[APCPress] Dominican Republic guarantees women's equality in technology policies using APC GEM

[Karen Higgs]

PRESS RELEASE
NO EMBARGO

Dominican Republic guarantees women's equality in technology initiatives
and policies across the country using APC GEM

Montevideo, Uruguay, December 17 2009 – The Dominican Republic is the
first Latin American country to act on their commitments to involve
women in the information society nationwide. This Caribbean island
nation of ten million has promised to include a “gender perspective” in
every information and communications technology initiative and policy
developed by the government from now on. The tool the Dominicans have
chosen to design and evaluate all the public policies is the APC gender
evaluation methodology (GEM).

“This is great news for women's equality in the Dominican Republic,”
said APC's Dafne Plou who trained government officials in a three-day
workshop in November. “And it's potentially a breakthrough for millions
of other women in Latin America because the Dominican Republic is
leading Latin American governments' thinking around gender and
technology as part of the regional eLAC2010 plan”.

About GEM

“People involved in development have long recognised that the on-going
marginalisation of women undermines social and economic development. And
now they are finally recognising that technology can have a
transformative impact,” said APC's Chat Garcia Ramilo who co-authored
the GEM manual. GEM provides an evaluation framework and tools to learn
how ICT for development programmes and projects are improving women's
lives and changing gender roles and relations in the family, communities
and larger society.

Dominican commitment to gender equality

The APC women's programme was invited to run the GEM training by the
National Commission for the Society of Information and Knowledge (CNSIC
in Spanish), Indotel (the Dominican telecoms regulator), the State
Ministry for Women’s Affairs, the Regional Office for Culture in Latin
America and the Caribbean (UNESCO) in Havana, Cuba and the Research
Centre for Women’s Action (CIPAF).

At the opening of the workshop on November 16 José Rafael Vargas,
Indotel chief and chair of CNSIC, emphasised the group's commitment "to
encourage the full participation of women in all areas relating to ICT
development and ensure their active involvement in developing ICT
policies."

He recognised that "there is much work to do to ensure equal
opportunities for men and women within the framework of the CNSIC” and
that he valued "the use of GEM and its application in the design and
evaluation of public policies, programmes and projects relating to ICTs."

"It's heartening to see governments take the findings of research and
evaluation seriously", says Sarah Earl of the International Development
Research Centre (IDRC). "Whether it is being used in Nigeria, the
Phillipines or Colombia, GEM has showed that women can use technologies
to positively impact the health, education, income, and the empowerment
of themselves and their families.  IDRC is proud to have supported this
evaluation research." IDRC has supported GEM since its initial
development in 2002.

For more information

About GEM: http://www.apc.org/en/projects/gender-evaluation-methodology
GEM manuals in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese are freely
available to download
http://www.apc.org/en/pubs/books/gender-evaluation-methodology
Report in Dominican newspaper “El Nuevo Diario” on workshop (translated
by APC)
http://www.apc.org/en/news/dominican-republic-guarantees-womens-equality-tech
To find out more about GEM write to Dafne Plou: daphne at apcwomen.org

END