Narrowing the digital gender divide with BOSCO Uganda

Project status: Closed

Country: Uganda

Partner: BOSCO Uganda

Impact goal: 600 women and elderly

About the project

BOSCO Uganda will narrow the digital gender gap by providing digital literacy training, online safety, and security to women and elderly at 3 selected ICT centers. The training will provide the women with knowledge that they will be able to share further, thereby encouraging and increasing women's participation.

Results

Through this project, women and elderly people were trained on digital literacy, online safety and security at four different already established communities /ICT Centres i.e. Pabbo ICT Centre, God’s Mercy ICT Centre Purongo, Bardege ICT Centre Gulu and Divine Mercy ICT Centre Agago. These women are business people, teachers, students, farmers and housewives aged between 15 years to 50 years old.

The training on digital literacy and online safety and security got an introduction to computers, understanding the keyboard, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint, and Microsoft Publisher, introduction to the internet. The training also included online information gathering, email communication, productive use of social media, introduction to digital security, password management, how to prevent phishing, secure online communication, secure browsing, how to tackle cyber harassment and online Gender Based Violence (GBV).

Most of these women had a phobia for computers, it was evident during the training that some of them could be seen shivering when told to press a key or hold a mouse but by the end of the training, the fear had stopped and they felt confident.

Testaments

Adyero Nancy from God’s Mercy ICT Centre Purongo gained confidence in typing, photocopying, printing, and designing cards and is now supporting the husband in their electronic shop to perform those activities for their clients.

Through the ICT knowledge I acquired from the training, I am now able to carry out extensive research at school which has improved my performance in class as you are aware our new curriculum requires students to carry out research, especially over the internet. Says Acan Florence from God’s Mercy CT Centre Purongo.

Apiyo Flavia from God’s Mercy ICT Centre was able to get a job in a supermarket after the training. She said “When I sat my senior four exams, I remained home since there was no money to further my studies, my uncle in Gulu one day called me and asked whether I could use a computer as there was a job opening at one of the biggest supermarkets in Gulu and he wanted to link me up, unfortunately, I didn’t know how to use a computer then. It took about three months then I landed on a training opportunity being offered by BOSCO Uganda, I immediately enrolled and after the training, I got the job at the supermarket as I had wanted.”

“After being trained by BOSCO Uganda on the computer, I applied for a job in one of the farms around and I was able to pass the interview because of the computer knowledge and right now I am a computerized track driver,” says Akello Jackline from God’s Mercy ICT Center

The women trained from God’s Mercy ICT Center Purongo and Divine Mercy ICT Centre Patongo have started a Village Saving and Loan Association (VSLA) group where they come together once a week to save the little money they have got in the week and disburse it after one year to support their various activities or open up businesses but in between members are allowed to borrow and return it with little interest. The VSLA is attracting other stakeholders to offer support to these women. For example, at God’s Mercy ICT Centre, the agricultural office got interested and offered training on agriculture to them. This training is very critical because agriculture is the main key activity in the area.

Challenges

It was not very easy to reach the target number of women in the predefined time frame due to a number of challenges ranging from cultural norms, lack of enough equipment and balancing school time and computer training.

About the partner

Battery Operated System for Community Outreach (BOSCO) is a non-profit organization in northern Uganda. The organization was formed in 2007 as an intervention to end the isolation of people in the Internally Displaced People’s camps of northern Uganda. The organization realizes its vision of ‘open and peaceful rural communities ready to face the challenges and opportunities of the globalized world in the 21st Century’ by providing innovative ICT solutions that foster socio-economic development and peace-building in the rural communities of northern Uganda.

Visit their website here to learn more about them.