APC WNSP Achievements

Some highlights of APC WNSP work in gender and ICTs since it’s establishment in 1993:

* APC WNSP ran an onsite electronic communication facility to support women’s NGOs and women participating in the 1995 UN World Conference. Prior to and during the World Conference on Women, the programme provided information facilitation and onsite training and outreach, and successfully lobbied for the inclusion of women’s ICT needs in the formulation of Section J of the Beijing Platform for Action.

* APC WNSP has played a crucial facilitating role in the creation of several active regional and national women’s networking support initiatives such as APC-Africa-Women, Women’sNet (South Africa), Feminismus (Czech Republic), FAMAfrique (Francophone Africa) and Womenshub (Philippines).

* The programme as a whole, and through its members, has contributed to the development of feminist technology practise and gender-sensitive training materials in website development, secure online communications, and ICT evaluation among other areas.

* In 1997, the programme implemented “Global Networking for Change,” the first formal research and evaluation project to document women’s experiences in using ICT for activist-oriented networking. This research surveyed some 700 individual women and women’s groups around the world.

* The programme implemented “Women Working in ICTs,” a research study which focused specifically on women as ‘workers’ in ICTs. This research explores in more depth the experiences of individual women who participated in the design, development and implementation of the APC WNSP’s communication initiatives for the 1995 Beijing Conference.

* In 1999 we began Women’s Electronic Network Trainings in Asia. WENT aimed to build the capacities of women in ICTs, especially in order to strengthen women’s organisations and networks. WENT has trained 135 women from 19 countries In Asia. WENT’s participatory approach and focus on ICT training by women, for women has inspired similar training initiatives in other regions of the world including a global WENT training, national WENT-modeled workshops in Korea, Philippines, Malaysia and India and March 2003, APC WNSP in Africa organized the first regional WENT Africa workshop. WENT workshops in Africa focussed on digital storytelling and training in free and open source software (FOSS),

* In collaboration with ICT for development practitioners from Asia, Latin America and Africa, the APC WNSP developed the Gender Evaluation Methodology, a guide to integrating gender analysis into evaluations of initiatives that use ICTs for social change. GEM provides a means for determining whether ICTs are really improving women’s lives and gender relations as well as promoting positive change at the individual, institutional, community and broader social levels. Specialised GEM adaptations in software localisation, rural development, national ICT policy advocacy processes and telecentres offer ICT for development initiatives across the world guidelines and support in gender evaluation.

* In 2003, the programme initiated the APC WNSP and GKP Gender and ICT Awards, which aimed to honor and bring international recognition to innovative and effective projects by women to use ICTs for the promotion of gender equality and/or women’s empowerment, as well as provide further impetus for others to mainstream gender in the field of ICTs for women’s empowerment. Gender and ICT Awards were granted in 2003 and 2005.

* The APC WNSP’s experience with the Gender and ICT Awards made it the natural choice for administration of the GenARDIS grants, focused on Gender, Agriculture, and Rural Development in the Information Society. Funders CTA, HIVOS, IDRC and IICD joined forces to provide small grants to address gender issues in ICTs for Agricultural and Rural Development in Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific (ACP Countries). Three rounds of small grants have been awarded since 2005.

* GenderIT.org, our online repository for feminist reflection on ICT policies, is seen as a source for analysis and debate of ICT and gender concerns for activists, governments, and the private sector.

* In 2005, our research on the intersections of violence against women (VAW) and ICTs painted a disturbing picture for women online and in reality, and the APC WNSP began to raise awareness about the risks of VAW online and emphasise the importance of using technology to help end violence against women.

* In 2006, the APC WNSP launched the yearly 16-day campaign Take Back the Tech!, running from November 25 to December 10 every year. Take Back the Tech! calls all users of information and communications technologies (ICTs) to take control of technology to end violence against women.

* In 2008, the first Feminist Tech Exchange (FTX) was held in Cape Town and has since been followed by dozens of local and regional workshops. Feminist Tech Exchanges are based on the experiences and politics of feminists who train other women to use technologies creatively and strategically.

* Our EroTICS research on sex, rights and the internet takes a look at the importance of the internet in exercising sexual rights in countries across the world.