1. Knowledge Station Initiative NetCorps Jordan Program
Prepared for:
Regional Symposium for Women and ICT
Awareness Building on ICTs and Gender Considerations
By:
Razan Fasheh
e-Initiative Specialist
December 17th, 2003
Your Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, let me start by introducing myself, My name is Razan Fasheh, I work in ICT for Development projects in Jordan and I am very proud and thrilled to be part of the delegation representing Jordan.
Today, I will be walking you through some of Jordan’s efforts in using ICT as a tool for bridging the gender divide and ultimately POSITIVELY impacting reducing the digital divide nationally
Jordan is a country of around 5.2 million people, out of which 48% are women and 52% are men, as emphasized in the WSIS, the ultimate goals Jordan would like to achieve as part of the global efforts are:

2. Ultimate Goal…Worldwide
Reduce gender discrimination
Improve participation of women in the Information Society
Capacity building and training for women
Equal access
The use of ICTs to improve the lives and livelihoods of women worldwide
Why is the participation of women important? Is it for liberty purposes? Is it a necessity? Is it to provide equal rights and opportunities? Or is it a need?
In my opinion women’s participation is beyond equal rights, it is beyond proving liberty, it is a need to produce effectively at 100% capacity instead of producing at 50% capacity or in Jordan’s case 52% capacity.
It has a great tool of improving the social and economic status of Jordan and other countries all in all
And Jordan is working to achieve that through the implementation of many gender sensitive programs that encourage the use of ICT as a tool for development…..some of which are:
G: Gender Equality must be a fundamental principle for action
E: Equitable participation in decisions shaping the information society
N: new and old ICTs in the multimodal approach
D: Designing ICTs to serve people
E: Empowerment for full participation
R: Research analysis and eveluation to guide action

3. In Jordan…
Knowledge Station Initiative and NetCorps Jordan Program are helping offset some of the challenges by:
Being gender sensitive
Providing capacity building and training opportunities for women
Using ICT to improve women’s lives
Overcoming the cultural barriers and stereotyping
Both of which are playing a huge role in providing equal opportunities for women and men to be part of Jordan’s knowledge society and economy by being gender sensitive, providing training opportunities for women and men and most importantly overcoming cultural barriers and stereotypes

4. Knowledge Station Initiative
Enabling all segments of the Jordanian society, irrespective of their gender, geographical location or economic status, to acquire the necessary new age ICT skills that would allow them to become productive members of society
Knowledge stations provide access and connectivity to people who cannot afford to have computers at home. The initiative was initially launched and financed by HM in 2000 and has gone a long way since its start.
Provide ICT access to all Jordanians
Create ICT awareness among all Jordanians
Empower all Jordanians with new age ICT skills

5. will be operational by beginning of 2004
Knowledge Station Initiative
GOVERNORATE
Knowledge Stations
Amman 18
Balqa 6
Zarqa
Madaba 2
Irbid 9
Mafraq 7
Jarash 4
Ajloun
Karak
Tafileh 3
Ma’an
Aqaba
Total 75
Currently Jordan
has 75
operational stations
covering the
kingdom
Another 25
will be operational by beginning of 2004
They are housed within NGOs, Municipalities or other Government Organizations that are well established into the community
Average number of pcs / station is 10 that are currently being used mostly for training purposes.
Technical assistance has been provided to those stations to ensure the social, political, technological as well as economic sustainability for those stations as well as ensure the movement of the knowledge stations to a social development center using ICT and not just as training centers.
Many initiatives have started to use the Knowledge Stations as a delivery channel to reach citizens and many others are planning to do so like Enhanced Productivity Program which is an community entrepreneurship program as well as the e-Government Program

6. NetCorps Jordan Program
A program that taps into the creativity and energy of youth to be involved in Jordan’s social and economic development through ICT. NetCorps recruits and trains youth in a blend of technology and business skills, after which interns serve their community and promote ICT by being placed in Knowledge Stations, small and medium businesses, schools, universities as well as Government organizations to assist Jordanians across the country integrate ICT into their daily lives
Another program that uses the KS as its outreach is….
NetCorps is part of Connecting Jordanians Initiative which aims at having a government owned fiber optic network connecting all public educational institutes by 2006 (3000+ schools, 8 universities, 67 community colleges, all knowledge stations) and expands to include the forward agenda which fosters the effective use of the broadband network.
CJI Forward agenda promots an innovative way of living, learning and working through the many pillars some of which are:
Connecting Jordanians Grassroots Strategy
Broadband Infrastructure
Universal Public Access, one example is KS
Extensive ICT Youth Engagement, one example is NetCorps
National and Arabic Content Development, one example is the community portal which will have community driven, relevant information for community members around the country

7. Indicators… Indicators No. of Training Courses 3,175 No. of Trainees
37,250
Walk-In Services
25,120
NetCorps Interns
120
How gender sensitive are we?

8. Contribution to Offsetting the Challenge…
62% of Knowledge Station computer course trainees from local communities are Women
42% of the walk-in services are offered to women
40% of Knowledge Station Trainers are Women
60% of NetCorps Interns are Women
We managed to achieve those numbers by:
Having women trainers in stations
Having women NetCorps interns
KS being perceived by villagers as a reputable place to go to
KS are all within the center of the village, making it reachable for women as well as men

9. Making a Difference…
Kawkab, an interns in the north of Jordan had trouble convincing her parents to work as a NetCorps intern, because of the stereotyping on technology and internet. After a long struggle, she managed to make them understand the benefits of ICT, and started her internship in a Knowledge Station in her own community in the North. Kawkab showed a lot of enthusiasm and excelled in what she did, as a result, the knowledge station hired her as a fulltime trainer there!
An example of changing the culture, reducing barriers and breaking stereotypes

10. Making a Difference…
Dina and Rami; two NetCorps Interns in the Middle area of Jordan supported women in Iraq Al-Amir to market their community products more effectively. The idea of the project is to train women who work in ceramics, recycling, and weaving on how to search for new designs on the web as well as upload their products on Iraq Al-Amir Knowledge Station website in order to market and increase their own income.
An example of the use of ICTs to improve the lives and livelihoods of women and better their economic status
In the near future, it will be part of the community portal

11. Making a Difference…
Yasmine and Rizga, in Al-mafraq area in the north of Jordan together with a community focus group are working out of the Knowledge Station on a project plan related to recycling and preservation of the environment in that area, and are now designing a campaign using ICT to raise awareness regarding that issue.
Yet another example of the use of ICTs to improve the lives and livelihoods of women in an innovative way based on needs of communities

12. Future…
The Knowledge Station Initiative and NetCorps Jordan Program are educating and preparing in an equal manner an entire population for an e-future in Jordan
How?
Tune in…………
Video