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ENGLISH | FRANÇAIS
| Articles written about GRACE projects, and by GRACE researchers are listed below. |
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Gender Research in Arab Countries into ICTs for Empowerment: poster presentation at the 1st Arab Women in Science and Technology Conference in Dubai
The informationa society comes with lots of opportunities and challenges and is creating new areas of inclusion and exclusion. The new Information and Communication tools, however, have the potential to contribute to development and empowerment through their unique potential for human connection, sharing and learning. Because of their traditionally disadvantaged positions, women may experience internal as well as external barriers in making full use of these tools... READ MORE
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What Matters Most? Reflections for the Discussions on Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) for Human Development, Growth and Poverty Reduction
Discussion paper for Harvard Forum II: ICTs, Human Development, Growth and Poverty Reduction, September 23-24, 2009
Author: Ineke Buskens
... There is no bottom without a top, and the top is just as much part of the problem as the bottom: we define each other; and what is more, we are all connected. Separation is an illusion. The reality, which we are all waking up to in these days of global warming and financial decline, is that we are all connected. What should thus matter most for us, here, the people who have this beautiful opportunity to reflect together in this beautiful place on questions of Human Development, poverty reduction, growth and the use of Information Communication Technology, is to work with and within concepts that are aligned to this dream: the dream for a world that is worthy of human aspiration and conducive to conscious human evolution. Concepts are powerful tools that once accepted as intricate part of a collective consciousness create the parameters for people‟s thoughts, emotions, experiences and realities... READ MORE
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Becoming Aware Of What Is Going On: Reflecting on Social and Gender Injustice In Context of Human Development, Poverty and ICTs
Position paper for Harvard Forum II: ICTs, Human Development, Growth and Poverty Reduction, September 23-24, 2009
Author: Ineke Buskens
In concerning ourselves about the role of ICTs for human development and poverty reduction, we take a position grounded in a sense of social justice and we look through the lens of human agency at the economic potential of ICTs.
The concept of human development is grounded in social justice. A commitment to social justice in a gendered world means commitment to the practical application of gender justice. Gender justice is an end in itself, yet social and gender issues are inextricably inter-twined. Women have the right to experience their being-ness for themselves, perceive themselves as the most important reason for their own existence and not be defined mainly by what they mean to others: husbands, children and parents.1 Having said that, social and economic empowerment of women will have a wider development impact than individual women’s advancement, because women are “concerned with the well being of their children, their husbands and the economics of their villages” 2 and wider communities... READ MORE |
What it took: Reflections on the GRACE Research Journey
Author: Ineke Buskens
Keynote address at the Launch of African Women and ICTs: Investigating Technology, Gender and Empowerment, at the UNISA Library in Pretoria, 7 September 2009.
... Our concepts do not only shape our physical reality, they also shape our non-physical reality. Our concepts are the houses we live in, and we look out from the windows of these houses. And then we create our reality according to what we see, and this reality leads in turn to more emotions and other thoughts, which then lead to other realities - and so we can go on and on... READ MORE |
Professional Women in ICT Careers in Kenya: What Successful ICT Journeys Entail.
Authors: Salome Omamo, Okwach Abagi and Olive Sifuna
Creating an empowering environment for women to venture into ICT careers as professionals requires that families deconstruct gender stereotypes and roles in society. They need to support girls and women to make informed choices about their careers in ICT – careers that do not perpetuate so called ‘sex-appropriate roles’. Gender bias, sex role socialization and general discrimination against women are so entrenched in Kenyan society that individuals (men and women, including policy makers, leaders, and students) think discrimination of women in society in general and in work places in particular is ‘natural’... READ MORE |
African Women and ICTs: Investigating Technology, Gender and Empowerment
The GRACE Network is pleased to announce that our book, African Women and ICTs:
Investigating Technology, Gender and Empowerment, is available as of March 31 from
Zed Books
http://www.zedbooks.co.uk/book.asp?bookdetail=4280
The electronic version is now available to view on-line or download from the web site of the co-publisher, IDRC: http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-135944-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html
View endorsements... |
Grace 2 Proposal
Authors: Ineke Buskens and Anne Webb 
This proposal emerges from the accomplishments of the first phase (May 2005 – February
2008) of the Gender Research in Africa into ICTs for Empowerment (GRACE) project, and from
a recognition that the emergence of a sustainable research network can be achieved through
an additional implementation and capacity development phase. Based on the effectiveness of
the first phase in relation to the objectives of research capacity development and analysis of the relationships between gender, ICTs and empowerment,1 we propose extending this
initiative, enriching its initial methodological basis and expanding its reach. In terms of the
network’s initial methodological grounding in qualitative research for transformation, we aim to
evolve this focus into action directed approaches, participatory policy research, quantitative
approaches that are coherent with the transformative objectives of the project, mastering the
transformative qualitative techniques and methodologies that were initiated and explored in
GRACE 1, and integrating outcome mapping methodology in the research designs. GRACE 2
will also expand the reach of the initiative to introduce certain elements from the overall
process and specific training from the above mentioned transformative research techniques to
partners in Asia and MENA (the Middle East and North Africa). It is envisaged that GRACE 2 will run from March 1, 2008 until February 29, 2011... READ MORE |
Gender Research in Africa into ICTs for Empowerment
Author: Ineke Buskens
The dream for GRACE is to evolve into a sustainable research network that will continue to engage research into women, ICTs and gender issues beyond the limited time frame of this project and will expand its base of participating researchers and countries beyond the current ones. Inspired by this vision, GRACE embraces a strong emphasis on research capacity building in all the phases of the research process. Furthermore, creating a nurturing research environment for junior researchers is a priority for all involved: for the Grace coordinating team as well as for the site projects’ senior researchers... READ MORE
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Gender and ICT in Africa: ICT Career Women Speak Out about ICT, Gender and Education in Kenya
Author: Okwach Abagi
Although the three professional women did not face obvious gender discrimination or stereotyping during their school days, they believe that girls were and are still facing a lot of challenges that are gender based. They hasten to add that the challenges they faced while in school were normal. These had largely to do with the biological changes which occur, especially during puberty, which if not well managed, tend to affect girls’ performance in their work at school. This is particularly serious at high school, in cases of mixed secondary schools, where boys and male teachers harass female students... READ MORE
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Have Women Taken Advantage of the Digital Revolution?
Author: Gisele Yitamben
Various countries have taken advantage of the advent of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs). For some, the political goodwill was frankly displayed and translated into true telecommunication policy reforms. As for Cameroon, it shows a significant delay regarding the density of fixed and mobile telephone. Despite the major obstacles to profit from the advantages of the digital revolution, there are a few lucky women who have been able to take advantage of ICT... READ MORE |
Rethinking Energy Access: Integrating ICTs and gender for sustainable solutions
Author: Jocelyn Muller
It is estimated that 900 million of the world’s poorest people are concentrated in rural areas, and approximately 70% of these people are women (UNDP 2003). Why is this the case after decades of attempts at rural development, with many projects targeting women specifically? More recent attempts at reducing poverty include country level Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers and the Millennium Development Goals... READ MORE
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Gender, ICT and …ostrich eggs? GRACE, an African ICT Research Network
Author: APC-WSPN
What do ostrich eggs, free attitudes, ICT and graciousness have in common? An exciting new research initiative that brings together African researchers to study Africa, ICTs and women's empowerment, called GRACE. The Gender Research in Africa into ICTs for Empowerment held it's first researcher capacity-building workshop in Durban in July 2005, and while researchers from all over the continent honed their project proposals and fine-tuned networking skills, they also learned how to create ostrich eggs around themselves... READ MORE
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 GRACE brochure, 2005
“In thinking through what ICTs can mean for women’s empowerment in Africa, we will turn to the women who can give us their perspectives in their own words, while being grounded in our contexts and understandings as African researchers.” Ineke Buskens ... READ MORE
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 GRACE Project Rationale
Author: Ineke Buskens
Women are crucial to the transformation of Africa. The link between a country's overall status of evolvement and that of its women has found general acceptance. Research done in the last 35 years has made women's contributions and gender induced disadvantages more visible and yet much (and we do not know how much) is still unknown. Especially Africa appears under-researched when it comes ot women... READ MORE
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Grace Proposal 
Authors: Ineke Buskens, Anriette Esterhuysen and Jenny Radloff
This project aims to explore the ways in which women in Africa use ICTs to empower themselves, the external, structural barriers as well as the internal factors which prevent them from using ICTs to their advantage, and the strategies they employ to overcome these impediments. The project comprises 15 sub-projects, reflecting 14 research sites in 12 countries and one meta research sub project. While coherent with the general aim of the overall research initiative, the sub-projects differ from each other greatly in terms of target group and research focus. Furthermore, the concepts of gender and empowerment which frame the project’s general direction and commitment, may not have unequivocal meaning within the sub-projects... READ MORE
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