Building Resilient Communities through Empowering Women with Information and Communication Technologies: A Pakistan Case Study

"In developing nations, especially in rural regions, women empowered with information and communication technologies can enhance their capacity to cope in diverse situations."

This paper is an attempt to demonstrate the role of information and communication technology (ICT) in sustainable development through empowering women, and hence enhancing community resiliency in terms of the ability to cope with disasters. The authors: describe the meaning of ICT and issues around "haves" and "have-nots" in regard to ICT; analyse the Community Technology Learning Centers (CTLC), a project commissioned by the Government of Pakistan to empower marginalised rural women in 16 districts of the country, and the impact of the project; and compares the CTLC project with a similar intervention initiated in Uganda. "With the emergence of ICT, there is now a strong correlation in the quest for an inclusive and equitable information society and the effort to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)."

The CTLC project aimed to do the following for its female participants: impart quality ICT training in labs equipped with "state of the art facilities"; reduce the digital divide and lessen the gender disparity; inculcate life skills among women allowing them to acquire marketable skills; and enable underserved women to avail ICT opportunities for decent livelihoods. For the purpose of sustainability and accounting for the needs of rural women, the curriculum was taught by local women trained as master trainers. While imparting basic digital skills, the master trainers were also engaged in various activities to inculcate necessary life and employment skills among the participants. After completing the course, the women received training in data transcription and were engaged in a data entry project, which not only provided them with an opportunity to earn a decent livelihood, but also offered a chance to put their skills to practice. The CTLC project also imparted training to the female school teachers of the local governments. In 3 years, over 2,500 women were trained.

A follow-up study was conducted by the first author of this paper to assess the impact of the intervention. The data was collected through 2 structured questionnaires during 2006 and analysed in 2009. Selected findings:

• About 87% respondents agreed that they got their work opportunities due to the ICT training they had received.
• Parents/relatives/friends of graduates were asked whether they had observed any change in the amount of knowledge and information held by their daughter/sister/friend after training; 73% agreed to high-very high increase in knowledge and information.
• With regard to life skills, 83% CTLC graduates agreed that they significantly improved their lives.
• With regard to self-confidence, self-reliance, self-esteem, and their vision of the future after the training, about 40% responses from the parents/relatives/friends of the participating women suggested "very high" level of positive change, and 47% said "high".
• With regard to capacity or ability improvement, the majority (88%) of parents/relatives/friends of the participating women said that they had observed "a lot of change".
• In the context of awareness and sensitivity, parents/relatives/friends were asked whether they observed any change in their daughter/sister/friend after the training. About 81% said that she was more conscious and sensitive to her rights.
• Participating women were asked whether they would be allowed by their parents/husband/guardian to move to another town to avail a job opportunity. Only 17% said that they would accept the job offer in another city, while 28% indicated that they would accept the job but could not move to another city, and 55% said that they would accept the job offer but they would not be allowed to move to another city alone. Contrary to other variables, this finding suggests that women were not able to significantly break the physical impediments, primarily due to socio-cultural constraints.

The authors of the paper next compare the CTLC project in Pakistan with a CD-ROM project entitled "Rural Women in Africa: Ideas for Earning Money", which was developed as part of the national policy agenda and was made a governmental priority in Uganda. Both the projects adopted an approach the authors call "women in development", indicating that empowerment of women is imperative to sustainable development and disaster preparedness. Neither CTLC project nor the CD-ROM project questioned the sources or nature of women's subordination and oppression, while accepting existing social structure in a society. Differences between the two projects are outlined.

In conclusion, "[t]he impact assessment of CTLC project suggests that rural women are keen to acquire innovative digital technology skills and significantly improve their lives. Women who participated in the CTLC project...have therefore expanded their socioeconomic, physical and political spaces, realized their potential, and hence become more resilient. By utilizing the acquired ICT skills, they are improving their family lives. To help driving empowerment process, they have become multipliers by imparting ICT skills to other women in their communities."