1 Presented at World Bank Video Conference May By Grace Bantebya Kyomuhendo Department of Women and Gender Studies (DWGS) Makerere University Kampala Uganda Bridging the Gender Digital Divide through Training at the Department of Women and Gender Studies, Makerere University

2 ICT at DWGS  Background.. To ICT at DWGS  ICT programmes at DWGS….  challenges  Future plans  Lessons learnt

3 DWGS  The Department of Women and Gender Studies (DWGS) established 1991 is a multidisciplinary unit whose mission is to contribute to development in Uganda through ensuring that gender is an integral part of the development process.

4 DWGS  In executing its mandate WGS, works through a comprehensive strategy that includes teaching, research, publication and dissemination; outreach, networking and advocacy; and gender mainstreaming.

5 DWGS contd  Specifically WGS aims at training a cadre of various backgrounds who serve in government, academic and non governmental organisations and private sector where they are expected to act as CATALYSTS for change and facilitate the integration of gender in decision making and policy formation

6 Background to ICT  Current debates on ICT and the absence of gendered perspective  Persistent perception and presentation of ICT as a male discipline and domain.  Interest of development partners in promoting ICT at institutions of higher learning

7 Entry points for DWGS  Teaching and learning..black board/web based teaching and  Bridging the gender digital divide  Developed proposals for support.. Carnegie corporation of New York and NORAD and CISCO systems and ITU

8 Programmes established Gender and Technology Project for Building Technology Capacity and Broadening ICT Linkages  The main objective of this project is to enable “a programme on the use of ICT in the classroom established and sustained.”.

9 Programmes established contd  CCNA/IT Essentials Programme 2002 WGS started conducting a computer networking course. supported by Cisco Systems which donated equipment and provides the curriculum and International Telecommunications Union (ITU) supported training of three female Instructors.

10 Programmes established contd The CCNA course follows the established curriculum of the Cisco Networking Academy Programme and leads to an independent certification as a Certified Networking Associate.

11 Programmes established contd  2003 the Department opened another programme IT Essentials I and II whose curriculum is sponsored by Hewlet Packard. IT Essentials Instructor training for one male and one female was supported by USAID

12 Programmes established contd  Expanded Basic Computer Skills Programme  This programme is intended to address the enormous knowledge gap that exists in ICT and many times total lack of exposure among many people in the University, among the civil society and the general public. One of the objectives is also to create a cadre who may enrol in the CCNA/IT Essentials programme or even undertake the gender and ICT career path.

13 Programmes established contd  With in this initiative WGS is focusing mainly on providing a career path for young females in the field that has hitherto been a male domain and also would like to dismantle the myths that ICT is a male preserve.

14 Key objectives of the programmes  Build capacity of women in ICT skills and knowledge  To move towards the WGS goal of ensuring that gender is mainstreamed in all aspects of development, in this case ICT

15 Objectives contd.  Contribute towards reducing the gender digital divide between men and women  Increase general awareness and sensitisation about ICT and gender related issues  Demystify ICT as male domain

16 Achievements  The first has been being able to challenge the stereotypes related to mandate. Consequently WGS has been accepted within the University and beyond as a centre for training in gender equality related to addressing gender gaps in ICT.

17 Achievements  Department of Women and Gender Studies in 2003 was selected by the Gender Advisory Board Africa Region to Serve as the National Focal Point for Uganda. GAB was established by the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology to spearhead gender concerns in ICT policy in Africa.

18 Achievements - Enrolment & Completion (Basics)

19 Achievements- Enrolment (CCNA)

20 Achievements- Enrolment – IT Essentials

21 Achievements contd  256 have been trained in basics, 65% of whom are females  185 students have up to the 5 th Intake of which 55% are female  Among these there are 68% students and 31% Non-students.

22 Achievements contd  Female Enrolment was 66% in the first CCNA intake, peaked in the 4 th Intake at 78% due to a number of initiatives including AA – reserving positions for females, fees discounts, etc.  Of the 56 enrolled for IT Essentials – a hardware and maintenance course 50% are female

23 Achievements- Completion CCNA

24 CCNA Completion  Of the 53 graduates of CCNA from Intake one and two, 29 (55%) are female  80% of CCNA graduates are employed. The rest are pursuing further studies

25 Achievements contd  Makerere University recognizes the CCNA qualification as adequate for enrolling into the Bachelor of Computer Science and Bachelor of Information Technology Courses and indeed some of our products have applied. This channel proves to be one of the ways that we can contribute to increasing female enrolment into the sciences where the proportion of females is appallingly as low as 10% or even zero in some courses.

26 Strategies  DWGS has designed a continuous strategy in the recruitment process to have more women on board; the new intakes indicates an increasing enrolment rate for females especially in basics and IT Essentials. Strategies include reduced fee for females and publicizing the program widely including schools and NGOs.

27 Strategies contd  Gender and ICT For Development seminars have been organized to create awareness to students as well as the general public on the benefits of ICT in Uganda.

28 Strategies contd  Workforce Development Program is aimed at creating employment opportunity for the Academy Graduate Students.  Work-Site Tours, to let IT students see how and where the professionals work.  Information Sessions, Where ICT professional talk to students to create awareness on the use of ICT skills and on Career Guidance.

29 Gender Initiative activities  The WGS Local Academy has organized an all female classes in the to provide a more conducive environment for females students.  To increase female enrolment figures the DWGS Academy has given all females a fees discount of 5% for CCNA and 15% for basics

30 Gender Initiative activities  A programme has been developed on Gender awareness and leadership skills for instructors and Students trained in the target is to have 100 % of instructors apply Gender sensitive Instruction Skills

31 Challenges  One of the earliest challenges we got was attitudinal. What had a Department of Women and Gender studies got to do with ICT or technology? This was the main question and many people doubted us. We have moved to establish our legitimacy and we are getting increasingly accepted in this area.

32 Challenges contd  The second and most important for us was both a challenge and an opportunity. With our initial success, we have generated a lot of interest in our ICT programmes. There is more demand for the services which means increased demand for computers and other facilities.

33 Challenges – Drop Outs

34 Challenges contd.  Female drop out due to fees and other commitments. Our search for sponsorship to keep girls in the programme and attract more has not yet yielded in spite of the fact that our IT programs have been one way of increasing women’s enrolment in the sciences

35 Future Strategies  Plans are underway to reach out to secondary schools to publicize the training programs so that students who come to university also know about it. Besides some secondary schools in Uganda have ICT programs on which we can build the initiative.

36 Future Strategies  The DWGS is to design tailor – made courses in ICT e.g. for women entrepreneurs such as e- commerce to promote women skills in e-business.  Develop a research programme on gender and ICT

37 Lessons learnt  It is possible to attract females to ICT programs  It requires a conducive environment for women to take on ICT programmes  Young women appreciate ICT more and we should invest in them  Financial and time related constraints (length of the training) remain key barrier to women's access to ICT

38 Appreciation to our partners  Makerere university  Cisco Systems Inc.  International Telecommunication Union (ITU)  NORAD  Carnegie corporation of New York  I-NETWORK (Local Company)