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Women and Telecenters
No one doubts the importance of information to development efforts. Few question the notion that widespread access to information and communications technologies (ICTs) can make a significant contribution to development. Enter the telecentrer as a means to make ICTs more readily available to those who would otherwise be bypassed.
Women throughout the world engage in formal and informal employment and other entrepreneurial income-generating activities. In developing countries, as in industrialized ones, women are a major economic force. As economies worldwide become increasingly information-driven, it is essential that women expand their ability to produce and disseminate information. telecentres can provide an invaluable resource to enable women to use, produce, and disseminate knowledge and information, and thereby to contribute to their communities' and countries' economic and social growth.
Cases around the world demonstrate that telecentres have the potential to meet a range of women's needs. These include training in technology skills, and opportunities to pursue activities that contribute to the individual's well-being. They also contribute to improving women's self-confidence, and have an overall positive impact on learning. The benefits are not confined to the women themselves. Their activities contribute to strengthening of community ties, and building networks among women that support information-sharing and advocacy efforts.
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