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By Vymala Thuron

If you are reading this blog post, you most likely take the internet for granted as an indispensable part of your daily life. Businesses, economies, and even personal relationships have all come to rely on internet connectivity to function or thrive. Yet, this is only true for around half of the world’s population.

Developing countries in Africa, low-income, and remote areas are disproportionately affected by a connectivity gap that leaves them cut off from the information economy and its benefits. Surprisingly, the answer to addressing this gap does not just depend on technology but on people and most importantly, communities.

Commercial providers can’t reach everyone

Commercial internet service providers and mobile network operators have been very successful in driving the rapid growth of especially mobile internet access in Africa in recent years. However, business considerations have often meant that that service providers prioritised connecting commercial entities and affluent or urban areas. Mobile operators have also focused on providing mobile data at tariffs that cannot support sustainable access in terms of cost.

Community networks uses new low-cost electronic networking equipment to provide small-scale community-based network services. These networks are locally owned and managed and provides affordable internet access at a fraction of at a fraction of standard commercial prices. Community networks present an opportunity for local communities to get together and define how they can support themselves to get on the irreversible ‘internet bus’, especially when traditional providers may think of them last.

Community networks need more than tech

While equipment and technical knowledge are critical, the first and most basic barrier to creating a community network is awareness. Many rural communities have yet to be made aware of the benefits that internet access can bring them, let alone of the concept of a community network to connect themselves. This means that the success of a community network is first social, then technical. The secret sauce of a successful community network is a well glued-up group of people who can act as powerful local champions to sensitise a local community to the power of community networks and the urgency of enabling internet connectivity.

AfChix believes that women can, and should, be key members of any group driving the establishment and ultimately the sustainability of community networks. Women armed with the right information and knowledge can completely change their communities and have been very successful at finding ways to cooperate to address needs around access to water, electricity, food shortage, and healthcare. When we empower women with information on the power of the internet to change their lives and how they can achieve this via community networks, they can become the best connectivity champions and agents of change.

More than connectivity

In addition to solving the problem of affordable connectivity, the community network model also provides the means to address other challenges that keep people from rural communities – and especially women – from using the internet. Poor literacy levels and a lack of even basic digital skills, such knowing how to operate a smart phone or computer, mean that many people fail to discover how the internet can add any value to their lives. For women, gender norms around using technology may also mean that they are barred from access to the devices that are available in their household or communities.

AfChix uses the establishment of community networks to roll out digital skills training, to foster community engagement and understanding of what using the internet really means, and to create a safe space for women to engage with technology. Digital skills and understanding are critical to ensuring people can truly benefit from this connectivity. Community networks provides this a powerful solution: It not only provides the means to connect the devices in a community. It  connects its people.

By Mari Blumenthal

“I have a normal mobile phone that does not have internet service, but at home, my son has a smartphone with internet access. I use it when he is home,” says Fatima, a 54-year-old mother and housewife about how she can use the internet.

Fatima is one of about 60 women taking part in a series of digital literacy workshops hosted by AfChix as part of its community network project in Ait Izdeg, a rural community in Morocco. Ait Izdeg is one of four community network projects AfChix is implementing as one of the winners of the third round of the WomenConnect Challenge, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

However, Fatima’s shares the same reality as millions of other women. According to the GSMA Mobile Gender Gap Report released in 2021, women in low and middle-income countries are 7% less likely to own any kind of mobile phone than men and 15% less likely to own a smartphone. Instead, they tend to rely on sharing or borrowing smartphones from other – mostly male – members of their household.

Mobile ownership is already a key challenge in overcoming the gender digital divide but also contributes to another challenge in getting women online. A lack of regular access to a smartphone also means that women do not get the opportunity to familiarise themselves with these devices or to gain confidence in using them. The same GSMA report also found that female mobile users surveyed are less likely than male users to feel confident performing a new task on a phone by themselves.

A desk review report on the Gender Digital Divide released by USAID in 2021, highlights that digital literacy and skills are rapidly emerging as one of the biggest barriers facing women, especially in achieving online access. USAID defines digital literacy as including both the skills to functionally be able to use the internet and digital technologies, as well as the knowledge of how to do so safely, securely, and with trusted information and protected data.

Dr Houda Chakiri, the Project Coordinator for the Ait Izdeg community network, says many women in the community there do not feel confident in using digital devices. “The majority of women in the community are digitally illiterate and, therefore, we had to start our training there. They say that [the internet] is for young people or that it is not for them. They fear technology.”

The current series of training workshops offer women a safe environment in which to learn basic digital skills such as how to use a search engine or to create and delete files on a computer. The project will later add courses in Digital Marketing to help women build on their newly acquired skills.

Thanks to the training, Fatima says she now uses her son’s phone to communicate with members of her women’s cooperative and has realised how valuable the internet can be for searching for information. “I have already searched for information about preparing jam, raising bees, and growing culinary herbs,” she says.

Most of the women taking part in the training range from 25 to 60 years in age. At 68 years old, Isa might seem an unlikely attendee at a digital literacy training course. But she also runs a successful women’s cooperative and recognises that being online could help her grow its markets. “I am here to learn how to manage and market products and I think that using ICT will help me in my cooperative affairs and in learning new things in a more structured way,” she says.

Persistent income inequality creates a vicious cycle keeping women from gaining access to mobile devices and internet connectivity – the very tools that can help them empower themselves economically in the digital post-COVID era. 

According to the World Wide Web Foundation, affordability is one of the key drivers of digital inclusion and a key barrier to women’s access and use of mobile devices. The global average cost of a smartphone is around 26% of an average monthly income but this figure can be much higher in lower-income countries. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the average cost of a smartphone is equal to 45% of an average monthly income. 

Affordability tends to have a greater impact on women than on men because social norms often mean that women are less financially independent than men, earn less, and have less disposable income to spend on mobile phones or internet services. In a survey among internet users in rural areas, the Foundation found that women were 14% more likely than men to say the cost limited how much they could use the internet.

In addition to the cost of devices, the high cost of data – when network coverage is available – is also another economic factor causing digital exclusion and often leads to the important difference between merely having internet access and what is described as meaningful connectivity. The Alliance for Affordable Internet explains that we only have meaningful connectivity “connectivity when we can use the internet every day using an appropriate device with enough data and a fast connection.” Without meaningful connectivity, women cannot access services like video streaming or online learning and the economic benefits of the internet become only theoretical. 

A USAID desk review report on the Gender Digital Divide highlights the well-documented benefits,  in labour force participation and business, for women who are able to access technology. Digital literacy is becoming increasingly important to access employment opportunities since more and more jobs have a digital component. At the same time, the digital gender gap also means that women entrepreneurs are less likely than men to possess the basic digital skills needed to use the internet to access services and information, connect with customers or perform any other business functions. Most glaringly, it often excludes women entrepreneurs from accessing finance through digital platforms. 

AfChix is helping to address these barriers by providing alternative and more affordable means to connect to the internet through community networks and offering women  digital literacy training in a safe environment. In Senegal, AfChix is also currently working with local women’s associations in the  Camberene commune of Dakar to develop an ecommerce platform to sell their products.

Adama Kassi, Project Coordinator, says women currently sell their products llike fresh produce, fish, and dairy in the informal sector. “During meetings with the women of the community, they underlined the problem of not having a store to display their processed products. As a solution, we offered them an online sales platform.”

She says the project aims to help local women gain lasting benefit from internet access. “This platform would not only allow them to have a space to sell their merchandise but also to sell their products while being next to their family. It provides a perfect example of how digital tools can help women in their efforts to become self-reliant through economic activity, and as a result take better control of how they can use these tools going forward .”

“J’ai un téléphone portable normal qui n’a pas de service Internet, mais à la maison, mon fils a un  smartphone avec accès Internet. Je l’utilise quand il est à la maison », explique Fatima, une mère et  femme au foyer de 54 ans, sur la façon dont elle peut utiliser Internet.” Fatima est l’une des 60 femmes qui participent à une série d’ateliers d’alphabétisation numérique  organisés par AfChix dans le cadre de son projet de réseau communautaire à Ait Izdeg, une  communauté rurale au Maroc. Ait Izdeg est l’un des quatre projets de réseau communautaire  qu’AfChix met en œuvre en tant que l’un des gagnants du troisième tour du WomenConnect  Challenge, financé par l’Agence des États-Unis pour le développement international (USAID).

Cependant, Fatima partage la même réalité que des millions d’autres femmes. Selon le rapport  GSMA Mobile Gender Gap Report publié en 2021, les femmes des pays à revenu faible et  intermédiaire sont 7 % moins susceptibles de posséder n’importe quel type de téléphone mobile que  les hommes et 15 % moins susceptibles de posséder un smartphone. Au lieu de cela, ils ont tendance  à s’appuyer sur le partage ou l’emprunt de smartphones d’autres membres – principalement des  hommes – de leur foyer. La possession d’un téléphone portable est déjà un défi majeur pour surmonter la fracture numérique  entre les sexes, mais contribue également à un autre défi pour mettre les femmes en ligne. Le  manque d’accès régulier à un smartphone signifie également que les femmes n’ont pas la possibilité  de se familiariser avec ces appareils ou de gagner en confiance dans leur utilisation. Le même  rapport de la GSMA a également révélé que les utilisatrices mobiles interrogées sont moins  susceptibles que les utilisateurs masculins de se sentir en confiance pour effectuer une nouvelle  tâche sur un téléphone par elles-mêmes. Un rapport d’examen documentaire sur la fracture numérique entre les sexes publié par l’USAID en  2021, souligne que la littératie et les compétences numériques émergent rapidement comme l’un  des plus grands obstacles auxquels sont confrontées les femmes, en particulier pour obtenir un  accès en ligne. L’USAID définit la littératie numérique comme comprenant à la fois les compétences  nécessaires pour pouvoir utiliser Internet et les technologies numériques de manière fonctionnelle,  ainsi que la connaissance de la manière de le faire en toute sécurité, en toute sécurité et avec des  informations fiables et des données protégées. 

Dr Houda Chakiri, coordinatrice de projet pour le réseau communautaire d’Ait Izdeg, affirme que de  nombreuses femmes de la communauté ne se sentent pas à l’aise pour utiliser les appareils  numériques. « La majorité des femmes de la communauté sont analphabètes numériques et, par  conséquent, nous avons dû commencer notre formation là-bas. Ils disent qu'[Internet] est pour les  jeunes ou que ce n’est pas pour eux. Ils craignent la technologie.” 

La série actuelle d’ateliers de formation offre aux femmes un environnement sûr dans lequel elles peuvent acquérir des compétences numériques de base telles que l’utilisation d’un moteur de  recherche ou la création et la suppression de fichiers sur un ordinateur. Le projet ajoutera  ultérieurement des cours de marketing numérique pour aider les femmes à renforcer leurs  compétences nouvellement acquises. Grâce à la formation, Fatima dit qu’elle utilise maintenant le téléphone de son fils pour  communiquer avec les membres de sa coopérative de femmes et a réalisé à quel point Internet peut être précieux pour rechercher des informations. « J’ai déjà cherché des informations sur la  préparation de confitures, l’élevage d’abeilles et la culture d’herbes culinaires », dit-elle.  La plupart des femmes qui participent à la formation ont entre 25 et 60 ans. À 68 ans, Isa peut  sembler être une participante improbable à un cours de formation en littératie numérique. Mais elle  dirige également une coopérative de femmes prospère et reconnaît que le fait d’être en ligne  pourrait l’aider à développer ses marchés. « Je suis ici pour apprendre à gérer et à commercialiser  des produits et je pense que l’utilisation des TIC m’aidera dans mes affaires coopératives et pour  apprendre de nouvelles choses de manière plus structurée », dit-elle. 

Arabic version:  

لدي هاتف محمول عادي ال يحتوي على خدمة اإلنترنت ، ولكن في المنزل ، لدى ابني هاتف ذكي متصل باإلنترنت. تقول فاطمة ” .”، وهي أم تبلغ من العمر 54 عا ًما وربة منزل حول كيفية استخدامها لإلنترنت ، “أستخدمه عندما يكون في المنزل فاطمة هي واحدة من حوالي 60 امرأة يشاركن في سلسلة من ورش العمل لمحو األمية الرقمية التي تستضيفها )( كجزء من  مشروع شبكة المجتمع في آيت إزديك ، وهو مجتمع ريفي في المغرب. آيت إزديك هي واحدة من أربعة مشاريع لشبكات المجتمع  .(USAID (تقوم )( بتنفيذها كأحد الفائزين في الجولة الثالثة من تحدي )( الممول من الوكالة األمريكية للتنمية الدولية 

ومع ذلك ، تشارك فاطمة نفس الحقيقة مثل ماليين النساء األخريات. وفقًا لتقرير الفجوة بين الجنسين على األجهزة المحمولة الذي صدر في عام 2021 ، تقل احتمالية امتالك النساء في البلدان المنخفضة والمتوسطة الدخل ألي نوع من الهواتف المحمولة بنسبة  7 ٪مقارنة بالرجال و15 ٪ أقل احتما ًال المتالك هاتف ذكي. وبدالً من ذلك ، فإنهم يميلون إلى االعتماد على مشاركة أو استعارة .الهواتف الذكية من أفراد أسرهم اآلخرين – ومعظمهم من الذكور تمثل ملكية الهواتف المحمولة بالفعل تحديًا رئيسيًا في التغلب على الفجوة الرقمية بين الجنسين ، ولكنها تساهم أي ًضا في تحٍد آخر يتمثل في توصيل النساء باإلنترنت. كما أن االفتقار إلى الوصول المنتظم إلى الهاتف الذكي يعني أي ًضا أن النساء ال تتاح لهن الفرصة للتعرف على هذه األجهزة أو اكتساب الثقة في استخدامها. كما وجد التقرير نفسه أن مستخدمات الهاتف المحمول الالتي  .شملهن االستطالع أقل احتماال من المستخدمين الذكور للشعور بالثقة في أداء مهمة جديدة على الهاتف بأنفسهم 

يسلط تقرير مراجعة مكتبية حول الفجوة الرقمية بين الجنسين صادر عن الوكالة األمريكية للتنمية الدولية في عام 2021 ، الضوء  على أن محو األمية الرقمية والمهارات تبرز بسرعة كواحدة من أكبر العوائق التي تواجهها النساء ، ال سيما في الحصول على  وظيفة. تعّرف الوكالة األمريكية للتنمية الدولية محو األمية الرقمية على أنه يشمل كل من المهارات الالزمة لتكون قاد ًرا على استخدام اإلنترنت والتقنيات الرقمية وظيفيًا ، باإلضافة إلى معرفة كيفية القيام بذلك بأمان ، وبأمان ، وبمعلومات موثوقة وبيانات  .محمية  تقول الدكتورة هدى شكيري ، منسقة مشروع شبكة مجتمع آيت إزدغ ، إن العديد من النساء في المجتمع ال يشعرن بالراحة عند  استخدام األجهزة الرقمية. “غالبية النساء في المجتمع أميات رقميًا ولذلك كان علينا أن نبدأ تدريبنا هناك. يقولون إن ]اإلنترنت[ .للشباب أو ليس لهم. إنهم يخشون التكنولوجيا 

تقول فاطمة ، بفضل التدريب ، إنها تستخدم اآلن هاتف ابنها للتواصل مع أعضاء تعاونيتها النسائية وأدركت مدى أهمية اإلنترنت  في العثور على المعلومات. تقول: “لقد بحثت بالفعل عن معلومات حول صنع المربى ، وتربية النحل ، وزراعة أعشاب الطهي .“  

تتراوح أعمار معظم النساء المشاركات في التدريب بين 25 و 60 عا ًما. في سن 68 ، قد تبدو يسى كمشاركة غير متوقعة في دورة  تدريبية لمحو األمية الرقمية. لكنها تدير أي ًضا تعاونية نسائية ناجحة وتدرك أن االتصال باإلنترنت يمكن أن يساعدها في توسيع  .أسواقها أنا هنا لتعلم كيفية إدارة المنتجات وتسويقها وأعتقد أن استخدام تكنولوجيا المعلومات واالتصاالت سيساعدني في عملي التعاوني ” وتعلم أشياء جديدة بطريقة أكثر تنظيماً” ، كما تقول

Aziza was only going to serve the tea. But when she saw what other women were learning during AFCHIX’s digital literacy training sessions, she knew she had to join in. So, instead of waiting  to provide the refreshments during training breaks, she sat down behind a computer herself. “The workshops enabled me to enter the world of computers in order to understand how they work and to know the different software and applications such as text editing, spreadsheets, and web browsers,” she now eagerly says about her new skills.

Aziza lives in the rural Moroccan community of Ait Izdeg, where AFCHIX is implementing one of four community network projects through the WomenConnect Challenge, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). A wife and mother of three daughters, she aspires to start her own business despite only possessing primary school education. “The internet will help me develop my way of working and identify new customers,” she says.

Like many women in rural – and even urban – communities in Africa, Aziza was simply not aware of the benefits that learning to use the internet could bring her as a mother or an entrepreneur. A lack of awareness of the potential benefit of being online is one of the key factors contributing to the digital gender divide. Often, women do not feel the need to learn to use the internet because they do not believe that it can add any value to their lives. They simply do not believe that that web can offer any information of interest to them – a perception that is only reinforced by limited relevant content in local languages. 

However, a lack of awareness is arguably the best-case scenario for convincing women – and others in their communities – that they can benefit from the internet. In many communities, social norms dictate that technology and internet use is not just irrelevant to women but in fact inappropriate or immoral. As a result, changing social norms and cultural perceptions is one of the proven strategies to close the digital divide identified by USAID, citing the importance of working on perceptions with those frequently in power, such as community and religious leaders.

A USAID Desk Review also argues that internet access and use follow broader social patterns, echoing the deep social and cultural exclusion of women. One aspect of life where this is most clearly visible is the difference in access to education – and subsequent ability to earn income – between men and women. Gendered inequalities mean that women, like Aziza, are more likely than men to be illiterate or have only limited levels of education. Although a recent report by the Moroccan High Commission for Planning (HCP) stated that 90.5% of Moroccan girls aged 15 to 17 attended schools in urban areas, this figure drops to 39.2% for girls in rural areas. 

These inequalities are then replicated in the digital space as a lack of education makes it more likely that women will also lack the digital skills or confidence needed to use technology and the internet. For example, the Web Foundation found that in both Africa and Asia women who have some secondary education are six times more likely to be online than women with only primary education or less. The interplay between social norms, access to education and underlying gender inequality means that efforts to close the digital gender divide cannot only focus on adult women but must also include girls. 

The safe environment created by the AFCHIX training sessions meant Aziza felt comfortable enough to bring her young daughter along, introducing her to computers as well. According to UNICEF, children living in today’s world need to be digitally literate to fully participate in digital life and to be safe online. Digital literacy training can help to teach parents how to allow and support their daughters to this and in Aziza’s case, provide her daughters with a role model proving that women are more than capable of learning to use technology and empowering themselves in other ways. “My ambition is to raise my daughters well. “I want to develop my cooking, confectionery, and marketing capabilities and start a pastry catering business.”