[APCPrensa] NO EMBARGO: Mobile Help-line for Women Tops Gender and ICT Awards 2005

[Karen Higgs]

NO EMBARGO
=========
Press Release
=========

GENDER AND ICT AWARDS 2005

=========================================
MOBILE HELP-LINE FOR WOMEN TOPS GENDER AND ICT AWARDS 2005
=========================================
Manila, Philippines, September 22, 2005--Pallitathya, an innovative 
Mobile Help-Line programme via cell phones for underprivileged women in 
rural Bangladesh beat thirty other entries from all over the 
Asia-Pacific to win this year's Gender and Information & Communication 
Technology (GICT) Awards  sponsored by the Association for Progressive 
Communications Women's Networking Support Programme (APC WNSP) and the 
Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP).

Two other projects were selected as runners up: Putting ICTs in the 
Hands of the Poor, an interactive community ICT centre in India; and 
eHomemakers, an online network for home-based business from Malaysia.

The GICT Awards 2005 ceremony will be held during the 10th AWID 
International Forum on Women's Rights in Development on October 27 to 
30, 2005 in Bangkok, Thailand. A knowledge-sharing session will also be 
organised in conjunction with the award ceremony.

The 2005 GICT Awards focused on information and communication technology
initiatives which promote women's economic empowerment and development 
in Asia Pacific. Economic empowerment was defined as the ability to 
overcome marginalisation and oppressive social norms, provide choices 
and opportunities for women, provide strong encouragement for women to 
fulfil their potential, and enable women to acquire the voice and 
capability to counter their lack of socio-economic-political power in 
the community.

Emphasising this focus are three major criteria: the use of ICTs to 
promote women's economic empowerment and gender equality; upscaling of 
initiatives and community-centred technologies; and the promotion of 
cooperation and social networking.

GICT AWARDS WINNER: HELPING WOMEN HELP THEMSELVES
The winning project, the Pallitathya Help-Line Centre (Call Centre for 
the Poor and Underprivileged), was conceived by the Development through 
Access to Network Resources (D.Net) <http://www.dnet-bangladesh.org> 
organisation in 2003. It was based on assessment findings which showed 
that lack of timely and relevant information was a major bottleneck to 
rural development, and a leading factor in the exploitation of the 
underprivileged, particularly women.

The Help-Line deployed women in the community as "Mobile Operator 
Ladies" who move from door-to-door to enable other women ---mostly 
housewives--- to ask questions related to livelihood, agriculture, 
health, and legal rights via a mobile phone, while Help-Desk operators 
respond to the women's queries with the use of a database-driven 
software application and the internet. To expand the information 
database, resource persons from government, non-government 
organisations, health groups and human rights organisations partnered 
with D.Net to provide a steady stream of responses to frequently asked 
questions.

With women's economic empowerment as its centrepiece, the Pallitathya
Help-Line Centre directly addressed the community's information needs on
health, education, livelihood, employment and agriculture, while keeping 
the beneficiaries' anonymity intact. As mobile operator ladies, women 
were consciously given a crucial role as "infomediaries," increasing 
their self-worth, their potential to earn, and their knowledge about 
various issues. Women help-desk operators also enhanced their knowledge 
of issues and considerably improved their communication skills. Women 
who availed of the Help-Line service professed a higher self-assessment 
and realisation of their potential and worth in society, increased 
incomes, and increased authority over spending decisions.

Dr Ananya Raihan, Executive Director of D. Net said in describing his
organisation's reaction to the award, " I saw the light of inspiration 
in their eyes. He added, "We would like to go a long way. At this early 
stage this  recognition will facilitate us to work more and achieve the 
ultimate target".

For its efforts, D.Net's Pallitathya Help-Line Center will receive a 
cash prize of US$8,000, while the two runners-up will each receive 
US$3,000. Representatives of each project will also be supported to 
attend the AWID Forum, where more than 2,000 women's rights activists, 
academics, policy makers and students from all other the world are 
expected to converge.

GICT AWARDS RUNNERS-UP: BUILDING BUSINESS THROUGH ICTS IN INDIA AND MALAYSIA
"Putting ICTs in the  Hands of the Poor",
<http://www.datamationfoundation.org/economic.htm> a theme project of 
the Seelampur Community ICT Centre project, is a tripartite alliance 
among Datamation Foundation Charitable Trust, the UNESCO, and the
Babul-Uloom-Madrasa, an orthodox Muslim religious school in India. 
Seelampur is a Muslim minority ghetto marked by extreme poverty.

A modern ICT centre was set up within the Babul-Uloom-Madrasa to provide 
a venue for Muslim women to learn from interactive multimedia packages 
on vocational skills, small businesses, and human and legal rights. The 
ICT Centre also established support mechanisms in the form of 
capacity-building, marketing and financial networking for the women to 
engage in income-generating opportunities.

Skills and vocational modules in CDs made available to the women of 
Seelampur ranged from  tailoring, embroidery, candle making and liquid 
soap making to management of courier and tiffin centres, basic literacy, 
confidence-building and personality development. The Centre also 
established a local community website called eNRICH 
<http://enrich.nic.in/>, where women get basic computer training and 
record their concerns on health, education, livelihood, and other 
matters related to the community's needs.

The eHomemakers of Malaysia,  was founded in 1988 as the "Mothers for 
Mothers" network which empowered home workers, teleworkers, home 
business owners and those who wanted home-based careers to improve their 
socio-economic status. Through the eHomemakers website 
<http://www.ehomemakers.net/en/index.php>, community members are able to 
network with each other via the Xchange section, print newsletters, 
organise activities to advertise their products and services for free, 
teletrade, barter exchange, and find teleworking assignments, while 
working within their homes.

Sections such as Homebiz Management, Home-based Profiles, and IT Tips 
and Tricks enable women to efficiently work from home, pursue 
entrepreneurial ventures, and sustain home businesses. A Forum Board 
facilitates networking and exchange of ideas and actual experiences, 
while experts in business development and entrepreneurship respond to 
frequently asked questions. The eHomemakers network targets women in the 
low-income group, including unemployed single mothers with 
young/disabled children, the disabled and chronically ill to work at 
home, through the strategic use of ICTs.

GENDER AND ICT AWARDS 2005
The GICT Awards 2005 <http://www.genderawards.net/> was open to civil 
society organisations, community-based groups, networks and social 
movements in Asia Pacific, with women, particularly, girls, as target 
beneficiaries. The Awards were founded in 2003.

Sponsors
The Association for Progressive Communications Women's Networking 
Support Programme (APC WNSP) is a global network of women who support 
women networking for  social change and women's empowerment through the 
use of ICTs <http://www.apcwomen.org/>.

The Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP) is the leading international
multi-stakeholder network committed to harnessing the potential of
information and communication technologies (ICT) for sustainable and
equitable development. Ranging from grassroots practitioners to
policy-makers, GKP members and partners are innovators in the practical 
use of ICT for development <http://www.globalknowledge.org/>.

The Gender and ICT Awards is supported by the the Swiss Agency for 
Development and Cooperation (SDC) <http://www.sdc.admin.ch/> and the 
Department for International Development (DfID), United Kingdom 
<http://www.dfid.gov.uk/>.

For more information about the Awards, please write to:
Mylene Soto
Coordinator
mylene at apcwomen.org