AAW Reflection on the situation, outcomes and actions and developing indicators
From Harambee Wiki
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Background Information on the Focus Network
"Tell me about your network. What does it work to do? Who are the members? What is your role?":
- Jenny is based in Capetown, South Africa
- working for APC since March 2002 when she took over coordination of APC-Africa-Women (AAW)
- AAW is the African regional network of the women's program of APC (APC WNSP). AAW had its first official activity in 1996.
- AAW has grown from a small and intimate network of 18-20 women members all interested and/or involved in empowering women and the women's movement through the strategic use of ICTs; now membership exceeds 70 members both institutional and individual
- Sylive Niombo joined as AAW Co-cordinator 3 months ago to meet an increased need in support of the network; speaks English and French and brings different energies and skills to the network; and she based in Congo, Brazzaville and brings knowledge of the gender and ICT policy environment in francophone Africa
- Silvie will be working more closely with the network and network members and Jenny will focus on the projects supported by AAW, such as Harambee.
- AAW works in areas from policy and advocacy, skills development, supporting women's org using ICTs for strategic planning, FOSS for women, wireless, research and evaluation etc.
- information facilitation; facilitates mailing lists which serve as platforms for dialogue (both ongoing or related to an AAW project)
- are in the process of redesigning the webspace to create a portal for women and ICTs; intended for women to share what they do; working to create a more diverse space
- hard to differentiate between what the network does and what Silvie and Jenny do; activities that are undertaken are in the name of AAW
- an example of an activity undertaken by the network is the hosting of the women's electronic network training every two years - known as WENT Africa
- members are individuals and organsiations mostly from anglophone Africa though expending to french and lusophone africa
- activist organisations who include media and ICTs as part of their work ie. WOUGNET, Women'sNet
- individuals who work in organisations who work to support women and ICTs
- individuals who are consultants or work outside of the NGO environment
- Jenny full-time coordinator; Silvie part-time co-coordinator
- Jenny's role includes making sure that the projects are being implemented, fundraising, accountability, report writing and looking after the network; at the moment, mostly it is taking responsibility for the projects
- still working out the division of work between the coordinators
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"In one sentence, describe your pilot activity"
- to catalyze member involvement in AAW network
- to facilitate members interacting with each other and contributing more to the network
- to get a better understanding of members' skills and needs to support the network and each other
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Question 1 - Situation
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1a. What do I think are the salient features of the situation that I face?
The unknown meaning of membership and why people join
- AAW has been around for awhile, unique in that there is no other pan African network that works with women and ICTs and which encourages the women's movement to use ICT
- there is a strong demand for membership but there is little understanding of what that demand is and why there is interest
- women are joining all the time but membership doesn't have much meaning
Busy Women
- women are incredibly busy; responsibilities have to be to their organisations first before the network
- don't have much time to invest in activities beyond their organisations and AAW has to make contributing to the network attractive and meaningful
Lack of understanding of existing skills
- enormous demand for capacity building but little acknowledge re the skills that exist within the network and among members
- no way of knowing what capacities exist
Lack of regular f2f meetings/workshops
- members don't meet regularly; a few members might meet f2f at an event ie. a couple of years ago in uganda, 10 members met f2f
- dream of having a f2f meeting with all members but the costs are too high
- need to use ICTs effectively as meeting spaces
- we have had online meetings but these are hard work to prepare and don't have a high involvement from members, could try this again
Keen to use ICTs but diversity in access
- members are already using ICTs
- have to use online interaction effectively especially because of the lack of f2f
- wide range of discrepencies between the members in terms of their access to ICTs
- want to use ICTs to facilitate the interactivity while we are implementing Harambee, such as blogs, email, skype, mailing lists, recording interviews etc
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1b. Why do I think those are the salient features?
- these features, along with the growth of the network, make the space less intimate and comfortable for members
- understanding what skills exist in the network may lead to members working together and supporting each other
- lack of f2f makes it more difficult for members to get to know each other
- not knowing why people want to join the network makes it difficult to facilitate and accommodate members
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Question 2 - Outcomes
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2a. What outcomes do I think are desirable in this situation?
- an online database that has data representing skills, capacities and contact information; this would include info on what they can offer to the network and areas that they would like to develop ie. SIYANDA.org in UK; part of the website is a database of people involved in various aspects of gender; useful resources to find people; want ours to be something similar
- membership is more meaningful
- the network is more attractive and worthwhile
- the network is vibrant, viable, inclusive, responsive and interactive i.e. more member involvement on the list and the AAW webspace which will be up in the next 2-3 months
- network members who realise that there are skills within other orgasations that they can tap into
- members knowing that each other exists and the capacities that they hold (and that they can call on each other not just AAW/APC)
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2b. Why do I think those outcomes are desirable in this situation?
- with its growth the network isn't as comfortable as a space at it used to be; need to find ways that can help animate the space
- the database could be a useful place for people to promote themselves beyond just the network
- AAW would like a better sense of its membership and its skills but this would also serve the networks knowing more about themselves;
- want to be able to promote network beyond its borders to show that there are lots of talented woemn using ICTs
- AAW needs to be able to articulate what it can offer otherwise it is difficult to know how to accomodate and facilitate the space
- a flat structure may mean a more sustainable and viable network ie. one in which everyone feels they have something to offer would strengthen the network
- people who know each other better and the skills that they possess are more likely to working together on projects (peer-to-peer) in a way that AAW doesn't have to initiate projects; this leads to a more dynamic network
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Question 3 - Actions
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3a. What actions do I expect to lead to those outcomes in that situation?
- developing an ActionApps database (to be filled in by members or AAW coordinators if needed) and interface from AAW website
- interviewing members - what they do, what they are achieving and what they get out of using ICTs
- collecting stories for dissemination; what are the needs in terms of skills development
- share information via website "stories of ICT champion" or mailing list (could be similar to the recent exchange on km4dev as a means to get to know members)
- possibly re-introduce the newsletter, PULA
- look for opportunities to piggy-back other f2f events
- use ICTs in action ie. skype (some audio) to see the quality with what one gets, blogging?
- find additional resources ie. Angela to help with interviews
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3b. Why do I think those actions will lead to those outcomes in that situation?
- sharing information on the members will help them get to know each other better
- useful to involve other members in the interview process especially to manage the workload and to help them getting to know each other
- like the combination of hard data and qualitative stuff from interviews
- don't know of another way of doing this other than bringing people together f2f for 8 days
- integration of using the tools adds value
