Welcome news for women in the rural communities: the Philippine Community eCenter Network (PhilCeCNet), with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Asia Pacific Women's Information Network Center (APWINC), are working together in the project "Development and Delivery of Training Tools on the Use of ICTs for the Promotion of Livelihood for Women in Rural Areas".
Philippines and Bhutan are the two selected country beneficiaries. Philippine CeCs are indeed fortunate to have this opportunity to be able to replicate training tools responsive to the needs of rural women.
The partnership with ITU and APWINC actually responds to the findings of the earlier survey, the "Adaptation of Gender Evaluation Methodology for Philippine Community eCenters" or GEM, conducted in Bato, Leyte in 2008 in partnership with the Association of Progressive Communication (APC) and Molave Development Foundation. Said survey showed the current situation of Bato in terms of gender and ICT.
Although Bato CeC has been providing Internet access and other ICT services, it has not yet been able to develop ICT products or content focused on improving the livelihood of women. What surfaced during the GEM survey was the utilization of men and women in the CeC, and why some were not interested in the CeC. Thus, one motivation for men and women to use the CeC is the development of appropriate training tools.
Together with its various partners, PhilCeCNet is looking forward to the CeC services becoming more responsive to the needs of rural communities.