
  
• Goal
• Enabling Policy Environment
• Internet Services
• Sustainable Development
• Leland Initiative in Eritrea
• Memorandum of Understanding, August 1999
• Internet Gateway Launch, November 2000

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Welcome to the Leland Internet Gateway of Eritrea!
Connecting Eritrean Villages to the Global Village

ERITREA INTERNET LAUNCH
Minister of Transport and Communications
Estifanos Afewerki
United States Ambassador
November 15th 2000
William D. Clarke
Internet
Network
Status
Photos
I.S.P.
Sites
Bandwidth
Web Creation
E-mail
Demo
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ICT Findings Pipes
0.77 Telephone Penetration

Over 80 percentage of lines in
Asmara - rural access an issue
Approximately 40,000 people on waiting list
for telephones

Recent grant of license to cellular company
-Competition to TSE
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ICT Findings Public Sector
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E-Readiness Definitions
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ICT FindingsPrivate Sector
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ICT FindingsPrivate Sector
E-commerce Activities www.eriflora.com
www.seawaterfarms.com
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Internet Demand
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ICT FindingsPrivate Sector
10 sales tax
Import Tax and Duty
Customs
5 import duty
2 if no LC
Commercial Invoice
Airway Bill
Packing List
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Regional IT Use Keren

• Second most populated city
• Economic dependence on service industry
• Large segment of demobilized population
• No safety net in place
• Telephone connectivity
• New digital system 1998

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Regional IT Use Keren
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ICT Findings People
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ICT Findings People
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ICT Findings People
N.U.E.Y.S. - Strong social capital
Criteria age range 13-35 Membership fee 50
cents/month Members total 130,000 40 women
Vocational Training short-term
30 individuals/6 months 16 women and 84 men
IT Training pay for private training 5 in
dividuals/1 year 60 women and 40 men
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ICT Findings People
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ICT Findings Gender
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ICT Findings Gender
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ICT Findings Gender
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Barriers to Diffusion of ICTs
Legal and Regulatory Framework
Tariff and Pricing Policies
Appropriate Models Tele-centers, pilot pr
ojects Accommodate for literacy levels, langu
age barriers Sustainability Hardware
Time Poverty Inelasticity of time Wellbe
ing and welfare Gendered differences
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ICTResults
Directive issued by Minister of Transport and
Communications, May 2001 - National
Telecommunication Tariffs and Rates
Transparency of the Internet
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ICT Results
USAID ICT- Related Activities
Internet Upgrade Hyper Text Markup Language
(HTML) Training Session E-Commerce Workshop