Gender and ICT Projects Database

In recognition of the Gender and ICT initiatives all over the globe, we have created this projects database and made it available online. The database is a repository of Gender and ICT projects which were nominated and had qualified for the GICT Awards 2003 screening. This will be enriched by each award year. We are hoping that these efforts will inspire others to network, advocate and mobilize ICTs for women's empowerment and gender equality.

A. PROJECT INFORMATION
1. a. Project Name or Title:	Empowerment of women medical doctors with ICT to serve the remote people
b. Project URL, if any:	No specific Project URL available
a. Utilizes ICTs to promote women's economic empowerment
a.1 What types of ICT tools do you use?	Computer Software and Internet
a.2 How does the application of these contribute to the promotion of women's economic empowerment and gender equality?	Women in developing countries are deprived from benefits in many respects. A significant number of women in Bangladesh are qualified in medical science but they are deprived from using modern technology like ICT. Once the women medical doctors are trained on use of ICT particularly on medical software, they will be able to contact their fellow colleagues to solve the difficult problems. The most important benefit is that the project will enable the remote rural girls and women to express their gender related problems to the women medical professionals. ICT applications in various ways including Telemdicine will help solve the problems of women economic problems sitting at home.
a.3 How was the achievement of women's economic empowerment and gender equality assessed/determined?	In early 1999, Prof. Lutfor Rahman, the executive director of the Association for Advancement of Information Technology (AAIT) joined the University of Science and Technology at Chittagong, Bangladesh as Pro-Vice-Chancellor. The university is famous for medical faculties with 12 departments. Just after his appointment, Prof. Rahman observed that the medical doctors are illiterate in IT field. This is quite an unknown field to them and the women medical doctors are particularly in dark about the benefit of IT. Surprisingly doctors particularly males are resistant to learning new technology. They feel it is the wastage of time. However the women doctors were a bit convinced in learning ICT and its applications in different sectors. So the women doctors were decided to empower on ICT.
a.4 Which cultural, traditional and religious gender-biased notions and beliefs were challenged, if any?	Muslim cultural gender-biased notions and beliefs were challenged through empowerment of women medical doctors with ICT.
a.5 In what ways is your project different from others in enabling women's economic empowerment and gender equality?	Medical doctors are resistant in learning new technology, our project empowers the medical doctors with new technology, the most powerful technology ICT to serve the remote people who are deprived from all sort of modern facilities.
a.6 What added value does your project bring to the ICT for development fora?	People living in the island or highland are normally the most disadvantaged and neglected in the modern world. Our project based on ICT has enabled them to benefit through Telemedicine.
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.	Some of the most disadvantaged areas have been identified for implementation of the project. Indigenous Science and Technology at Ikrail (ISTI) resource centre is one such centre which is located in a remote river island. The island is small and circular in shape. 15000 people live in the island where modern touch of world is absent. There is no electricity, no road communication, no doctor, no medicine, no scope of proper education and the only source of water is contaminated with Arsenic. An Information centre with the facility of education, medical diagnosis and other essential supports have been designed to serve at the ISTI resource centre that is functioning since 2000. The centre collects day to day information of the locality and disseminate.
b.2 Describe the processes or mechanisms that are in place to ensure the project's sustainability.	It is too early to comment on sustainability of the project. The stakeholders are realizing the importance of ICT and they are cooperating on their own interest particularly the women who are suffering a lot because of absence of such facilities. The community people will bear the expenses for running such projects because this project will cost only a fraction of the amount they spend for such treatment.
b.3 How can your project be replicated elsewhere?	This project can very well be replicated in other developing countries particularly in the Muslim countries where there are some religious bias for women to allow to work outside their home particularly after marriage. The participants of the interested countries should attend a course of two weeks in the laboratory and then one or two weeks visit in the project area. This is quite easy and very effective for the women particularly.
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 initiative was taken by Prof. Lutfor Rahman, who is now the vice-chancellor of the Pundra University of Science and Technology along with Mrs. Laila Noor and other board members in 1996. The beneficiaries are the women scientists, researchers, technologists, medical doctors, community women and girls of the remote islands and highlands. The project implementation partners are university teachers of the department of computer science and engineering. This is an existing project that started in 1996 with the identification of lack in ICT knowledge among the women scientists, researchers and technologists. So far six phases of training have been organized with 20 participants in each group. The first three programs were held in the capital city. Then realizing the importance of training of the medical doctors, the 4th and 5th phages were designed specially for the women medical doctors of the northern region of Bangladesh. They were selected from the different hospitals, clinics, medical colleges and rural health care centres. The last phase was held in a regional town with the participants of various professions. The participants in all phases are well qualified in their respective fields but none had computer literacy. The ages of the participants vary from 30-65 years. Their income range is USD 600-60,000 per year depending on their qualifications and experience in their respective fields. The participants are selected from both rural and urban areas. The beneficiaries cover trained participants, their family members, colleagues, well wishers and the rural and urban people through telemedicine projects of various shapes and sizes.
c.2 Please identify the project's most important partners and explain their role in the project and in helping to mainstream gender.	The most important partners of the project are (1) Commonwealth Science Council (CSC) based in London (2) Ministry of Science and Technology, govt. of Bangladesh (3) Universities of Bangladesh The Commonwealth Science Council (CSC) provided fund to execute the training programs and to conduct the survey of training needs. The Ministry and govt. of Bangladesh provided logistic support and assisted in selecting participants from the govt. organizations like hospitals, clinics, medical colleges, research organizations spanning life sciences, physical sciences, natural sciences etc. The universities both private and public co-operated the project providing their computer laboratory facilities and in designing the training programs in the context of local needs.
c.3 How does the project foster cooperation and active participation among the different sectors (government, private sector, civil society) in the community?	Before organizing the training programs, a survey was conducted to identify the actual training needs of participants of respective organizations. In selection of participants, special care was taken so that the benefit of new technology should reach to the maximum number of people. Participants were selected from the government, semi-govt. autonomous body, NGOs, private sectors, civil societies and individuals. Preference was given to the participants from rural communities so that the rural and marginalized people should benefit through this program. ISTI resource centre located in an island have started to avail the benefit of training and its implementations in various forms. Young medical doctors and researchers are coming forward to help the island people providing their time, expertise and volunteer services.
c.4 How does the project strengthen the capacity of those who are involved in its implementation?	Inspirations from people are the main source of strengthening the capacity of those who are involved in implementation of the project. Commonwealth Science Council (CSC) is not a donor agency but it helps starting a new idea if they find it effective. The CSC provided us with initial funding and finding its success provided further funds for implementing the project for the medical professionals who trained in such a way so that they can start telemedicine projects for the disadvantaged people. By the time the implementing organization ? Association for Advancement of Information Technology (AAIT) have strengthened its capacity through acquisition of necessary equipment, accessories, books, different tools and some instructors have got training from different universities and they are now capable of running the project at each corner including the remote islands and high lands where people are most deprived.
3. Learning Lessons and Sharing Strategies
a. Why, when, and how did the project begin?	Bangladesh is a developing country in respect of resources as well as technological knowledge. It is a small country with the highest population density in the globe. Women in the country are yet to get proper scope of learning. Among the qualified women in the country, a significant number of women are scientifically qualified in various fields. Like other sectors, women scientists, technologists, researchers and medical doctors are deprived in many respects. Their knowledge and skills are not properly recognized, rather overlooked. This trend is true for higher training particularly in modern technology or new technology. Whenever a scope comes to the organization for nomination of a candidate, the male candidate is normally given preference. But training in the filed like ICT is very essential for the women scientists particularly the medical doctors because half of the population in the country is women. They have some problems which they cannot express to the males particularly this is true for a country like Bangladesh, where women are not so much advanced because of cultural background. As such women professionals particularly the women medical doctors need to be empowered with ICT. The idea of empowering women scientists, technologists and researchers were adopted in early 1996. The project started with a survey of identifying the training needs of the interested candidates. The survey was conducted among 515 women professionals who are well qualified and experienced in their respective fields but none has computer literacy. This trend is true for all levels of education from diploma to Ph.D. Initially 20 participants were selected considering different criteria. They were trained for two weeks at the Computer laboratory of the Asia Pacific University based in the capital city, Dhaka. Before starting training an initial evaluation was done among the participants to learn the exact position of the participants in respect of computing and technology. On the basis of evaluation, the modules were prepared for training.
b. What are the goals of the initiative?	The goals of the initiative are to reach the benefit of ICT to people who need the service of ICT most. They are identified as the girls of ages 12 ? 18 years and living in the remote areas such as islands and highlands. They cannot express their sex related health problems to a male doctor because of cultural bindings. Females trained with ICT and applications of ICT can solve the problems of the targeted girls and women. The other goals are to upgrade the standard of living of the people through the use ICT in education, employment generation, poverty reduction etc.
c. How are decisions being made in project implementation?	The board of directors consisting of 11 members makes initial decision of implementation of the project attending meetings. The board members also take responsibilities of supervising projects that run under the guidance of the executive director as well as the experts of institutes where the training programs are conducted. The board members are as below: 1. President - A. Wahab Mia, A Retired bank manager (the previous president was the V.C of the science and technology university at Sylhet, Bangladesh) 2. Executive Director - He is the Vice-Chancellor of Pundra University of Science and Technology, Bangladesh 3. Treasurer ? A well experienced lady with Master in science education has been working in the position of treasurer/ director of information who attend international conference to discuss the projects? various activities. The other members are Academics, NGO executives, technologists and engineers.
d. What mechanisms are in place to ensure transparency and accountability in implementing the project?	Association for advancement of Information Technology (AAIT) is an NGO- registered with the Prime Minister?s NGO affairs bureau. At the end of the project, the project is audited by the registered Chartered accountants as per govt. rule. Regarding transparency, the Commonwealth provided funds for organizing two phases of training and the deputy secretary of the Commonwealth Science Council (CSC) remained present to observe the progress. After successful completion of two stages of training some amount remained unutilized which was utilized for one more course with the permission of the CSC and the ministry. Being satisfied with the utilization and output of the courses, the CSC provided further funds for organizing courses for the medical doctors.
e. What results and/or immediate outcomes has the initiative achieved, and what impact has it had on the beneficiaries, participants, and community?	a) The project has produced individuals with following skills: (i) Women medical scientists who are computer literate and can work comfortably with standard application packages (word processing, database management, spread sheet). (ii) Women scientists who can use special software packages relevant to scientists activities. (e.g. bio-statistical packages, statistical analysis packages etc.) (iii) Women scientists who are well conversant with the computer mediated communication (e.g. e-mail, Internet etc.) (iv) Scientists with knowledge of conducting data base searches on CD-ROMs and use of multimedia facility to integrate available information on CD-ROM and other sources. b) Other outputs include: (i) Modified training modules and handouts on various software packages that can be used by the scientists for training others. (ii) Increased interaction among the women scientists with computer knowledge facilitated through a network of alumni of this program.. (iii) Computing services (problem solving) provided at the training centre and on site. (iv) A team of competent IT Trainers who will ensure sustainability of the program. (v) An established computer training program for the women scientists at AAIT. The trained experts are now utilizing their expertise of ICT in their respective fields for the people living in the targeted areas in various ways. Telemedicine and tele-education systems are also progressing in the areas to reach its goals.
f. What tools and processes did you use to monitor and evaluate the results of the initiative?	The plan of actions is as follows: 1. Improvement of computer lab and acquisition of additional equipment: The project starts with identification of the suppliers of required additional equipment, ordering, acquisition and installation of a multimedia computer system and LCD projection panel. Parallel with the above activities, AAIT undertake to improve on computer lab conditions and arrange for more facilities for hands on training. 2. Needs assessment: An update and a more realistic view of the current status of computing needs of the participants is assessed by the project staff with the view of improving programme modules and materials for appropriate and effective learning process in the programme. This is done by conducting a survey to at least ten institutions representing profiles of other institutions from where the participants would come. An interview with the help of questionnaires with prospective participants, work mates and employers give an overall picture of the required skills. 3. Improvement of Course Modules & Materials: An analysis of the survey results and the experience gained from previous phases determine how the course modules be tailored and what improvement will be required to be introduced to the course materials in terms of content and presentation. The necessary changes are then made; Gaps in skills available and those required are also identified at this stages. 4. Selection of participants: Participants to the proposed courses are selected from those who have already been identified and others from the Govt. and Non-Govt. Research Organisations, and from the regional medical institutes. The selected candidates are notified for confirmation of their participation. Their employers are also notified. 5. Actual Training: IT or ICT training courses are conducted each with the duration of two weeks. 6. Training of trainers: Based on the assessment of the actual needs of the participants and also from evaluations of the previous courses organised by AAIT, gaps in skills of the trainers in the programs are also identified. It is the intention of this program to have key project staff get attachment or attend short courses to institutions within and outside the country for more exposure in the required fields.
B. GENERAL INFORMATION
1. Name of individual or organization	Association for Advancement of Information Technology (AAIT)
2. Address	Apt. 5A, House No. 93, Road no. 9A, Dhanmondi, Dhaka-1209 Bangladesh
3. Region/Country	Asia, Bangladesh
4. Telephone number	8802-8126381
5. Fax number	8802-8126381
6. E-mail address	lutfor@agni.com
7. Organisation's URL (if applicable):
8. Name and designation of person submitting this application form	Prof. Lutfor Rahman Executive Director
9. Organization's Vision/Mission	The mission of the Association for Advancement of Information Technology (AAIT) is to reach the benefit of ICT to the communities where being born a girl is a curse.
10. Where did you hear about the GICT Awards?	From mylene soto <mylene@apcwomen.org>