Benin: Internet for women civil servants

At a time when the inequalities between men and women in Benin are diminishing, access to ICTs is still rather unequal, and many information and communication services remain inaccessible to women, especially those living and working in rural areas. The National Institute of Agricultural Research of Benin (INRAB), through its Public Relations and Outreach Service (SRVP), used the GenARDIS grant to launch a project to strengthen the capacities of women civil servants working at six Regional Centres for Action in Rural Development (CARDERs). The project involved the organization of training programmes for these women in the use of computers and the Internet, to enable them to collect information that will be useful in their work with rural women. INRAB contacted the managers of the six regional centres to explain the purpose of the project. Each manager then suggested six women to participate in the training. In each CARDER home town, a cybercafe was identified to serve as a training venue. These cybercafes were then invited to propose a training programme, based on specifications set by the SRPV to ensure that the six courses were comparable. Each programme consisted of basic training in text and data processing using software such as Word and Excel, and a course in the use of Internet as a communication and research tool. At the end of the course, the 36 participants were required to perform a test, which all of them passed. Each of them now has an electronic mailbox so that they can send and receive email messages, they can surf and search the Internet, and they can prepare documents and use spreadsheets. The participants were generally very satisfied with the training programmes, and recommended that follow-up courses be organized to enable them to keep abreast of technological developments. Alice mailto:djinadoualice@yahoo.fr Kouboura Djinadou Igue is head of INRAB´s Public Relations and Outreach Service (SRVP).

Bibliographic Details

Main Author:	Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
Format:	Magazine Article biblioteca
Language:	English
Published:	Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation 2004
Online Access:	https://hdl.handle.net/10568/57698 https://hdl.handle.net/10568/91589
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