'Technology has the power to reinvent industries, create entire new economies, open unlimited job opportunities and drive accelerated growth'

TRANSFORM AFRICA SUMMIT 2018 SERIES

Diana L. Ofwana, Regional Director, UN Women West and Central Africa – The representative of United Nations Women Executive Director Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka

‘It is not easy to imagine any form of development in the 21st century, without the effective use of technology, in particular, the internet – both as a driver and an enabler. Technology, as we have heard and seen, has the power to reinvent industries, create entire new economies, open unlimited job opportunities and drive accelerated growth. Achieving universal affordable internet access is, therefore, a key social and economic transformation issue in Africa.

'The reality is that so many people are still not connected. We have heard about the rural divide; people who cannot access the internet. Across the globe, nearly four billion people are still offline; over two billion of these are women because of reasons such as the high cost of connectivity and low digital literacy.

 'Over 50% of these women are left out of the digital revolution. In fact, we risk another 20 billion dollars between 2015 and 2020 according to the GSMA Mobile Gender Report if this trend continues. So there is a heavy cost implication to this.

 'I want to give you an example of how we could use technology to drive economic growth in a key sector.

'Agriculture is very important, given that the majority, especially the rural women, work in the agricultural sector. This one area holds promise, where technology is key to closing that digital gender divide.

'In Rwanda, the buyfromwomen is a project of the Government of Rwanda with the support of the One UN and UN woman on gender and climate-smart agriculture.

'It leverages the digital platform to facilitate farmer’s access to information, finance, and markets. The digital platform registers the farmer’s biodata, land size, gives the financial history of this farmer over a period of time, thus giving them an economic identity.

'In this initiative, about 3,200 farmers from 12 target cooperatives have been registered on the platform and are trading with the Rwanda grains and corn corporations.

'These farmers have largely exceeded production targets with 805 metric tons of maize delivered in 2017. The portal of this whole contract was delivered by a cooperative called COOPCUMA in Gatsibo, which is led by a woman. This particular cooperative increased its maize production from 60 metric tonnes in 2015-16 to 155 metric tonnes in 2017.

'What does this mean in monetary terms? This corresponds to a 25% increase in income – from 16,000 dollars to 65,000 dollars per annum – a strong indication of a great potential of leveraging ICT for economic growth and ensuring that you leave nobody behind.

'While technology is inevitable, we also need to be cognizant of the fact that increased digitization brings additional threats including gender-based cyber violence, risks of being subjected to human trafficking, and the generalization of sexism and misogyny in online spaces that we must fight with the same intensity and urgency as we do when they occur in physical spaces.

'Develop and implement policies and programmes that are needed to close this gender digital divide; policies that focus on improving online rights, ICT skills and education, access to the affordable internet, the creation of local and relevant content, within concrete time-bound targets.

'I have examples of many different countries in Africa doing several good things. Allow me to commend the Government of Rwanda for having dedicated one pillar of the ‘Smart Rwanda Master Plan’ to women and youth empowerment. They have one dedicated pillar but they have ensured that the other six pillars have mainstreamed gender in their efforts to guide holistic digital transformation in the country.

'We are not only talking about the digital gender gap but we are also talking about a gap in general in gender and development.

'Invest in empowering women and girls with digital skills; increase their enrollment not only in STEM but in other related fields. Reward innovation among the youth through initiatives such as the Ms Geek and all girls scholarships by Carnegie Melon University. The UN family is working with Governments across the world with various partners to support initiatives aimed at enhancing girls in ICT.

'Funds such as the Universal Service Access Funds are communal funds dedicated to expanding connectivity, opportunities to the un-served and the underserved. It is high time we get going. We have only three countries out of 37 that have used these funds to connect women and girls. I think we need to do much better.

'We should fast-track the effective use of these funds to reduce the digital gender gap. Closing the digital gender gap is the golden key to unlock the door of the transformation of Africa into a knowledge-based, innovation-driven, agile, open, competitive economy. Let’s do this!’