gender and ict4d cambodia perspective ms. chim manavy executive director open institute

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THE USE OF USHAHIDI AND THE USE OF USHAHIDI AND WOMEN WEB PORTALWOMEN WEB PORTAL

Open Institute, Phnom Penh, CambodiaOpen Institute, Phnom Penh, Cambodia 29,30,31 January 2013 29,30,31 January 2013

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Gender and ICT4D Cambodia Perspective

Ms. CHIM Manavy

Executive Director

Open Institute

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About the Open Institute

Program Activities:

Structuring Partnership for an Innovative Communications Environment (SPIDER)

http://www.open.org.kh/en/spice

Khmer Software Initiative (KhmerOS), www.khmeros.info

Open School Program http://www.open.org.kh/en/osp

Research

Women Empowerment for Social Change (Women), http://women.open.org.kh

Dialogue on Democracy

Gender Base Violence (GBV)

Promote Access to Info to Women

http://www.open.org.kh/en/spice

http://www.khmeros.info/

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The Mission is to ensure that the benefits of technology for social and

economic advance are usable in Cambodian society.

One among our main goals is to improve social and gender equality

through advocacy and the promotion of information sharing and

communication.

About the Open InstituteAbout the Open Institute

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At international level, the Open Institute is a member of the APC

At national level the Open Institute is:

• a partner of the MoWA, MoEYS, Buddhism Institute.

• a Steering Committee member of Cambodian NGO CEDAW

• a member of Gender Technical Working Group (GTW-G).

Member of ICT4D network Cambodia Member of CWEA

About the Open Institute-Networking

About the Open Institute-supported agencies

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USAID is our main donor

Spanish Agency for International Cooperation and Development (AECID)

Association for Progressive Communications (APC) .

Swedish Program for ICT for Developing Regions-SPIDER

Open Society Institute (OSI) NY

Intel Tech

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What are ICTs

Information communication technologies (ICT), broadly means tools and platforms that we use for our communication and information needs. Some examples include radio, mobile telephones, television broadcasts, and the internet.

Sometimes ICT are understood in "old" and "new" forms. Simply put, "older" forms of ICT are where information is transmitted in analogue format like radio, and "newer" forms of ICT are those transmitted in digital formats like wireless technology.

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History of Gender and ICTs for Development

The roots of ICTs for development lie in the 1970s assertion that economies and societies were being revolutionized not by industry but by the information and knowledge that were critical to securing the means of production

But ICTs are not unique in that women are disadvantaged relative to men in terms of their access to all types of modern technology

These issues make discussions of the gender gap in the ‘digital divide’

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There is a risk that the gender gap remains.

As Hafkin and Taggart (2001) have explained, this bias is evident in three ways:

(1) women are rarely involved in the needs assessment of ICTs for development;

(2) attitudes that high-end information technology ‘is not for women’ who are still being treated as passive recipients of information and not as active information users and communicators;

(3) there is considerable delay in addressing the limitations faced by women in accessing supposedly ‘public’ information spaces, or even private sector initiatives such as cyber-cafes.


“ Gender, Society & Development , Gender & ICTs 4D”,http://publication.oxfam.org.uk/oxfam/display.asp?ISBN=0855985658

http://publication/

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Policymaking for gender and ICTs for development or engendering ICT policy has been attempted:

The first approach has largely emerged from academics

the second from ‘gender mainstreamers’ within or close to the UN system

Third from developed and developing country feminists in civil society

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In the early 1990s, under the auspices of the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development (UNCSTD) and UNIFEM’s (United Nations Fund for Women) preparation for the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995

UN ICT Task Force, the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) WSIS first meeting in 2003, second meeting in 2005-WSIS Gender Caucus .


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Third approach to gender and ICTs led by feminists active in civil society in developing and developed countries

Thematic sessions have been held at the World Rural Women’s Congress (Spain, 2002) and civil society have engaged in the WSIS Gender Caucus regional consultations.

Initiatives such as the Women’s Networking Support Programme (WNSP) of the Association for Progressive Communication (APC)

donors are already committed to funding and implementation of a common set of eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)2000.

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Why Gender and ICT4D-Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action

Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing Sept.1995- Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action: Women in media

Strategic objective J1: Increase the participation and access of women to expression and decision-making in and through the media and new technologies of communication. Actions to be taken.

Strategic objective J2:Promote a balanced and non-stereotyped portrayal of women in the media. Actions to be taken.

Gender and ICT4D-Concluding Comment of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination

against women

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Article 38. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against women urges the State party to utilize fully in its implementation of its obligations under the Convention, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which reinforce the provisions of the Convention, and requests the State party to include information thereon in its next periodic report.

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ICTs are clearly not ‘gender neutral’ because women are less involve in ICT if compare to men. Women know the importance of information and the power that these technologies hold .

Toward the MDGs, to call for fully implementation of the CEDAW and the Beijing Platform of Action.

Women are not waiting for policymaking to bridge the ‘digital divide’ but rather take action as agents of their own opportunities using conventional ICTs such as radio, telephone, to access information sources and communication processes to achieve their development goals.

Relation between gender,VAW and ICT4D

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Worldwide, women’s organisations and networks are using online resources, websites, and chatrooms to share experiences, to mobilize support for specific actions and develop global action strategies.

By examining how ICTs have been employed, women's movements can shape stronger connections with greater understanding of their potential and limitations.

Secure online spaces enable survivors of violence against women to communicate their situation and seek help. What is clear and must be a priority is that women are informed, aware and involved in the discussions and debates that must take place around these emerging trends in Internet

Relation between gender,VAW and ICT4D

Relation between gender , VAW and ICT4D

But there is also an increasing recognition of the connection between VAW&ICT. E.g web sites or mobile phones can be a useful place for women in violent relationship to obtain information and assistance; at the same time, tools like spyware and global positioning system (GPS) tracking devices have been used by abusers to track and control their partner’s mobility.

Using Internet tool for trafficking or use mobile phone to abuse women.

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Relation between gender,VAW and ICTs 4D

Women are concerned:

Some groups of people have been using ICTs for other purposes that are against human rights.

For example: Khmer sex video on CDs can be brought from the road and in public places for less than $1/CD, pornography image transmission from phone to phone, image trafficking, personal data security violation, etc

Women are negative portrayed and is an objective of violence.

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Print and electronic media in many countries, including Cambodia do not provide a balanced picture of women's diverse lives and contributions to society in a changing world.

In addition, violent and degrading or pornographic media products are also negatively affecting women and their participation in society

The worldwide trend towards consumerism has created a climate in which advertisements and commercial messages often portray women primarily as consumers and target girls and women of all ages inappropriately.

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The growth of the Internet is pushing the limits of a society's attitudes towards acceptable media images, through exploitative use of images taken for private consumption.

Technology is moving across boundaries faster than the law can address.

At the same time, ICT use in general, much less awareness of how ICTs can be strategically used to combat violence against women, is very limited in Cambodia.

Most Cambodian women are not familiar with the use of ICT

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Where are women voices through media?

Traditional tools use for communication such as telephone, radio is common to Cambodian women

Most women are not able access the ICTs, equal to:

-Not access to the pool of knowledge and information

-Women are marginalized from the rest of the world

-are not in the progress of the fundamental of human needs outlined in the MDGs

-lack of opportunities for raising awareness of their vulnerability and the need for action to ensure their safety

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Therefore:Access to ICT can be seen as a central issue concerning the empowerment of women.

There is no worse form of human rights violation than to be deprived of the ability to think, create and communicate in freedom.

Gender and ICT4D

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Cambodian Context

Some have said ICT is gender-neutral. But in Cambodian context, "within the given social and economic structure, gender roles and relations, women and men cannot get equal access to ICT”

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Women & ICT Status in Cambodia

The lack of access to ICT because of societal, cultural and market constraints have led women to become distant from the global pool of information and knowledge.

Reasons for less representation of women holding jobs in ICT fields included lower percentage of female student's enrollment in IT related education

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ICT Infrastructure

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Result of Research on Women & ICT in Education and Employment

Women & ICT in Education

The percentage of female graduated in ICT related field was lower than male counterparts.

The total of female who get the bachelor degree of ICT in the last four years'2005 to 2009' was 12.4% of total student in ICT if comparing with 8.4% of the proportional of female students who has been studying ICT of the 1st year to the 4th year of the year 2009-2010 .

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Women & ICT in Employment

The proportional of women in ICT' jobs:

The percentage of women can use ICT in civil society is 44.4% of total staff, government and ministries is 15.5%, Internet Service Provider is 32.5% and Education Institution is 33.3%.

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A study on Women and ICT in Education and Employment in 2010 found that only less than 1/4 of NGOs (22.5%), 9% of HE institutes, 14% of ISPs and 35% of government ministries have a policy implemented to encourage women to build their own capacity in the ICT sector.

This status will not have much changed in the near future because for the rest of them, there are only 23% of NGOs, 41% of government ministries, 21% of ISPs 21%, and 21% HE institutes are willing to design a policy to encourage ICT skills & capacity building for women (MOWA et.al 2010).


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The challenges of women in ICT development:

Family responsibility such as take care husband, children, elderly person in family (66%).

Female get less opportunities than male in getting chance to study more (64%).

State policy and sectoral implementation (60%), Language (57%).

Infrastructure (53%), High cost of Internet (52%).


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The government should further build necessary ICT infrastructure throughout the country.

Should create ICT and English subjects starting from primary school.

Should encourage women joint ICT sectors by discount school fee , give more opportunities in getting scholarship in ICT fields.

Should have Education Research council to estimate and finding the root cause of female who has graduated ICT face with the difficulties in getting ICT jobs.

All Institutions and companies should have special policies in getting women who has just graduated involved in their employment.

Recommendations

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The co-organizers were: The Open Institute, The Ministry of Post and Telecommunications (MPTC)

End Child Prostitution, Abuse and Trafficking in Cambodia (ECPAT/Cambodia)

People Health and Development Association (PHD)

Rural Development Association (RDA)

The consultation meetings were divided into three steps: 1) pre-consultation held on 4 May 2011 at Open Institute office; 2) first consultation meeting held on 19 May 2011 at Sunway Hotel; and 3) second consultative meeting held on 31 May 2011 at Sunway Hotel.

Gender Perspective on ICT Policy Development- Consultative meetings

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Gender Perspective on ICT Policy Development- Consultative meetings (continue)

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Out of the 11 objectives set out in the National ICT draft Policy, ‘gender implication’ has been numbered as the 10th objective, ‘Enforce the Women in Development (WID) within the scope of ICT’. In order to achieve its objectives by 2015, five main pillars have been incorporated into the National ICT Policy.


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The WID has been included in pillar four. The pillar states that women will be considered to be included in the process of developing the ICT sector and play roles in the pool of ICT experts for the industry and other related sectors.


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This process was developed in order to align it with the International Convention on the Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW). It stated that both sexes are equal and therefore shall be equally treated in the workplace.

It has also to comply with the Cambodia Millennium Development Goals 3 (CMDG3) to promote gender equality and empowerment of women.


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ICT development is not widely discussed, particularly looking on the issue at a gender glance. It is imperative that Cambodia should have ICT policy for each sector in which gender perspective should be mainstreamed in the sector and in the national ICT policy.

Results of consultative discussion:

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Technical Working Group on Gender (TWG-G), an existing mechanism of the government will be a good entry point for the promotion and integration of gender perspective into ICT policies.

There is also a concern over the abuse of women and children in the ICT sector in which the future cyber law need to response the issue.

Results of consultative discussion (continue):

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It is recommended that women should be encouraged in ICT skills capacity building, in the development of ICT sector and in labor market.

Local content and local language should be promoted so that women can benefit from ICT evolution.

Looking at regional level, Cambodia's ICT policies should align with the ASEAN framework (ASEAN ICT Master Plan 2015).

Results of consultative discussion: (Continue)

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Best Practice

The use of new technology ( the Internet) and the mobile phone is booming in Cambodia by young group: users of blogger, face book, twitter,etc

Some NGOs in Cambodia have been used ICTs for women rights and combating GBV,VAW:

LICADHO,CWCC, MoWA, VOD, CCHR,CLEC,etc.

WMC the single women radio

The Open Institute, the first web portal for women in Khmer.

Video documentaries, Video drama, Websites, Women web portal, Radio show, TV...

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Best Practice-Gender Based Best Practice-Gender Based Violence data baseViolence data base

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Best Practice-Women web portalBest Practice-Women web portal

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TBTT Campaign 2008 in Cambodia

Under the cooperation with theUNIFEM in New York, UNIFEM inEast Asia and South East Asia,and UNIFEM in Cambodia, thewomen program localized andposted the template “Say NO toviolence against women” to theWomen Web Portal to invitevisitors to join the event byprovide their signatures tosupport the campaign.

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t

Best Practice-Blog

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Best Practice-online forum

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Best Practice-Gender Mailing list

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Conclusion/RecommendationsConclusion/Recommendations

Access to ICTs can be seen as a central issue concerning empowerment of women. Women should be empowered by enhancing their skills, knowledge and access to information technology.

Investment in women empowerment through the use of ICTs is equal to social development

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Beijing Platform of Action:

ICTs skills and knowledge will strengthen their ability to combat negative portrayals of women nationally and internationally, and to challenge instances of abuse of the power of an increasingly important industry.

Women therefore need to be involved in decision making regarding the development of the new technologies in order to participate fully in their growth and impact.

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The shortening the gap of gender divide should be link to the progress on the most fundamental of human needs outline in the MGDs.

It is imperative from the perspective of gender and ICTs4D that focus be placed on gender relations in communication and learning rather than simply women and technology or women and media.

The information society is not an end itself, but rather, the innovation of ordinary people including ordinary women.

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Thank YouOpen Institute, http://www.open.org.kh

http://www.women.open.org.kh

http://www.open.org.kh/

http://www.women.open.org.kh/

gender and ict4d cambodia perspective ms. chim manavy executive director open institute

Documents

gender icts

development gender

gender gap

history of gender

information technology

open institutenetworking

gender equality

h of gender