The City of Stockholm, Sweden, and the Stockholm Challenge Award, is looking for innovative, high-qualified projects in Africa who use IT to benefit people and society. Stockholm Challenge is an international awards programme for pioneering projects using IT in innovative ways, in areas such as environment, education, health, culture, e-government and e-business.
The aim is to diminish the digital divide and to create an information society for all. African projects have for many years been underrepresented in Stockholm Challenge although there are projects going on in Africa in this field. Nominations are therefore being sought for projects that meet the Stockholm Challenge criteria. The competition is open to private, public and academic contestants.
Read more about Stockholm Challenge on their website:

http://www.challenge.stockholm.se

I am confusedly scared - not that Iraq is close to me but i am yet scared and sad and angry. Went to school with a good friend dfrom Iraq called Rufaidah, one of the first people to help my interest in French. She is probably somewhere in her country now, how does Rufaidah feel? What if it was here in my country?
Behind the eyes of the leaders, each with a point but i know ego has a lot to do with this situation. Please Lord, Protect Rufaidah and the Iraqi people.
I am scared in an unusual way, not fear, but cos i know the 'children' that this war will birth into the politics and economy of the future will be borne by my generation.
By our Generartion for goodness sake, not thiers! Angry, yes anger at the 'old generation' that in the name of a better world turn it all upside down for us.
Angry at the inepititude of the UN, or is it ineptitude?
I am ANGRY at and with the nations that believe they have the right to right the perceived wrong in other nations - Neo Colonialism??? - with or without the nations consent.
Maybe i am just an angry confused girl? No angry yes, confused, no. From my point of view 'down here' My generation will have to spend considerable energy cleaning up (is that even remotely possible?) the religious, cultutral, political etc etc etc mess THIS has created.
My heart bleeds, bleeds tears and blood for i feel the fall of the mortar, missiles and bombs upon heads like mine, i feel the fear of the mother and child with a father, sister and brother at war.
War is a necessary evil i was brought up to accept but i deny that 'truth ' today. Killing another man in the name of justice debases you to the same rank as the one killed. We build to destroy and destroy to destroy yet again in a vicious cycle.
Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...
My heart beats a rythm out of tandem
My soul dances to the distant rhythm of the drums of war
My body jerks to the 'feeled' pain of people in WAR
My mind floats in a confused and sacred vacum of what the future holds
My head is angry , angry, ANGRY!!!

Though the session was suspended...
47th Session of the United Nation's Commission on the Status of Women,
March 2003.

Statement from the African Women's Caucus on African Women and Information
and Communication Techonologies (ICTs).

On March 4 2003, the Working Group on Media and ICTs of the
African Women's Caucus read out its statement on African women's concerns
on ICTs to government delegations during the General Debates session. Other
participants included UN agencies, international agencies and NGOs. ABANTU
for Development and African Women's Development and Communications Network
(FEMNET) worked together to produce the statement which
was based on background information produced by FEMNET for the CSW and
whose recommendations included those set by the WSIS Gender Caucus during
the Bamako preparatory meeting.


Thank you, Mr. Chairperson. My name is Nish-Muthoni Matenjwa. I work for
ABANTU for Development, an African NGO with an international presence and
also represent the African Women's Caucus for the CSW.

Despite efforts to review ICT international regulations, African women's
perspectives have not always been taken into consideration. The potential
for ICTs to contribute to human development in Africa is negatively
impacted by the uneven spread of ICTs and the differential effects that
their diffusion produces in economic and social structures. In addition,
African women face cultural, economic and social challenges tht limit
their access to, use of and benefits from ICTs.

During the African Regional Preparatory Meeting for the World Summit on
the Information Society (WSIS) held in Bamako, Mali in July 2002, the
following concerns about African women and ICTs were identified.

The marginalisation of Africa is characterised by increased poverty, lack
of infrastructure, deepening rural/urban disparaties and high illiteracy.
African women represent the majority of the poor and illiterate.

The few complete ICT and telecommunications policies in Africa are not
gender-responsive. African women continue to be seen as passive receivers
of information rather than actors able to contribute to decision and
policy-making.

The use of the Internet to perpetuate violence against women and as a
platform for hate speech is of concern. The impact of the Internet on the
proliferation of pornography must be addressed. There is also an awareness
of the dillema of calling for government action against this. Proposing
control on these areas could enable censorship to be extended to limit
freedom of expression in other areas.

Privacy, security and Internet rights are also issues of concern for
African women. Having secure on-line spaces where women, free from
harassment can enjoy freedom of expression have also recently been
threatened by the events of 9/11/2001.

Engagement on the regulation of ICTs is thus critical for African women.
But the level of awareness about ICTs is still low. Most African countries
lack the infrastructure to engage in the Information Society. The high
cost of ICT training further aggravates the problem as few African women
can afford training in the new technologies.

The weakness in representation of African concerns in interational
regulatory processess is also very low. The number of African women's
organisations involved is even lower.

RECOMMENDATIONS

The Bamako meeting for the WSIS urged African states "to ensure better
gender balance in ICT use while instituting specific programmes that
address the needs of women, particularly those aimed at rural and
disenfrenchised areas.

Considering the critical role that women play in society and their
potential contribution to developing the Information Society, the Gender
Caucus, during the Bamako meeting, urged the UN system and agencies
including the ITU, UNDP, UNECA, UNESCO and UNIFEM to ensure the following:

1. Continue working towards ratifying treaties and protocols that
recognise women's human rights, including the right to communication and
include provisions for supporting implementation of these in all action
plans including those arising from the WSIS process.

2. Develop gender-dissagregated data on women' participation in the
Information Society and to caryy out research to identify impacts of
exclusion and opportunties for increased participation.

3. Apply gender analysis frameworks in the development of national,
regional and international policies and strategies.

4. Ensure that there is gender equality in education, specifically by
providing opporunties for women and girls to access fair and equitable
participation in science and technology education at all levels.

5. Support capacity-building and training to raise awareness of the
gendered nature of the Information Society.

6. Strengthen co-operation among UN agencies working on gender and ICTs
including support for the working relationship established between the
ITU, UNDP and UNIFEM.

7. Reform decision-making processes to ensure good governance and greater
accountablity to all stakeholders.

8. Ensure licensing for women's intellectual property rights.

9. Apply gender-analysis frameworks in the development of national,
regional and international policies and strategies.

We urge that these recommednations are taken into account during this
meeting as they are key and integral to African women's advancement.