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Business e-tips for Rural African Women

2002-06-24

"How can I make more money?" This is a question that poor, rural women in Nakaseke, Uganda had on their mind. They are finding the answer by using a computer.

In 1998, IDRC contributed to the establishment of a multipurpose community telecentre in Nakaseke — a place where people can go to use telephones or computers, access the Internet, or send email. It proved popular with the community, but not with rural women who thought of computers as a tool only for people with schooling.

To bridge this digital divide, IDRC supported a project by the International Women’s Tribune Centre (IWTC) to develop content relevant to women’s needs. Through group discussions, the researchers learned that one of rural women’s pressing problems was finding ways to generate additional income for themselves and their families. The tool that would provide this information had to be simple, and had speak to them in their own language. The result was a CD-Rom, Rural Women in Africa: Ideas for Earning Money, featuring stories from other women in the region who had successfully started small businesses as well as practical business information.

The "computer book," as the women call the CD-Rom, is narrated in Luganda, bypassing the need for reading skills. The program runs on basic computer systems and is very easy to use. In fact, it uses sound, images, and drawings to coach users on how to point and click their way through the program. It has proven so popular — and so relevant to the women’s lives — that women now line-up at the telecentre to use the computers. As Anastasia, a 70 year-old farmer who was one of the first users explains: "The computer book shows us how to use what you have [to make money]." Moreover, the women have decided to form an association, the Nakaseke Women’s Development Association, and are setting up a Web site to sell handicrafts over the Internet.

The CD ROM, which has also been translated into English, was launched at a demonstration event in New York in October 2001. Other language versions are planned. To obtain a copy of Rural Women in Africa: Ideas for Earning Money, please visit the online bookstore of the International Women's Tribune Centre.

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