The activities of our project, “campaign to support and educate the rural women of Uvira in NICT use for gender advocacy” that we initiated in the southern region of Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are contributing towards promoting rural women and fostering their development.

In fact, the rural women being supported by our organisation in their agricultural, fishing, commercial and literacy activities have expressed a real need to become computer-literate so that they can one day access the internet and thus promote their knowledge – through the exchange of experiences with other women throughout the world who are involved in this area of activities. Through the application of the principle of equal access to opportunities in education, the rural women who were illiterate at the start and who have learned to read and write through our organisation and Uvira’s ELIMU are currently being trained in computer use and internet access in a region where this is the first innovative activity for rural women in the DRC.

The main motivation for implementing these project activities is to strengthen gender and human rights advocacy and promote the development of the rural woman.

For the implementation of the main project activity, that is training rural women in NICTs in Uvira (DRC), we initially selected 20 women who had already undertaken the first level of computer training, and who were undergoing internet training. At the outset, they underwent literacy training together with 50 other women who are also awaiting training, while carrying out commercial, agriculture and livestock activities in their respective regions. These rural women will be emancipated through this NICT training, and the gender promotion process in DRC will be strengthened through our human rights organisation, ARCHE D’ALLIANCE.

The 20 women in training are being led by three women members of the project coordination team, namely:

1. BRIGITTE KASONGO MAWAZO
2. MARIE KAPINGA MWANTUMBA
3. PELAGIE MISASA

Their computer engineer trainers are :
1. Mr GABRIEL BOMBAMBO
2. Mr CONSTANT AMUNDALA

In particular, give us an idea of the role and situation of women.
a) the project beneficiaries

Direct beneficiaries :
- 20 rural women from Uvira who belong to 14 women’s groups affiliated to the NGO ARCHE D’ALLIANCE are direct participants in this first stage of the project’s implementation, that covers training and material support for their day-to-day activities.
Indirect beneficiaries :
• 50 other women belonging to womens’ group, who are being supported and educated by those trained in the 1st phase.
• The rest of the rural women in the region will benefit from the grassroots project activities and from radio broadcasts produced by the managing team of the project’s women.

b) The background of the beneficiaries and their socio-political and economic context :

From the outset, the women beneficiaries of the project were marginalised due to their lack of education and economic power within their respective communities. Urgent action is needed in DRC, where there are more women than men, the majority of whom are illiterate, to promote schooling for young girls and education for adult women through literacy initiatives on the national and local level.

Illiteracy, poverty, prejudicial customs and other forms of cultural and legal discrimination against rural women are some of the real obstacles in DRC to the emancipation of rural women, and equality in terms of gender, human rights, development and politics. This background provided the opportunity and need for our project to contribute towards strengthening the role of rural women and increasing their rights in the country’s processes of peace, democratisation and development.

We certainly intend to implement follow-up activities for the women peasant farmers in our country. We would like to receive further funding to support schooling and literacy activities, for operational and schooling costs for the numerous illiterate women who have not had the opportunity to learn how to read and write in order to access NICTs more easily.

In the near future, we also plan to intensify our campaign to inform, train and raise the awareness of the local community on gender and NICTs through radio, TV, schools and grassroots women’s groups. We are seeking donors to this end.

In our country, national policy has not always prioritised the promotion of grassroots teaching in general, and the fight against illiteracy in particular. The major differences or disparities that that have resulted from bad governance upheld at the highest levels within the country, where generally poor people live in a very rich country, mean that the current authorities are not always interested in being involved in the dynamic of gender and NICT promotion. Only private initiatives are involved, with a slow impact on the national level.

Government action must, after the soon to be completed electoral process, draft and implement a good NICT policy in favour of rural development through the involvement of peasant women, who are in the main farmers. #

We propose integration of the NICT approach into the various socio-development programmes, in order to orient women in the different aspects of gender in the rural environment in our country. #