Enda-Synfev - West Africa

This programme includes the following components:

• Femmes-Afrique, an electronic network that connects Francophone African women who are committed to women's development. Launched in March 1996 by 18 representatives of women's organisations active in 12 French-speaking African countries, the network numbered 65 active members from 10 countries in the sub-region in 2001. The list distributes an average of two messages every three days. The information posted may originate from the members themselves, electronic news agencies, or project partners, and focuses on health, rights, violence, female participation in decision-making, debt, peace, and development. Femmes-Afrique also publishes activity reports and debates from around the world, and emphasises resources, job and training offers, and calls for support and information.
• Initiatives to support Francophone African women's active participation in building the global information society at both regional and global levels. Substantive issues explored include women's right to expression and communication, gender-awareness in ICT policies, gender justice in ICTs assessment, and women's participation in decision-making in the fields of information and communication for sustainable development. Activites include advocacy, lobbying, research, training, and field actions.
• Prepartion for the Beijing+10 through the support for women's agendas. ITCs are used to build the capacities of groups who address women's concerns in their own communities. Also involves strengthening gains at the local level to open up future possibilities. Activities include training, advocacy, lobbying, and technical innovation.
• Promotion of the qualitative use of ICTs beyond their utilitarian function for women in Africa. The goal is to build an alternative worldwide community model founded on the acceptance of diversity. Activities include training, research, advocacy, and networking.
• Facilitation of joint parenting projects with the help of ITCs (specifically, the provision of support to women's programmes for gender equality in Senegal). Uses the Internet for research, content production, information, communication, training, and advocacy in an effort to raise public awareness of the need for replacing "marital power" and "paternal power" with "joint parenthood" and "joint responsibility for the family" in national family law.

Women, Gender, Technology, Rights, Political Development.

Between 1987 and 1995, Enda-Synfev's activities focused on women's financial independence, health, and rights in an effort to help women protect themselves against violence. In the context of preparations for the 4th United Nations Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995), the "Communication for Women" programme was launched. This programme is primarily aimed at Francophone African women. The initial phase (1995-1997) of this programme was devoted to the creation of the Femmes-Afrique network. The second phase (1998-2000) focused on training, network diversification, and partnership building. The current phase (2001-2003) aims to consolidate previous actions and deepen research and discussions about the relations between gender, communication, and diversity.

Recent efforts include fundraising for an initiative to explore the gender-specific dimensions of ICT policies. ICTs, organisers suggest, could become a powerful tool for reducing poverty and inequality, and creating a society in which women are more than merely passive ITCs users and consumers. After a period of assessment, this project will include training and activities that aim to analyse ICT policies in Francophone Africa from a gendered perspective. Senegal will serve as a case study in the sub-regional, regional, and international context. The goal is to stimulate the involvement of Francophone African women's groups in ICT policy-making.