Know-How 2002: A Safari into the Cross-Cultural World of Women’s Knowledge Exchange – A Perspective

By Joanne Henry

The Fifth International Know-How Conference, held in Kampala, Uganda was hosted by Isis-Wicce, in collaboration with Isis International Manila and the IIAV (International Information Centre and Archives for the Women’s Movement).

This four-yearly event took place over the 23-27^th July and was attended by more than 200 women from 46 countries.

The conference aimed to:

q Increase and improve the visibility of African women’s issues, concerns and progress in information management centres.

q Establish and strengthen links between women information specialists in Africa and the rest of the world.

q Evaluate progress made in the field of information collection, processing and dissemination, and the sharing of best practices.

q Equip more women activists with (Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) skills.

q Develop a plan of action for creating and sharing information by and with rural women activists.

Whilst a large part of the conference focussed on the needs of rural women, this perspective seeks to draw attention to the highlights of the conference with particular relevance to the field of gender and women’s studies.

Extracts from Keynote Speeches:

Dr Musimbi Kanyoro from Uganda observed that there is a school of thought that Africa needs drugs and food more than it needs computers. However, if this notion is acted upon she said, Africa will just become more marginalised. The goal of technology is efficiency and effectiveness and no one needs this more than Africa.

Kanyoro also stated that technology can be used to address literacy problems. She used the analogy of a woman carrying a personal computer (PC) on her head like a basket. PCs need to be as common as radios for them to be effective. Kanyoro posed the question as to why Africa is lagging behind. She compared it to Asia, which is way ahead electronically. She also made the point that the war in Afghanistan is technologically driven – yet Afghanistan is more rural than Uganda! This implies that technology is a commodity which is easily imported when it is needed to further the aims of imperialist countries; yet it is not used within other contexts within Africa, such as education or networking.

Kanyoro concluded that the process of acquiring knowledge is an ongoing challenge. Information is not an end in itself, it must result in action and change and transform peoples lives. Information should not have an ivory tower function. Unless information is enhanced with advocacy work, it is useless.

She also noted that documenting lives of suffering and then just leaving people in their sorry state is immoral. It is a call to take on more responsibility to bring about healing and change. Help includes empowering people with advocacy skills.

The Minister of Ethics of Uganda, Miriam Matembe highlighted that we need appropriate information to address women’s demands. When you have information, you can be in charge of your life. She also noted that we need the media to promote our interests.

Janet Townsend from the UK, focused her keynote on the role of the NGO sector. She stated that NGOs are donor-created and donor-driven. They are the new imperialists. The World Bank & IMF are imperialists in the sense that they effect action in countries through NGOs. It’s easier for them to take this route than to go through governments.

Townsend also strongly brought across her views on empowerment. She said you can only enable women, you cannot empower them. People have to take power from within. Within this context, it’s not the technology that matters, it’s the ideas and the exchange thereof.

Devaki Jain from India spoke about the role of networks and networking. She said we should go beyond networking towards “ideation” – turning ideas into action. Characteristically women’s networks should be flexible and non-hierarchical. One needs to make a global impact so that the alliance is more powerful. We must construct theory from what we learn on the ground. We must transform knowledge into theory-building.

She maintains that networks are important for building opinion. They are powerful instruments of social change. Since the Beijing and Nairobi conferences, women’s movements have evolved into powerful bodies that can influence policy, even at the level of the UN.

She cautioned that we need to be careful that the use of ICTs and cyberspace does not weaken women’s movements through the fragmentation of spaces formerly used by networks.

General Themes Emerging from the Conference:

General themes which emerged from the conference were as follows:

Information needs to be packaged to suit needs – it must add value otherwise it won’t be used. Knowledge needs to be shared.

It was noted that there is a gender divide within the digital divide. The following areas following were generally identified as obstacles to the use of ICTs:

q Language content. (English still predominates to the exclusion of others)

q Literacy and education

q Technical literacy

q Familiarity of computers and the internet

q Variation & complexity of computer languages

q Time to spend on technology

q Costs of technology

q Geographic location and mobility

q Social and cultural norms

Focus areas needing attention:

Governments need to develop policies with a gendered perspective as Natasha Primo found in her review of South Africa’s “Electronic Communications and Transactions Bill”. There also needs to be a cross-reference to different pieces of legislation that have a bearing on implementation to ensure gender justice works in practice in this arena.

ICTs need to be used as tools for social action and change.

ICTs must incorporate tools and services which were in inexistence prior to the digital information age.

Young writers need to be developed and encouraged. Networks can assist in this way by organising workshops which equip them with writing skills.

During the meeting of the African Caucus, we undertook to follow up on any gaps in our knowledge in African research – this will be the plan of action for the next Know How