GEM is an evaluation methodology that integrates a gender analysis into evaluations of initiatives that use information and communication technologies (ICTs) for social change. It provides a means for determining whether ICTs are worsening or really improving women’s lives and gender relations, as well as for promoting positive change at the individual, institutional, community and broader social levels.
By using the GEM methodology, practitioners in Africa, Latin America and Asia uncovered results they would not have obtained if they had not included gender in their project planing and research. A series of articles demonstrates how GEM is changing the lives of women and the development of inclusive ICT practices. The stories were published on the APC website as well as the GEM practitioner’s website.
Africa
Asia and the Pacific
Latin America and the Caribbean
The Association for Progressive Communications Women’s Networking Support Programme (APC WNSP) developed GEM to facilitate the process of learning about using ICTs for gender equality and to increase consciousness on the possible negative impact of ICTs on women’s lives if gender and ICT issues are not considered from the start. As such, gender evaluation methodologies can be used to investigate whether ICTs are being used in ways that change gender biases and roles and do not simply reproduce and replicate existing ones. As more and more of today’s development work and money is channeled into projects that employ ICTs, their effects on women are of great importance.