This document summarizes the proceedings of a 2-day workshop on integrating gender perspectives in the pedagogical use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in Dakar, Senegal. Participants included researchers from the PanAf project and resource persons with expertise in gender and ICT issues. Discussions focused on selecting topics for scholarly publications, reviewing gender-disaggregated project data, and developing a calendar and mentorship plan to guide publication of research articles on gender and ICTs in Africa. The workshop aimed to spur collaborative work among participants on analyzing existing data from a gender lens and publishing the findings.

1. WORKSHOP ON THE PEDAGOGICAL INTEGRATION OF ICTS: GENDER
PERSPECTIVES- DAKAR, APRIL 27-28, 2010
PARTICIPANTS
Panaf Researchers Resource Persons
Hariet Kidombo Nancy Hafkin
Mohamed Maiga Djénèba Traore
Judith Meno Moses Mbangwana
Claire Ndangle Haoua Kone
Alice Ndidde Thierry Karsenti
Yaba Tamboura Kafui Dansou
Diouf Alioune
Habib Camera
On the27th of April the workshop began with self introduction by all the participants.
This was followed by a welcome address from Alioune Camera who spoke about the
necessity for scientific publication of the PanAf data in the observatory. Gender
Perspectives, is also to give priority to publication. He said he was happy and we are
very lucky to have Dr. Nancy Hafkins who is a good reference on gender and ICT issues,
and who is also a scientific committee member. She was also one of the evaluators of the
ACACIA program where some weaknesses were realized as far as gender issues are
concerned. He went ahead to thank Nancy for her commitment to PanAf especially with
the expertise that she gives us in a very generous manner. The idea of forming a group to
deal with gender was conceived during the workshop in April 2009 where the PanAf
researchers came to share their country reports for the first phase of the project. He
emphasized that this workshop should be taken seriously.
Prof Thierry Karsenti took the floor to thank everyone for coming. He laid emphasis on
the fact that the participants will be working on scientific publications. He announced that
a special issue on ICTs and Gender in Africa will be published in the International
Journal of Development in Africa where articles will be peer reviewed.
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2. Pr Djeneba Traore also thanked everyone for coming. She also laid emphasis on the
importance of gender and women’s issues in Africa. She wished everyone a nice
workshop and hoped that educational issues in Africa will be ameliorated.
Dr Nancy Hafkin thanked Alioune Camera and IDRC. She said ICTs is unique, and
others have not entered the field.
The workshop objectives were presented by Prof Thierry Karsenti who said that the idea
was to get an abstract and select a topic to write on. It is the first time to do something on
gender so it will be interesting. This will be done for twelve months, after which the
results will be published.
Next was a presentation by Prof. Dr. Djénéba Traoré who gave an overview of the
concept of gender and ‘Gender and ICTs’ approach of ERNWACA. This was followed
by the presentation from Nancy on Trends in ICTs in Africa in 2010. She spoke about the
number and level of women in ICT jobs; why women avoid ICT fields; women as ICT
entrepreneurs; outsourcing and teleworking. She laid emphasis on gender and ICTs for
development and social issues like ICTs and violence against women, trafficking,
pornography, domestic violence, access issues, utilization issues, ICTs and women’s
voice. It is important to research on this to ensure the inclusion of women in all aspects of
ICTs.
Haoua Kone also took the floor and did a presentation on the experience of a discussion
group in Burkina Faso. This group which deals with gender and ICTs in Burkina Faso is
called Dgroup which means dialogue group for development. It is a group moderated to
unite people. Discussion is closed (must pass through a moderator) and open (direct
discussion). The moderator who plays an important role has to be patient, understanding,
tolerant, and receive private messages.
Wednesday 28th April 2010
Pr Karsenti introduced the plan of the day. PanAf researchers had to choose topics for
articles make their plans and present for commentaries. This was to orientate the
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3. researchers for further publications. The data in the observatory would be of great help
write good articles.
Kafui Dansou, reviewed the gender-desegregated data of the observatory concerning
gender. She proposed that researchers could go back to the raw data on interviews with
focus groups if the data is not sufficient. Dr Nancy Hafkin also emphasized that the idea
is to separate gender as a category and examine a given phenomenon to see if the results
are different for men or women. She gave some preliminary ideas and their indicators to
guide the researchers. She spoke about data analysis in gender-related research. The
qualitative method can help.
Workshop members worked on their topics and presented their proposed outline for
discussion. Each participant had to work on two topics.
Conclusion
The workshop attempted a brief gender analysis of some of the data collected under the
Panaf project. The general indicators and the specific gender category were reviewed.
Workshop members worked on their topics and presented them for discussion.
Suggestions to assist the researchers include the following:
• Follow-up and supervision. Dramane should make a list of the researchers and
create a network where they will share with others.
• Organise programs to follow up researchers for early publication.
• Deadlines should be made to encourage work.
• Follow up should be done at a distance
• Workshop in autumn to see how far we have gone
• Will also meet and discuss during e-learning
• The need for mentors and calendar of activities
• Research questions to be shared with everybody because one way to learn is to
read from others.
The next was sharing of some field experiences by all the Panaf researchers. This was
followed by drawing of a calendar and steps to follow by Prof Thierry Karsenti and
participants begin putting in place of a list of participants by Dramane by the 30 th of
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4. April. A mentor list was also put in place. These were: Prof. Dr. Djénéba, Dr Nancy, Prof
Mbangwana Moses, Toby Harper, and Prof Thierry Karsenti.
Closing Remarks
Nancy gave a summary of all what was done during the workshop. Djénéba thanked all
for coming especially Alioune Camera from IDRC, Thierry Karsenti and all who
contributed in one way or the other to the success of the workshop. She also thanked
Nancy for the role she played during the workshop. She thanked Kafui for the excellent
job she is doing and wished her good luck for her thesis. She thanked Hauoa for her
presentation, Moses, and Dramane though absent, and the interpreters. She emphasized
on the efficient use of the calendar. Proposals and questions should be shared with
everyone.
Thierry also thanked Djeneba for her sacrifice and wished everyone a safe journey.
Annexes
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