Publication: For Women, By Women, With Women: Bridging the Gender Digital Divide
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2022
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2022
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Across Africa, rising mobile phone penetration, improving broadband Internet, and growing use of mobile money are creating new opportunities for governments, businesses, and individuals. While Africa’s digital revolution has been impressive, the continent has further to go to close gender digital divide. Four hundred million women in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) remain unconnected. The COVID-19 pandemic has further disproportionately impacted women’s livelihoods and further exacerbated the digital gender divide. Digital technologies can and have played a key role in mitigating the economic effects of the crisis. This inequality is exacerbated in communities affected by fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV), where women often face greater safety and security concerns, significant mobility constraints, and restrictive sociocultural norms. This report provides practical recommendations for designing and implementing digital literacy training programs aimed at closing the gender digital divide. The World Bank, in partnership with the EQUALS Global Coalition and the GSM Association, piloted the implementation of digital skills programs across Uganda, Nigeria, and Rwanda. The report draws on insights from these three training pilots. Through a case study analysis, the report highlights the unique approach to training design, delivery, monitoring, and evaluation which were adopted by each pilot, and presents respective outcomes and lessons learned. After reviewing pilot findings through case study analysis, the report provides operational recommendations on designing and implementing gender-inclusive digital literacy program.
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“World Bank Group. 2022. For Women, By Women, With Women: Bridging the Gender Digital Divide. © World Bank Group. http://hdl.handle.net/10986/38305 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”
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