Seven women and thirteen men from Anglophone and Francophone Africa and the Caribbean met during the last days of September in Gorée Island, Senegal. They have many things in common, but one in particular is their ability to make innovative connections in gender, agriculture and information and communication technologies (ICTs). This ability has led them to be finalists of the Gender, Agricultural and Rural Development in the Information Society (GenARDIS) small grants fund.

The Gender, Agriculture and Rural Development in the Information Society (GenARDIS) Small Grants Fund is delighted to announce that twenty projects have been short-listed as possible GenARDIS grantees.

Geographic and creative diversity

The short-listed proposals come from sixteen countries in Africa and the Caribbean, ranging from the Dominican Republic and St. Vincent on over the Atlantic Ocean to rock-skip throughout western Africa in Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon and the Congo. Eastern Africa and Southern Africa also have their share of representation with projects from Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Congratulations to the short-listed GenARDIS round 3 candidates

1. Benin, Use of ICTs for popularising agricultural information and building production and management capacity with two groups of women producers and product transformers
2. Burkina Faso, Initiating 30 women in charge of 15 women groups (members of FEPPASI) to computing
3. Cameroon, Promoting the use of ICTs for market information exchange among women producers in Cameroon
4. Democratic Republic of Congo, Creation of a rural women internet-users network using ICTs for the exchange and popularisation of agricultural, pastoral, social, economic and political information
5. Democratic Republic of Congo, Sisters Informing and Supporting Sisters Initiative (SISSI): Increasing the agricultural productivity and profitability through ICT and partnerships in Small-Scale Rural Women Farmers of Uvira
6. Dominican Republic, Empowering women in managing rural cooperatives with relevant ICTs and e-business tools
7. Ethiopia, Women innovators document their own innovation and experimentation in Tigray Region of northern Ethiopia
8. Ghana, eWomen in Development Leadership
9. Ghana, Gender Issues and Women's Livelihoods Improvement Project
10. Kenya, CoreRooms - Computer Science Opportunities and Resources Portal for Kenyan Female University Students
11. Mali, Improvement of agricultural women's access to ICT opportunities in the region of Sikasso
12. Nigeria, Building the ICT capacity of women teachers in a rural community in Nigeria to communicate agricultural information
13. Nigeria, “Majelissa yan Mata Manoma!”: A meeting place for Hausa Women Farmers on FM Radio
14. St. Vincent, Empowering Caribbean Women Farmers Through ICT
15. Tanzania, ICT and women empowerment in crop marketing in Uluguru Mountains in Tanzania
16. Togo, Strengthening rural women's access to ICTs in Kpélé-Akata, where ICTs are understood as tools for economic and community education development
17. Uganda, Increasing Small-Scale Women Farmers’ Revenues in Kabarole and Kyenjojo Districts of Western Uganda by Using Sustainable ICT4D-Enabled Production and Marketing Tools
18. Zambia, ICT Women Co-operative Group
19. Zambia, Promoting the culture of ICT enabled access to agriculture information among Kapiri Rural Women Farmers, and capacity building for SMS-based access to market information service.
20. Zimbabwe, Promoting ICT use for the healthy small scale waste water irrigation of vegetable crops amongst the rural women of Zimbabwe

The third round of the Gender, Agricultural and Rural Development in the Information Society (GenARDIS) small grants fund got off to a roaring start in June 2008, with over 230 proposals in English and French pouring into the fund's digital inbox. This time around, donor partners took time out to evaluate GenARDIS. They captured advice of past grantees to enrich GenARDIS' already fertile seed grant work with increased capacity building.