A. PROJECT INFORMATION
1. a. Project Name or Title:	Sue Black
b. Project URL, if any:	http://www.bcs.org/bcswomen/
a. Utilizes ICTs to promote women's economic empowerment
a.1 What types of ICT tools do you use?	This initiative was set-up by Sue Black MBCS – Senior Lecturer, School of Computing, Information Systems and Mathematics South Bank University. Sue, who is one of the many women cleverly balancing home and professional life with three children of her own, had since a long time felt a strong need to encourage women and girls to consider a career in IT/IS. She also wanted to provide some sort of support network for women working in IT/IS. Women working in IT/IS can often miss female contact in their work place. At a European commission Women in Science and Engineering 'Networking the networks' conference a few years ago she discovered the joys of networking and of egroups or electronic groups. Sue set up an egroup for women members of the Central London branch of the BCS in October 1999 which got a very good response. It worked so well that she decided to set one up for the BCS as a whole. It took her over a year to become a full member and get the approval needed from the BCS technical board but eventually, in October 2001, she set up the BCSWomen egroup. The members of the egroup sent hundreds of emails to each other on the first day. The response was astounding! For the first few days members all over the UK, and in fact the world, were introducing themselves to each other and networking in a very exciting way.
a.2 How does the application of these contribute to the promotion of women's economic empowerment and gender equality?	· Provide an opportunity for networking for women working in IT or studying computing · Provide support for women working in IT · Support and encourage women and girls entering IT/IS careers · Provide a central contact for media channels requiring comment of issues relating to women in IS/IT · Assist women in IS/IT to find, and become, mentors for other women · Contribute to BCS policy
a.3 How was the achievement of women's economic empowerment and gender equality assessed/determined?	- Membership is available to any female member of the BCS, this will soon be widened out to include any female studying or working in the computing field. - Any interested parties can join the e-group (via Yahoo). - All members benefit from the daily messages, questions, queries, advice, support etc. which are sent around from member to all members. At the moment we do not have detailed information about our members, but as the groups grows and receives funding we aim to be able to produce this data to be better able to respond to our members needs.
a.4 Which cultural, traditional and religious gender-biased notions and beliefs were challenged, if any?	The British Computer Society (BCS) is a Chartered Engineering Institution for Information Technology professionals. The BCS are committed to fairness and equal opportunities (embracing gender diversity) and define their organisational values as representative of the core priorities in the organisation’s culture including what drives staff and active members’ priorities and how they truly act in the organisation. These values include respecting the individual, advocating fair treatment, maintaining high ethical standards and treating customers and suppliers with integrity, fairness and respect. The Association for Women in Science and Engineering (AWISE) and The Women’s Engineering Society (WES) have kindly allowed our members to take part in their mentoring scheme: MentorSET www.mentorset.org.uk
a.5 In what ways is your project different from others in enabling women's economic empowerment and gender equality?	The affairs of the group are managed (subjected to the control of the AGM) by a Management Committee comprising appointed and elected officers; the Management Committee meets at least once a year including an Annual General Meeting in May of each year. The constitution of the BCSWomen group is attached. The group is governed by the rules of the BCS as these rules apply to Specialist Groups. Where it is considered that a rule of the Group is in conflict with a BCS rule governing Specialist Group activities, the BCS rule shall apply. The Group follows the BCS Financial Guidelines.
a.6 What added value does your project bring to the ICT for development fora?	We have not so far monitored or evaluated our results as we currently have very limited funds. When funding is received we intend to address this as it will help us to better serve the needs of our members.
b. Upscales initiatives and community-centred technologies
b.1 Please narrate specific innovative or new approaches employed by the project, if any, that contribute to its development and its relevance to the community it is serving.	The e-forum of the group enables and encourages BCSWomen to ‘chat’ about issues relating to their work and interest in IT. A few of the issues which have been discussed so far include: finding advice on particular IT topics, assistance debugging specific IT problems, strategies for job applications and interviews, assistance accessing data and diagrams from obsolete software, advice on dealing with redundancy and employment rights, managing professional development and maintaining IT skills. The group has negotiated free membership for BCSWomen to MentorSET which establishes and manages mentoring relationships for women in Science, Engineering and Technology (http://www.mentorset.org.uk/). BCSWomen also encourages its members to participate as mentors in this programme. BCSWomen have had two recent seminars. The first was in conjunction with IBM at IBM on the topic of e-publishing. The second was in conjunction with ‘Computing’ IT newspaper and PriceWaterhouseCoopers on the topic of ‘Women and Age – Is IT a big issue. Both seminars were well attended, the latter had approximately 130 attendees at least half of which were women, mainly working in IT. Further seminars are now being planned. BCSWomen provide a CV review service: the group has set up a team of BCSWomen volunteers that want to help other women and share their knowledge and experience. The team provide advice and suggestions on CVs and covering letters exclusively for BCSWomen. Feedback is be passed back to the requester and recurring themes are posted on the website. The group is planning a series of seminars where members visit local schools and colleges (or the schools they attended as children) to highlight the many areas of interest in the field of IT to girls and to encourage them to take IT options at school. The group encourages sharing of information, e.g. news stories related to women in IT, government and industry initiatives, job advertisements, cross-postings from other groups such as women in SET (science, engineering and technology), etc. Many BCSWomen members have participated in fund-raising activities, particularly the Cancer Research “Race for Life” events. Over recent years, BCSWomen have been running and walking to raise money for Cancer Research as well as using the opportunity to meet up with other BCSWomen in their area and promote the group itself by wearing BCSWomen tee-shirts (bearing the slogan: “BCSWomen – setting the pace). So far this year, BCSWomen have run 175 km.
b.2 Describe the processes or mechanisms that are in place to ensure the project's sustainability.	The group capitalises on the technical skills and strengths of its diverse membership to make participation available to as wide a group of women as possible including a Yahoo internet group, a BCS Web page, e-mail and a regular e-mail summary (digest), as well as sharing technology knowledge via meetings, e-mails and seminars. Given the rich experience of the group members and management committee, we expect to develop our strategic use of ICTs as new technologies become available.
b.3 How can your project be replicated elsewhere?	BCSWomen seek to share and discuss information related to women participating in the field of computing. The group uses the e-group discussions and meetings to build awareness of gender and technology issues currently affecting our members. The group also encourages professional and personal development in a number of ways including seminars on current IT topics, CV and job application advice and encouraging participation as mentors and mentees in technical and personal mentoring programmes. Members of the group also maintain and share information relating to government and industry initiatives and practice which may positively or negatively affect women in IT. Members of the group also encourage and support participation in decision-making bodies which can influence and impact women in IT such as BCS, Government quorums, etc. Members who are already public appointees have made other members aware of the need for more women in public appointments and have sent around details of how to apply. Members have nominated Sue Black, BCSWomen Chair for BCS council.
c. Promotes cooperation and social networking
c.1 Who participates in the initiative? (Please identify participants, beneficiaries, and implementation partners. Provide specific demographic (age, income, rural/urban) information about your beneficiaries.)	The supportive ethos of the group has developed to encourage women to participate more in this field so they can address gender inequalities such as pay differences, glass ceilings and sticky floors, managing work-life balance, dealing with harassment and discrimination, etc. Several members have been empowered through the group to apply for positions in industry that perhaps they would have lacked to confidence to apply for. The group is also considering issues with the low proportions of females taking computing science degrees and are looking at ways of building relationships with schools and colleges to assist and encourage girls to participate more in the IT field.
c.2 Please identify the project's most important partners and explain their role in the project and in helping to mainstream gender.	The e-forum of this project allows us to minimise the costs of running it. It is also supported by the BCS who have a great deal of experience in running and maintaining this kind of group. The BCS has kindly pump-primed the group with a small amount of money. We are currently discussing charging membership fees to sustain the group in the long term. Running costs for the group are low because the main focus of the group is the e-group which is free. The group is managed by the committee (as detailed above). The day-to day work of BCSWomen is mainly self-supporting, with the majority of the contributions (both financial and intellectual) being volunteered by its members. BCSWomen limit expenditure as much as possible to allow us to continue providing free group membership which keeps the group open to as wide a group of women as possible. Additional funding would allow us to expand our programmes (such as professional development seminars and schools projects) and fund additional work (such as newsletter inserts into IT/BCS publications).
c.3 How does the project foster cooperation and active participation among the different sectors (government, private sector, civil society) in the community?	The e-group forum of BCSWomen together with the voluntary contributions of its members means similar projects could be established where there is access to the internet and/or email. The benefit of this type of forum means that women can be connected even if they live significant distances apart or are unable to attend or travel for meetings. For women who do not have access to the internet/email, or who may lack confidence in using them, other media would need to be considered (paper mail, SMS texting, etc.) which can support a distributed membership. The group would also require a number of members who are able to support and develop the work (including the administration side). Similar groups who have a common interest but find themselves to be in a minority (e.g. women in Science, Engineering and Technology fields including, perhaps, students or schoolchildren) may benefit from the support and networking opportunities such a group can provide; they would need to ensure they have support and expertise to manage the IT side (e.g. setting up the groups, managing distribution, etc.). BCSWomen value the support from the BCS and similar groups may benefit from gaining sponsorship from an experienced society – this might be possible in other professional societies (e.g. women in mechanical engineering) or they may be able to gain help from IT companies, charities or Government bodies/grants.
c.4 How does the project strengthen the capacity of those who are involved in its implementation?	That there is a great need for a group such as this. The response to the group has been one of overwhelming support and encouragement not only from members and prospective members but from the BCS, the press and other parties with an interest in supporting women and retaining women in IT roles. The first day that the egroup was set up more than 100 women who had signed up to join the group responded by emailing each other all excited about being part of a new networking group, this was an unexpected but very exciting start to what has become a very worthwhile project.
3. Learning Lessons and Sharing Strategies
a. Why, when, and how did the project begin?
b. What are the goals of the initiative?	Multistakeholder partnership would benefit BCSWomen in several ways: · Increasing awareness and acceptance of women in technical roles and fields of ICT knowledge and expertise by increasing visibility and developing relationships between BCSWomen and industry, academic and community groups · Broadening the appeal of IT and ICTs to women and girls who may currently see it as a predominantly male arena (e.g. build and maintain our programme to promote interest in IT for girls with schools and colleges) · Developing a programme to help women learn and/or update skills whilst managing family commitments (e.g. maternity, childcare, elder care, etc.) · Providing a wider source of contacts and experience to increase the networking opportunities for our members · Increasing the services BCSWomen can provide to its members (such as more help in jobseeking, better career development, etc.) · Expanding the opportunities for BCSWomen to contribute to the computing profession (e.g. providing more talks/seminars on specific topics, establishing forums in IT areas of interest, etc.) · Facilitating more extensive use of ICTs to keep members in touch (e.g. exension of web pages to create more opportunities for interaction, text updates, newsletters, etc.) · Ability to sponsor an award developed to encourage girls into IT studies.
c. How are decisions being made in project implementation?
d. What mechanisms are in place to ensure transparency and accountability in implementing the project?	applicant didnt provide information on this question
e. What results and/or immediate outcomes has the initiative achieved, and what impact has it had on the beneficiaries, participants, and community?
f. What tools and processes did you use to monitor and evaluate the results of the initiative?
B. GENERAL INFORMATION
1. Name of individual or organization	The British Computer Society
2. Address	British Computer Society 1 Sanford Street Swindon Wiltshire SN1 1HJ
3. Region/Country	United Kingdom
4. Telephone number	+44 (0)1793 417417
5. Fax number	+44 (0)1793 480270
6. E-mail address	sue@bcs.org.uk
7. Organisation's URL (if applicable):	http://www.bcs.org
8. Name and designation of person submitting this application form	BCS Women of The British Computer Society Chairperson
9. Organization's Vision/Mission	BCSWomen use an e-group format to provide support and networking to as wide an audience of women working in IT as possible. BCSWomen is a Specialist Group of the British Computer Society (BCS).
10. Where did you hear about the GICT Awards?	Other