Women in the Democratic republic of Congo: Confidence and a competitve edge though ICTs

In the region of Uvira, Congo, women farmers are now using ICTs to learn about gender and agriculture. Through the SISSI project, local organisation IFDAP (Initiative des femmes pour le développement de l’autopromotion et la paix) formed a support group for women farmers. In early 2009, SISSI built a foundation for increased access to agricultural information by facilitating internet access to small rural women farmers. Through this and their recently launched information centre, so far, up to 150 men and women have received information on agriculture they need. SISSI also matched 60 small women farmers with mentors from other local communities to reinforce their support networks. It has been exciting to watch these women become proud citizens of our communities.

The SISSI project used a four-step approach. The four levels of intervention used were:

1) Control – Rural women farmers in Uvira gain control of the ICTs for economic sustainability. They can also make decisions on what kind of ICTs they use and when to use them.
2) Mobilisation – Community awareness on gender, agricultural, ICTs and cultural changes taking place in rural Uvira.
3) Awareness building – Rural women farmers in Uvira are made aware of gender inequalities in terms of accessing ICTs
4) Access – Rural women farmers gain access to available ICTs within the Uvira community.

Achievements

The SISSI project has become a well-known word in the community of Uvira, and people are increasingly talking about it in the streets. The support structure it has brought for rural women farmers in a short period of time is unbelievable. With such a project, marginalised women in our society can feel proud of themselves and what they achieve, and are improving their own lives and those of their families.

-We enabled 60 small rural beneficiary women farmers to identify and express their interest in the design, management and outcome mapping for the SISSI project, and identify the ICT barriers they face in rural Uvira.

-We created an ICT platform for information exchange, increased the capacities of small-scale rural women farmers, and set up a powerful set of broad, robust and useful networking tools.

-We also provided an information centre and access to the internet for the women.

– we created a platform where web information on agriculture is translated into Swahiili for those who cannot read English, and the centre is a space where coaching on agriculture, ICTs and mentoring sessions take place.

The women are now trained on basic computer skills and have the confidence to use computers on their own for basic tasks.

Challenges

Despite the positive changes we have seen in these few months, there is still a lot of work to do, which extends beyond GenARDIS funding. The legacy of war left severe adverse effects and the social, economic, gender, health and educational impacts cannot go on unaddressed. Women in our communities continue to be marginalised and taken for granted; but they continue to strive for the welfare of their families. Access to ICTs for rural women farmers still remains out of reach for many.

Moving forward

We believe that small-scale women farmers and their enterprises need to adapt to new technologies in order to become competitive in the rapidly changing rural business environment. As with many other industries, it is evident that in the agri-food industry of Uvira, small and medium businesses can gain a competitive advantage through the use of ICTs, especially community radios, mobile phones, and the internet.

Telecentre in Uvira, DRC: Men and women in Uvira, DRC, working in a new telecentre.