Résumé du rapport de l'examen externe de l'initiative de programme ACACIA II : rapport au Conseil des gouverneurs du CRDI

Version anglaise disponible dans la Bibliothèque numérique du CRDI: PI external reviews : summary of report; Acacia II, report to IDRC Board of Governor

PI external reviews : summary of report; Acacia II, report to IDRC Board of Governors

French version available in IDRC Digital Library: Résumé du rapport de l'examen externe de l'initiative de programme ACACIA II : rapport au Conseil des gouverneurs du CRDIThe action and applied research of Acacia II has enhanced understanding of the complex and constantly changing dynamic interaction between ICTs and poverty reduction in Africa. By improving the capacity of individuals and institutions, and by undertaking applied research, Acacia II has improved Africa's ability to formulate and implement ICT policies and thereby to support the adoption of affordable and functionally relevant technical solutions. For this External Review of the Program Initiative (PI) Acacia II, field visits were made to a purposive sample of nine research projects (four in West Africa, three in East Africa and two in South Africa)

Gender and agriculture in the information society

Excitement about new information and communication technologies (ICTs) is tempered by long-standing problems of gender inequality in development processes. In most developing countries, women make up the majority of the population working in agriculture, but they are marginalized with respect to access to ICTs for economic and social empowerment. Moreover, two-thirds of the world’s 876 million illiterates are women, most of whom live in rural areas of developing countries

Uganda Health Information Network, phase-IV, November 2007 - April 2010

Six hundred women health workers at health centres in Uganda were equipped with mobile technology. They reported they could more easily access information regarding disease outbreaks, treatments, drugs and prescriptions, which also reduced unnecessary referrals. As PDAs lowered costs of personal and official communication, incomes of health workers grew. The project promotes increased accessibility through increased supply of equipment, more training of users, strengthening of monitoring and feedback so as to remedy emerging issues in a timely manner, and equipping critical project actors with gender skills so they are able to incorporate gender issues into the project sustainably

Women and Gender in ICT Statistics and Indicators for Development

Issues related to the gender digital divide have been prominent in discussions of the information society. However, the paucity of statistical data on the subject makes it difficult, if not impossible, to make the case for the inclusion of gender issues in ICT policies, plans, and strategies to policymakers, particularly those in developing countries. This paper surveys available gender ICT statistics and indicators and makes recommendations for filling the gaps that exist.Few gender ICT statistics are available because many governments do not collect ICT statistics consistently and regularly, and rarely are the data disaggregated by sex. The best practices are generally found in developed countries, with most developing countries lagging behind.Recent work that sheds light on women, gender, and the information society includes a major six-country study on the gender digital divide in francophone countries of West Africa and Orbicom's 2005 research on women in the information society. Although major composite ICT indices do not publish gender and ICT statistics, the potential remains for them to do so, and some indices encourage others to enrich their work with gender data. (c) 2008 by The Massachusetts Institute of Technology.