Reducing digital gender divide in Burundi, Ethiopia, and Haiti

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and the Enhanced Integrated Framework (EIF) have launched a joint project aimed at enhancing the digital ecosystem and binding digital skills for women in the least developed countries (LDCs). The project addresses the current gender digital divide, which according to the ITU, has widened in LDCs and developing countries since 2013. Women in Africa use the Internet 12% less compared to men. In African LDCs, the disparity goes up to 31%. This project will focus on women in Burundi, Ethiopia, and Haiti. The project will also work on capacity building at the policy level with the aim to increase governments’ abilities to mainstream gender and information and communication technologies (ICTs). Three specific project focuses are:

• Working with governments and other decision makers to ensure that digital economy policies are gender responsive.
• Working with organisational partners of the local ecosystem to prepare working age women to navigate the digital world. 
• Working with the private sector to create economic opportunities for working age women in the digital world. 

‘Finding innovative ways to close the gender digital divide is critical. We need to empower women in local communities to properly use ICTs and to maximize impact at the economic and social level. This project focuses on the right sectors, the right communities, and the right entrepreneurs to do just that,’ said Doreen Bogdan-Martin, Director of ITU’s Telecommunication Development Bureau. This project is a contribution to the EQUALS Global Partnership and part of EIF’s Empower Women, Power Trade initiative.