African Information Society Gender Working Group (AIS-GWG): Formed in 1999, AIS-GWG “aims to ensure that African women participate fully in the development of an information society and share equitably in the potential benefits of information and communication technologies” (www.impactafrica.org).

Association pour le Soutien et l’Appui à la Femme Entrepreneur (ASAFE): ASAFE, a non-governmental organization based in Cameroon, has provided support to women entrepreneurs since 1989. ASAFE recently expanded its services to include initiatives in electronic commerce (www.asafe.org).

Environment and Development in the Third World — Synergy Gender and Development (ENDA-SYNFEV): The “Communication for Women” programme of ENDA-SYNFEV aims to strengthen women’s role and participation in cyberspace. Training workshops in electronic communication for African francophone Women (www.enda.sn/synfev/synfev.htm).

Famafrique: Developed by ENDA-SYNFEV in 1999, Famafrique is a space of information and communication for the women of French-speaking Africa in the area of sustainable development (www.famafrique.org).

Women’s Net: “Women’sNet is a vibrant and innovative networking support programme designed to enable South African Women to use the Internet to find the people, issues, resources and tools needed for women’s social action” (womensnet.org.za).

Asian Pacific Women’s Information Network Centre (APWINC): Established in November 1996, APWINC aims at promoting women’s information and women-related communication technologies in the Asia-Pacific region (www.apwin.women.or.kr).

Asian Women’s Resource Exchange (AWORC): This is an Internet-based women’s information service and network in Asia. AWORC has a search engine for Asian’s women information in English, Korean, and Japanese. The website (www.jca.apc.org/aworc) is in English.

Asian Pacific Gender Equality Network (APGEN): APGEN is part of UNDP’s Regional Programme for the Asia-Pacific and has one of its four components on “science and technology for women’s economic empowerment” (www.apgen.apdip.net).

M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF): This Research Foundation strives to use science and technology for sustainable human development. The organization encourages women’s participation in development and technology. One of the five programme areas is “Education, Communication, Training, and Capacity Building” (www.mssrf.org).

Arab Women Connect (AWC): AWC is a bilingual clearinghouse website which promotes the utilization of new information and communication technologies for Arab women’s empowerment. The website contains full length resources on Arab women; comprehensive on-line databases of local women’s organizations and of Arab gender experts; and interactive chats, e-mail and discussion lists on various topics of interest to Arab women (www.arabwomenconnect.org).

Shabaka (Arab Network for NGOs): “SHABAKA” is an Arab non-governmental, non-profit organization, a legal entity serving in the field of development. It seeks to promote and activate the role of the work of civil society by collaborating with its NGOs and with similar regional and international institutions contributing to the achievement of sustainable development in the Arab nations (www.shabaka.org.tn/).

Nisaa: This is a regional project that offers women in the Arab world the opportunity to exchange experiences and information on gender specific topics in order to intensify the cooperation among them. Nisaa is also considered as a means for enhancing the dialogue between women in the Arab world and women in other parts of the world. It offers a wide variety of topics of concern to women in the region such as: violence against women, reproductive health rights, women and the media, solidarity, law and legislation (www.nisaa.org).

ALAI Mujeres of the Latin American Information Agency: Mujeres has one of its nine themes on “Communication and Gender” (www.alainet.org/mujeres).

FUNREDES (Networks and Development Foundation): This is a non-governmental organization dedicated to the dissemination of new information and communication technologies in developing countries, especially in Latin America and the Caribbean. FUNREDES seeks to promote and facilitate women’s access to new ICTs integrating the gender perspective in the dissemination strategies as a basic requirement for their progress in society and their equitable integration in the development process (www.funredes.org).

PhotoDisc (ITU 020051)