The workshop “Gender and ICT: Introduction to GEM Methodology,” took place at TAU in Rosario, Argentina September 17-18. TAU collaborators and volunteers, neighbourhood telecentre operators and a representative from the feminist organisation RIMA, a TAU user that produces information services on the women’s and feminist movement in Argentina, participated in the event. Dafne Sabanes Plou, regional coordinator of the APC Women’s Networking Support Programme (APC WNSP) was in charge of the event.
During the working sessions the participants, both men and women, were introduced to the subject of gender and ICT, in reference to the GEM methodology’s conceptual framework. The “Learning for Change” and “ICT for Social Change” materials were discussed and the participants broke into small groups to work through awareness-raising exercises on gender and ICT issues. The participants also expressed their ideas through role-plays based on the work completed during the discussion groups. A final workshop plenary confirmed the interest of the participants in the subject and a willingness to further understand GEM to use it in TAU’s work.
The new TAU telecentre was used during the workshop so that the participants could explore the GEM tool and become more familiar with the materials that make up this evaluation methodology with a gender perspective for ICT projects. GEM was created by APC WNSP and during 2003-2004 a field test took place to validate the methodology in 26 projects in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Central and Eastern Europe. Many of the ICT projects that used this methodology include telecentres, which is why this tool is of interest to entities like TAU, who actively work on training and collaborating with neighbourhood telecentres in Rosario. TAU is a member of APC.
For more information about GEM or the APC WNSP, contact : info@apcwomen.org
