YCDO Gender - Groupes virtuels - Communauté

Message

De:	Terri Willard [ Profil ]
Sujet:	Language of ICT4D Policy Processes
Envoyé:	Nov 7th, 2003 - 21:58:17

	I think one of the biggest challenges for many young women is grappling with the language of the ICT for development policy processes. Many times, policy statements are written (and discussions conducted) using specialized terms which most people would only learn in a university political science course. Given that young women are still underrepresented in universities in many countries, there are simply fewer young women with the vocabulary to feel comfortable and confident in these dialogues. Things are improving a bit, though... Over the last few years, many women's groups and civil society organizations have started trying to write "plain English" versions of background documents - and sometimes even policy documents. A couple of examples: * A Letter to Aunt Ophelia - This is a very short and simple explanation of what ICT for development is and what are some key policy recommendations. (online at http://web.idrc.ca/ev_en.php?ID=8199_201&ID2=DO_TOPIC) * ICT Policy for Civil Society - This is a course which was developed by APC, including seventeen 1.5 hour lesson plans that people can download for free and run workshops using. (http://www.apc.org/english/capacity/policy/curriculum.shtml) * The latest version of the WSIS Declaration which will be discussed on Monday in Geneva (available in all six official UN languages at http://www.itu.int/wsis/documents/doc_multi.asp?lang=en&id=1031\|1033). Some sections in the second half mean more if you understand the politics behind them, but the first half is written fairly well. For example, the following are the two main sections in the WSIS Declaration about women and youth: 9. (7, 8) We are committed to realising our common vision of the Information Society for ourselves and for future generations. We recognize that young people are the future workforce and leading creators and earliest adopters of ICTs. They must therefore be empowered as learners, developers, contributors, entrepreneurs and decision-makers. We must focus especially on young people who have not yet been able to benefit fully from the opportunities provided by ICTs. We are also committed to creating conditions that provide for the development of ICT applications and services that take into account the rights of children as well as their protection and well-being. 10. (9) We affirm that development of ICTs provides enormous opportunities for women, who should be an integral part of, and key actors, in the Information Society. We are committed to ensuring that the Information Society enables women's empowerment and their full participation on the basis on equality in all spheres of society and in all decision-making processes. We should mainstream a gender perspective and use ICTs as a tool to that end. What do you think? Are these clear enough that people without specialized training can understand them?? Terri Willard Project Manager Knowledge Communications International Institute for Sustainable Development http://www.iisd.org/

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