Training for Trainers and Evaluation Forum for ASEAN-ROK Cooperation Project, titled ‘Development and Delivery of Livelihood-Based e-Service for ASEAN Women’ were held in Jakarta, Indonesia from March 30^th to April 2^nd, 2015. Asia Pacific Women’s Information Network Center (APWINC) of Sookmyung Women’s University (SMU), Korea, and Ministry of Women Empowerment and Child Protection (MoWE-CP), Indonesia co-hosted those events. The two events aimed for 1) strengthening e-Service capacity of public officials and NGO leaders who are closely working with Indonesian local women; 2) promoting ASEAN e-Service Toolkit and newly launched ‘e-Daman’ service; and 3) sharing outcomes of the project and suggestions for improving ASEAN women’s e-Service usage.

Prior to holding the Training of Trainers and Evaluation Forum, APWINC developed and distributed ASEAN e-Service Toolkit ( http://wp.women.or.kr/), a set of program tools for website construction and its management by using open source software. In collaboration with MoWE-CP, APWINC also successfully applied this Toolkit by creating ‘e-Daman’ service which is an online reporting service to assist Indonesia women, especially victims of sexual and domestic violence.

During the three days of Training of Trainers, 30 of public officials, NGO leaders and local telecenter operators of Indonesia actively participated in the event and as a result, enhanced their e-Service usage capacity through lectures, workshop, and ICT practices. The participants focused on learning the usage of ‘e-Daman’ in order to disseminate this service to local women and train them to use the service effectively.

“It was my great pleasure to be part of the training and the forum. I was very interested in learning many functions and programs in the toolkit. The ASEAN e-Service toolkit will surely be beneficial not just for public institutions but also for the female owners of SME industries that rarely have accessibility for ICT platforms.” said the participants, Ms. Martha Simanjuntak from Indonesia Women IT Awareness.

In the Evaluation Forum, key project partners from ASEAN Secretariat, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Korea, ITU, local researchers from the ASEAN countries, and 50 of general audiences shared their opinions and reaffirmed the significance of e-Service for ASEAN women. Particulary, Ms. Aurora A. Rubio, Head of ITU Area Office for South East Asia mentioned on her Keynote Speech, that projects such as this APWINC project to develop and deliver livelihood-based e-services will contribute to empowering young girls and women to participate in the growing field of ICTs and explore these new opportunities.

For more information, please visit our project website http://asean.women.or.kr/.

* APWINC was established in November 1996 at Sookmyung Women’s University to promote gender equality and to empower women’s potential skills in the field of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Asia and Pacific Region. APWINC has been designated as an Institution for UNESCO Chair in Communication Technology for Women since 1998. Thereafter, the Center continues to make various efforts for women in areas of research, field survey, and training, as well as educational conferences, workshops and seminars in the realm of gender and ICT, collaborating with international organizations, government organizations and NGOs.