Empowering Women in the Information Society: Building a Women's Information and Communication Network for South Africa

In consultation with South African women's groups and women working in the ICT field, the Women'sNet programme of activities has been developed to include:

• a comprehensive Internet training programme for women
• regional technical support centres in South Africa's nine provinces
• a program of women's information resource development
• a WWW clearinghouse of relevant information and tools
• a national launch of Women'sNet
• a base from which to support particular women's networking projects.

As an integral part of the Women'sNet initiative, CGE will act as a pilot user group and information provider by implementing aspects of its Programme of Action online, providing a model for other women's community networking initiatives.

Women'sNet will develop, manage and implement appropriate training programmes and ongoing support for women using ICTs, and define a strategy for creating a dynamic source of locally generated information and discussion on women's development in South Africa. This proposal broadly outlines the strategies for achieving the Women'sNet programme objectives.

Context

South Africa in Transition: Emerging Gender Equality Movement

Following the first democratic elections in the country's history, government and civil society in South Africa are grappling with the challenges of radically transforming South African society. Critical to this transformation is the constitutional obligation and political commitment to building a society based on gender equality. A great deal is happening to consolidate women's historic gains: the inclusion of sex equality provisions in the new Constitution; the South African government's ratification of CEDAW; participation in the Beijing Fourth World Conference on Women; and work on a Women's Empowerment Policy for the Reconstruction and Development Programme. A momentum has also been achieved in the establishment of national machinery to advance gender equality including: the Commission on Gender Equality, an Office on the Status of Women, and gender units which are being established in government departments at national, provincial and local government levels.

In civil society there is a corresponding resurgence in the development of sectoral and regional NGO networks focusing on gender equality. Beginning with a definition of a Women's Charter for Effective Equality by the Women's National Coalition in 1993, a more coordinated national women's movement is beginning to emerge.

This environment offers many new possibilities for public participation. Very real obstacles, however, hamper women's ability to strategically and effectively participate in developments concerning the advancement of gender equality. A national women's movement in South Africa is still in its infancy, and to a great extent, still divided by the legacies of apartheid. Newly elected legislators and policy makers in government, particularly at the provincial level, are isolated by a lack of access to information about developments in gender equality policy both inside South Africa and in other parts of the world. These islands of activity must be connected into a broader gender equality movement. This calls for information to be channelled effectively and continuously within a framework that also facilitates communication and interchange between the people and organisations working for gender equality.

Concurrent with the emerging gender equality movement, information technology in South Africa is becoming increasingly accessible and is being recognised as a fast, effective and affordable method of lobbying and monitoring as well as information exchange. Many more legislators, civil servants, NGOs and individuals have access to computers and phone lines and, as a result, to a powerful mobilising tool. Good communications software is readily available, and modems are becoming cheaper and of higher quality. Effectively coordinated and integrated with training in the use and practical application of the technology, an electronic information and communications network in the field of gender equality would greatly enhance the ability of South African women to act strategically and in a co-operative fashion. Being able to use information technology is an important source of empowerment and skills development for women who often feel isolated and disempowered by rapidly advancing technological change. Such a network would also provide a link with regional, continental and international networks.

Society SANGONeT, the Southern African Nongovernmental Organisation Network, has been providing electronic communication services to NGOs in South Africa since 1987 when it was first established as WorkNet. Since 1993 SANGONeT has focused on integrating the provision of an accessible and affordable electronic communications infrastructure with training and other capacity building activities, including the provision of useful information.

In 1994 SANGONeT became a full Internet service provider. This enabled easier access to international sources of information and immediately increased the size of the information pool users could access. At the same time the lower cost of modems and computers enabled more organisations in the development and social justice sectors to afford the necessary hardware. These factors gave rise to a dramatic increase in the number of Internet users in South Africa, and in the actual use made of the technology. A user survey conducted by SANGONeT in mid-1995 indicated that most users regarded electronic mail as an essential component of their communications systems and that at least 40% were using the network to retrieve information they needed in the course of their work.

To consolidate and extend these NGO networking trends, SANGONeT provides a range of services which include training, electronic publishing and online strategies consulting. SANGONeT has trained between 400 and 450 people in the past year and has created 36 World Wide Web sites. Extensive use is also being made of communications tools such as mailing lists and on-line discussion forums. As a result there is finally a visible impact in the levels of electronic information sharing, communications and collaboration among civil society organisations in South Africa.

From the outset SANGONeT earmarked gender and women's issues as a critical area for information development and linking of organisations. However, other than various projects around the Beijing World Conference on Women in 1995, and the campaign for the Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1996, our activities in this sector in South Africa have been limited. This is partly due to the fact that the women's movement is only beginning to discover the potential of the Internet for enhancing its efforts. The number of women with Internet accounts is increasing, and now there is a need for a project infrastructure development, mobilisation of women to use the Internet, and support to sustain women's networking and to bring more women online.

In 1996, SANGONeT was approached with the idea for a women's networking support initiative by women working closely with gender equality issues at the government and NGO levels. This was the initial impetus for the Women'sNet brainstorming workshop in June 1997. From that meeting, and after many subsequent consultations with individual women and NGOs, the current programme of activities emerged.

At the global level SANGONeT has been involved in supporting and expanding women's networking capacity through our international partner organisation, the APC (Association for Progressive Communications). The APC Women's Programme has been very active in building women's networking around the world by providing information sharing support for the Beijing conference as well as facilitating debates on gender and information technology. The programme has provided hundreds of women with technical skills training and has prioritised training of trainers. One such training workshop was hosted by SANGONeT in March 1996 for women working in networks and women's organisations in Africa.

To take advantage of these converging trends, in June 1997 SANGONeT convened a workshop of women from a wide range of gender equality-seeking groups to brainstorm what a "Women'sNet" could offer the women of South Africa. During two days of action and resource planning, the group came up with the following mission statement:

"Women'sNet is a project of SANGONeT and the Commission on Gender Equality. It aims to empower South African women to use information and communications technologies (ICTs) towards advancing women's equality. Women'sNet will be a dynamic source of locally generated information and discussion on gender issues. We will achieve this by:

• making this technology accessible to women, particularly those who have been historically disadvantaged
• providing responsive gender-sensitive training and support
• linking projects, people, tools and resources
• creating a platform for women's voices and issues
• facilitating the dissemination of information in formats accessible to women who are not directly linked to the Internet."

In consultation with South African women's groups, Women'sNet has prioritised the following objectives:

• Contribute to the development of a coordinated and strategic South African women's movement through the continual flow of relevant online and offline information to facilitate lobbying, information sharing, policy formulation, planning and strategising and coordinating action plans;
• Create a national information and communication forum which will broaden South African women's participation in the Southern African women's movement as well as the international women's movement;
• Build the capacity of civil society and government bodies to facilitate broader women's involvement in gender policy development and implementation as well as in the development of other policies of particular concern to women, e.g., health, welfare, rights, child care, education, basic conditions of employment, etc.;
• Develop and provide online access to documents that present a comprehensive overview of current and historic work in the field of gender equality advocacy in South Africa;
• Empower women through information technology skills development, including a programme of training in basic Internet tools and navigation, training of trainers, information management skills development, development of effective interactive online strategies, as well as developing capacity for linking to other means of communication;
• Distribute women's networking capacity by building a national pool of women trainers and local information resource and technical support people;
• Provide an online, accessible space where women can request and provide advice, support and information;
• Ensure that the development of information and communications technologies in South Africa is gender sensitive, and that women in civil society organisations, particularly NGOs and CBOs, are empowered to make use of this affordable, effective communication tool (Women'sNet will endeavour to work closely with bodies such as the Universal Service Agency, the Department of Communications and the National Information Technology Forum).

A critical aim of Women'sNet is to enhance the ability of both law and policy makers and civil society to impact on various political and decision making processes which seek to redress the unequal status of women in South African society. The initial target groups for this network would therefore be:

• gender specialists in legislatures, local and provincial government, government line departments and statutory bodies such as the CGE;
• people working on women's and gender issues in NGOs;
• membership-based women's organisations;
• women's studies departments and gender units in educational institutions;
• people working on women's issues at the community level.

Once the network has been established to the extent that a significant number of organisations working with women at the community level are participating, the target group will be expanded to include women in communities who could have direct access to the network through their relationships with NGOs and CBOs, e.g., resource centres, training centres, small and micro enterprise support groups, advice centres, health and reproductive rights services, child care support groups, etc.

The Commission on Gender Equality (CGE) has been involved in the planning of Women'sNet from the outset. CGE is committed to using Women'sNet to broaden South African women's participation in policy development, and to support the work of the women's community in achieving gender equality. The CGE plans to carry out key components of its 97/98 Programme of Action online, providing a model for other South African women's organisations to adapt in the elaboration of their own communication and collaboration strategies.

Communication: CGE sees Women'sNet as a potentially powerful communication tool. Through it the CGE will be able to not only communicate the work of the Commission, but also have access to an up-to-date overview of what's happening across the country in gender issues. To ensure wide dissemination and maximum utility, the information that CGE publishes on Women'sNet will be made available in a way that can be translated to other media - for example as a newsletter or a bulletin for community radio.

Research and Public Education: As part of its mandate, the CGE is tasked to carry out research and public education. Women'sNet is an obvious tool to conduct both activities. As part of the Women'sNet project, CGE will develop a website and explore ways in which the forum can be used to assist in particular research projects. Women'sNet itself will be a valuable research site not only for information on gender equality in South Africa but also as a gateway to information on gender issues in the region, the continent and the world. CGE staff will be trained in online information management and communications strategies. To make CGE information accessible, staff will learn to regularly digest relevant resources in a way this is useful to the women's community.

Empowerment: A key component of the Women'sNet project is to train women at the grassroots level to use the system. In line with the CGE's focus on the most marginalised groups, this training will not only build hard skills but also connect women on the ground to a network of information and people around the country, the region and possibly the world. To ensure the sustainability of this network training, an important objective of the Women'sNet project is to develop a pool of skilled women trainers. The CGE provincial offices will act as local role models and champions in practical approaches to online work and community collaboration.

The CGE approach to using online venues for engaging South African women in the advancement of gender equality will embody all of the aspects of the overall Women'sNet strategy: effective online mobilisation of key information, resources, people and tools.

Women'sNet Programme Of Activities

Over two years, Women'sNet will undertake a comprehensive programme of activities to meet the identified objectives:

• CGE Online Initiative: CGE will work closely with Women'sNet to develop its capacity to carry out its Programme of Action online, which will provide a model for other women's community networking initiatives.

• Training Programme: Critical to the successful adoption of ICTs by South African women is a complete programme of gender-sensitive training: introduction to Internet tools and navigation, online information management, Web site development, interactive online strategy development, training of trainers, technicians and support people.

• Women'sNet WWW Site: South African women are looking for a one-stop, practical and relevant, online interactive gender information and resource clearinghouse. Women'sNet will convene an information strategy team from the women's community to develop the site content, and will provide the technical infrastructure to host it.

• Strategic Information Resource Development: South Africa abounds with gender information resources. These need to be sourced, organised and made available centrally from the Women'sNet site in a friendly and accessible manner. This will be the principal task of the information strategy team. The June Women'sNet brainstorming workshop provided a strong initial basis on which to build this effort.

• National Support System: To succeed online, women need access to convenient and sensitive local training and ongoing technical and information navigation support. Women'sNet has prioritised the setting up of provincial women's networking resource centres.

• Women'sNet Launch: To capture and focus the enthusiasm of South African women for online collaboration, Women'sNet will plan a national launch of the service to demonstrate the capacity of the network to advance gender equality, and highlight the distributed support systems that women will be able to call upon as they begin working online.

• Evaluation: To ensure that Women'sNet continues to meet the needs of women in South Africa, programme goals and methods for measuring success will be established in the first stages of implementation. Internal and external evaluation will take place at regular intervals.

CGE Online Initiative

CGE's need to engage South African women in gender development and monitoring has motivated an interest in extending its communication methods to include the Internet. Like most South African women's organisations, CGE is new to using the online environment to do its work. However CGE understands the potential for timely and cost-effective consultation and interaction using the Internet. To demonstrate its commitment to using new technologies, CGE will participate as both a developer and end-user of the Women'sNet programme of activities. This will entail:

• establishing Women'sNet accounts for each of the CGE staff and provincial offices

• training all of the CGE staff and provincial representatives in using basic Internet communication and navigation tools

• developing a strategy and action plan for CGE to use the Internet to mobilise public participation in its Programme of Action

• developing the CGE website, which will include key CGE documents, links to relevant information resources, a "hotline" for gender equality reporting, tools for navigating the information in the site, interactive discussion forums and mechanisms for facilitating public input to key gender equality processes

• preparing the provincial CGE commissioners to be local champions of women's networking.

Training Programme

To minimise the gap between those who already have access to technology and to basic computer skills, and those who have been historically denied access to the same, a critical component of the Women'sNet project is to empower women through skills training to harness an important networking and information resource.

Skills training will focus on the technical skills necessary to use the electronic network as well as a basic introduction to information network development. It is envisaged that a Training Coordinator would develop curriculum and an implementation plan for a series of workshops, including:

• orientation to basic Internet tools (e-mail, WWW) and online navigation

• showing key information sources and gender equality advocates how to incorporate online activities into their overall communication and community development strategies

• training in online facilitation and helping groups and individuals collaborate effectively electronically using mailing lists and conferences

• workshops on running online lobbying and community mobilisation campaigns

• a training workshop for the Women'sNet information management team

• provincial workshops to launch the Women'sNet in provinces and provide electronic networking and skill development

• training of trainers workshops

• website development workshops

• maintenance and ongoing skill training on request.

Critical to the Women'sNet training programme is the understanding that any successful women's networking initiative must incorporate both online and traditional means of communication. Women'sNet will ensure that training addresses how to effectively link online information with print media, community meetings, radio and information dissemination methods.

In order to ensure a solid foundation from which to build Women'sNet, several core groups will be trained as part of the initial implementation of Women'sNet:

• CGE Commissioners

• Women'sNet Advisory Group

• Women'sNet Information Strategy Team

Through training, it is expected that the skilled use of electronic communication by these groups will provide a model for other women's organisations to learn from and adapt.

Women'sNet WWW Site

The Web site will be the online focal point of Women'sNet. It will be an interactive workspace that will include:

• new documents and information related to gender equality

• a facilitated programme for interactive monitoring of gender issues in government

• a national events calendar

• interactive workspaces (conferences and/or mailing lists) on particular issues or processes set up on an as-needed basis, which can be public or private

• participative policy forum

• directory information (the possibility of updating the Women's Organisations in South Africa Directory will be explored)

• contact mailing list

• links to other relevant African and international web sites

• feedback feature

• tools that will allow women to add their own information to the site

• profiles of how women are using the Internet in their work.

Initial site design and content development will be the responsibility of the Women'sNet Information Coordinator in collaboration with the Information Advisory Group.

Two principles will guide the presentation of information on Women'sNet: an emphasis on actively facilitated interactive communication and multimedia applications. An emphasis on interactive or participatory communication means that information is not left to tell its own story. Definitions and contextual commentary will help to locate the information. Information about how and where to make a submission to a parliamentary committee for example, would accompany a government gazette announcement inviting public submissions on a particular bill. A multimedia approach ensures that information on Women'sNet can be circulated in broader communication networks. As an example, continually updated information sites, like the calendar of events, would be formatted on-line in such a way that it could be reproduced effectively as a printed document. Information can also be edited and presented in a format that can be used by community radio stations in disseminating it using radio, the most accessible medium of communication in South Africa.

Strategic Information Resource Development

The Women'sNet WWW site will be a product of the South African women's community. The Women'sNet brainstorming workshop in June identified scores of resources that would be useful to have in one central place for women to use in the gender equality work. The Information Strategy Team will be tasked with developing a plan for sourcing and organising these resources. In most cases, women's groups themselves will be encouraged to learn to share their resources with Women'sNet, on a regular basis. Many will want to develop their own websites that will be accessible as links off of the main Women'sNet site. Effective presentation of resources on the site as it develops will be an ongoing concern, and a key component of the Women'sNet training programme. To achieve wider information utility, Women'sNet is committed to making its own online resources available in several languages, decided in relation to the local community needs.

National Support System

For Women'sNet to be a truly national and accessible initiative, it is committed to a decentralised system of training and support. For women to be able to easily access training and support on an ongoing basis, they need access to local women's networking resource centres. Women'sNet plans to collaborate with NGOs in each province to build a local women's networking presence where a regular schedule of training can be offered, as well as telephone and on-site support to women in the region.

Women'sNet resource people in each province will attend a comprehensive series of workshops that will cover the full range of women's networking support needs, including:

• overview of basic Internet tools and uses

• in-depth introduction to the Women'sNet site and plans for its ongoing development, as well as approaches to navigating it

• training in strategic applications that they can share with the local women's community

• basic technical trouble-shooting and user support

• in-depth training in how to train users to use Women'sNet and the Internet.

A discussion forum for Women'sNet resource people will be set up and active participation will be a requirement of the job. This workspace will be a place where Women'sNet staff can learn from each other, share experiences and solutions, ask questions, develop support strategies and plans and generally keep each other up to date on their work. The resource people will be supported by SANGONeT's user support, WWW, technical and program staff on an as-needed basis.

Concurrent with setting up local resource centres, as a tool to form the basis of ongoing training and introduction to electronic networking on gender equality, a reference manual will also be developed. The APC Women's Programme is in the process of developing gender-sensitive electronic networking materials development criteria and Women'sNet plans to adapt and draw on this material in developing a Women'sNet resource manual. The manual will focus on both the conceptual skills required in using, building and finding information on the Internet as well as 'how to' use the necessary software and hardware. It is expected that Women'sNet provincial support people will also develop their own support resources in response to particular local needs, e.g., reference sheets on online information available on particular topics, connection instructions that address local conditions, etc.

Women'sNet training and reference resources will be made available in several languages, corresponding to demand in the local community.

Women'sNet Launch

In order to begin the process of showing South African women the potential contribution of the Internet to gender equality, as part of its larger, ongoing promotion strategy, Women'sNet will stage a national programme launch on International Women's Day (March 8, 1998) that will highlight all aspects of the initiative: connecting, training, the local support centres, and the WWW site and its contents. Women'sNet has strategically timed the launch to coincide with a key women's movement process to demonstrate how the Internet can be used to enhance public participation. The concept for the launch is to plan a day of online interaction on a particular issue, process or event, determined in consultation with the Women'sNet Advisory Group. An example of an appropriate event would be the launching of a public consultation on a particular issue. For example, the South African Department of Justice is hosting a high-level African conference on the issue of violence against women to monitor implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action, which could have an online participation component built in. The launch day will have representatives of women's NGOs and government bodies connecting and interacting from all nine provinces. The online process for participating in the consultation will be presented, e.g., ongoing interaction on a mailing list set in the lead-up or follow-up to the consultation, coupled with relevant background information and related resources on the Women'sNet website. The launch will be an excellent opportunity for highlighting the use of ICTs for women's empowerment, and will play a significant role in developing the Women'sNet user base. Launch planning will include a full media strategy so that attention is brought to women's networking issues in each of the provinces. The basic Women'sNet staffing and support infrastructure will be in place before the launch takes place so that public enthusiasm for women's networking can be sustained afterwards.

Evaluation

How will we know if Women'sNet is meeting its objectives, and playing a useful role in advancing gender equality in South Africa? From the outset, Women'sNet will determine indicators of success and evaluation criteria. Evaluation and monitoring systems will be both qualitative and quantitative. Programme indicators and measurement tools will include:

• number of women using Women'sNet

• number of women participating in online discussion groups

• effects of online consultations and strategies on particular processes, issues or events volume of information available in Women'sNet site

• number and variety of sources of information contributing to Women'sNet site

• survey of Women'sNet users

• feedback mechanism available to Women'sNet users on an ongoing basis

• training and support evaluations

• full external evaluation of Women'sNet programme each year.

The Women'sNet Advisory Group will play a key role in determining Women'sNet's relevance to the larger community of South African women. The Advisory Group will be involved in formulating the strategic direction and implementation plan for Women'sNet. By their very constitution as representatives of a diverse range of women's issues and bodies, the guidance provided by the Advisory Group will necessarily reflect the needs of South African women's constituencies. As direct liaisons to the community of Women'sNet users, the Advisory Group will be a conduit for feedback on the success of Women'sNet.

Women'sNet will engage the services of professional evaluators to set up and carry out programme evaluation.

Project Management And Governance

The national Women'sNet project will be coordinated by SANGONeT and housed and administered in the SANGONeT offices in Johannesburg. Women'sNet will build relationships with an organisation in each province to house the regional representatives. One support person will be hired in each province to act as an 'onsite' accessible point of contact and assistance for women participating in the project, for training and technical troubleshooting. It is expected that as a result of the national training and support framework forming the base of the Women'sNet initiative, the regional capacity for women's networking will expand beyond the initial Women'sNet support people.

The project will be governed and informed by a broad consultative process which will include:

• governance by an Advisory Group which will include representatives from government, national and provincial parliaments and local government; NGOs; media practitioners and information and resource specialists;

• an Information Strategy Team, a subset of the Advisory Board, which will have a particular focus on sourcing and feeding information to the central coordinating body;

• additional working groups and consultations convened on an as-needed basis, to focus on particular facets of the initiative, e.g., promotion and media strategy, national training and support, sector networking plans, involving young women, ensuring rural relevance, etc.

• close liaison with the APC Women's Programme.

Women'sNet Executive Committee

Anriette Esterhuysen, Executive Director, SANGONeT

Colleen Lowe Morna, Commission on Gender Equality/Commonwealth Secretariat

Women'sNet Advisory Group

Alice Coetzee, South Africa Local Government Association

Tumika Daima, Women's National Coalition

Sharron Marco Thyse, Women on Farms Project

Jennifer Radloff, African Gender Institute

Petho Serote, GETNET

Ferial Haffajee, Mail and Guardian

Shireen Hassim, Human Sciences Research Council

Ann Marrian, Agenda

COSATU representative (still being determined)

Bongi Mkhabela, NGO Liaison, Deputy President's Office

Information Strategy Team

Jennifer Radloff, African Gender Institute (Convenor)

Maya Kirkhope, Centre for Higher Education Transformation

Charmaine Fortuin, GETNET

Meryl Federl, Women's Health Project

CGE staffperson (currently being hired)

Lou Haysom, Agenda

Lydia Levine, InfoNation

Farahnaaz Safodien, Women and Human Rights Documentation Centre

Ann Tothill, Human Sciences Research Council

Ruth Ochieng, ISIS-WICCE - Kampala, Uganda

These last four women will be playing a role in building women's networking initiatives beyond South Africa.

Jean Mandewo, Zimbabwe Women's Resource Centre - Harare, Zimbabwe

Marie-Helene Mottin Sylla, ENDA SYNFEV - Dakar, Senegal

Muthoni Muriu (Mo), ENDA - Dakar, Senegal

Management and Staff

By locating Women'sNet within SANGONeT, the project will benefit from the skills, experience and proximity of SANGONeT's existing technical, training and information staff. Women'sNet itself will be staffed by three full-time staff - Project Coordinator, Information Coordinator and Training Coordinator - and nine part-time Regional Support staff, one based in each province.

Day-to-day management will be the responsibility of the Project Coordinator. She will be supported by the Women'sNet Executive Committee consisting of the SANGONeT Executive Director and the Commission on Gender Equality CEO. As a project of SANGONeT, the Women'sNet project will be overseen by SANGONeT's board of directors. A representative of the Women'sNet Advisory Group will be appointed to the SANGONeT board of directors.

To ensure project transparency, all of the identified Women'sNet bodies will be in regular communication via mailing lists and conferences on SANGONeT.

Expected Results

The Women'sNet initiative expects to achieve numerous concrete outcomes, including:

• increased capacity for South African women's organizations to use the Internet in their gender equality work

• national Internet training and support program for South African women

• pool of women trainers and technical trouble-shooters

• gender-sensitive reference manual and support resources in multiple languages

• online gender equality information clearinghouse (Women'sNet Web site) relevant to South African women

• facilitated discussion forums on particular gender issues of concern

• CGE Web site

• increased capacity for South African women to participate in the development of ICT policy and programs

• model applications of Internet communications strategies by specific women's organizations, to be used and/or adapted by other organisations

During the course of the Women'sNet project various satellite project outlines will be developed and implemented in close co-operation with Women'sNet. It is anticipated that these projects will involve working with defined constituencies, that they will be developed and in partnership with other organisations such as the Commission on Gender Equity, the National Land Committee, the National NGO Coalition, Women's Health Project and others. Examples of such projects are:

• Networking women in government

• Networking women health workers

• Women and small business development information support

• Networking women media workers

• Networking women youth workers etc.

Beneficiaries

• Direct beneficiaries of this project are the women and organizations working for gender equality in South Africa.

• In particular, CGE will benefit from participating in the pilot initiative, and using the Internet to implement its Programme of Action and to engage South African women in gender equality issues.

• Women in each province will benefit by having access to local support people and a "walk-in" access centre.

• The communities that host the regional support staff will benefit from the development of local expertise in Internet use, training, technical support and communications strategy development. Women trained in Internet skills will be able to offer new services and stimulate the local economy.

• Women with Internet access will be able to participate in gender equality advancement and monitoring efforts electronically, and will have access to a central clearinghouse of relevant information. It is expected that these women will make links to women without Internet access, thereby furthering the benefits.

• The women who are trained in various Internet skills will have gained an extremely marketable skill.

• The global women's movement will benefit from closer interaction with Women'sNet users.

• SANGONeT will benefit from establishing a national support infrastructure, and by building a strong and supportive relationship with the South African women's movement.

• Emerging women's networking initiatives across Africa will benefit from the Women'sNet experience.

Conclusion

The setting up of a South African Women'sNet will significantly enhance the functioning of a coordinated and strategic national gender equality movement. It will not only aid women in terms of providing current and reliable information on gender equality developments but it will also encourage the development of electronic networking skills and a corresponding connectivity to a much broader information network. Women's access to information and technology has historically been marginal. Harnessing the power of both is a critical step in developing a genuine culture of gender equality.