Report Back on the E-consultation - ICTs for the Advancement of Rural Women's Empowerment

Women's Net hosted a regional workshop held in Johannesburg, South Africa February 23-25, 2004 entitled "ICTS in the Service of Good Governance, Democratic Practice and Development for Rural Women in Africa." The workshop brought together women's organisations, government officials, gender and development practitioners and researchers involved in gender and information and communication (ICT) projects and initiatives.

Not all those interested in attending the workshop could be funded and it was felt that it was imperative that more voices be included in the workshop deliberations. This was done through an e-consultation.

The e-consultation was hosted:

• To increase the number of voices in the workshop;
• To widen the space for dialogue and discussion;
• To facilitate the sharing of experiences, information and resources;
• To share input from the workshop presenters (although there was not enough time for this).

The idea was to create a synergy between the workshop and the e-consultation through presenting the outcomes of the e-consultation at the workshop. The final outcomes document of the workshop was also circulated to those subscribed to the e-consultation.

The notice for the e-consultation was circulated via national, regional and global email mailing lists which are representative of constituencies who would be interested in the theme of the workshop. It was also advertised on the workshop website.

This report outlines the process for the e-consultation as well as some of the contributions made. It further provides comments from participants related to the questions posed, and the goals of the conference. Subscribers to the e-consultation shared their experiences in using radio, video and Internet to capture women's voices. They also discussed opportunities and challenges, from varied contexts.

Click here to read the full report in Word (.doc) format.