Page 156 - ITU-T Focus Group Digital Financial Services – Executive Summary

1 Introduction

1.1 Background

Since the inception of their joint campaign in 2011, ITU and Telecentre Foundation (TCF) have been
promoting digital literacy for women and girls. Despite the fact that the Digital Literacy Campaign was
44
launched before the setting of the Sustainable Development Goals, it still able to effectively cater to SDG5
which specifically calls for enhancing the use of enabling technology, in particular information and
communications technology, to promote the empowerment of women (target 5B).

1.2 Challenge and response
As is observed in target 5B of the Sustainable Development Goals, ICTs potential as a tool for the promoting
of gender equality and the empowerment of women is well recognized. However, a certain gender divide is
still noted as women still have limited access to technology when compared to men. If this gender divide
persists, there remains a risk this may exacerbate the existing inequalities.
In line with the above, ITU’s and TCF’s Digital Literacy Campaign intends to expand on the gender dimensions
of ICTs while improving its access and use for women and creating capacity building opportunities. This is
expected to boost employment for women and in the process serve as a powerful catalyst for social
empowerment and promote gender equality.

2 The Project

2.1 Vision and Implementation

As mentioned, the Digital Literacy Campaign launched by ITU and TCF is a global campaign which aims to
empower women by making them digitally literate. The required digital literacy training provided through
this campaign creates the required channels for the acquisition of necessary skills needed to operate in a
broadband environment, including financial literacy skills, as well as career training and ICT-enabled career
training. Thus, these trainings empower women and enable them to set up online businesses or enhance
their livelihood and economic activity using other forms of ICTs.
For the purpose of this campaign, a range of training materials to promote women’s digital literacy and the
use of ICTs to promote women’s economic activities have been developed.
The Digital Literacy Campaign is supported by a global network of partners in approximately 86 countries
worldwide. This campaign includes women from different regions and also facilitates access to information
and training and offers a world of new opportunities through technologies which were unavailable to them
before.

2.2 Outcomes
The Digital Literacy Campaign is known to have served and trained 1.3 million women. What sets this
campaign apart from the other gender equality campaigns is that it has a curriculum focusing exclusively on
the honing of digital and e-business/e-commerce skills for women, thereby allowing them to practically utilize
their knowledge after receiving the training.

____________________

44 Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.

152 U4SSC series