ITU and EIF join forces to reduce the digital gender divide in Burundi, Ethiopia and Haiti

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) have launched a cooperative project to enhance the digital ecosystem and build digital skills for women in Least Developed Countries (LDCs).

The project will address the ongoing gender digital divide which, while narrowing in developed regions, has widened in developing nations and the LDCs since 2013. Across Africa, the proportion of women using the Internet is 12% lower than the proportion of men; in African LDCs, the disparity broadens to a 31% gap.

Combining their resources, ITU and EIF will enhance efforts to benefit women in Burundi, Ethiopia and Haiti. This will be achieved by building capacity at the policy level, increasing governments’ ability to mainstream gender and information and communication technologies (ICTs), and by expanding the horizons of thousands of women entrepreneurs in sectors such as textiles and apparel, and the coffee and cocoa value chains.

“More than ever before, digital technology is a key driver of women’s economic opportunities,” said ITU Secretary-General Houlin Zhao. “This partnership between ITU and EIF will result in vital policy support to ensure sustainable expansion of ICTs where it is most needed and will benefit women as they access and use ICTs to participate fully in their economies.”

The project will focus on nationwide fieldwork, specifically:

• Working with governments and other decision-makers to ensure that digital economy policies are gender-responsive;
• Working with organizational partners and other members of the local ecosystem to prepare working-age women to navigate in the digital world; and
• Working with the private sector to create economic opportunities for working-age women in the digital world.

This joint project, a contribution to the EQUALS Global Partnership and part of EIF’s Empower Women, Power Trade initiative, will help to match job market supply and demand, and facilitate the entrepreneurial activities of women through the use of ICTs. It will be conducted in close collaboration with local partners such as cooperatives and business associations to ensure that support for women continues and strengthens after the project is complete. EQUALS partners will be included in the work at the national level, bringing additional expertise to the project planning and execution.

Original source: ITU