Question 4 (opens 20 Nov.)

The problem is not to choose which ICT devices to adopt but to choose which content could circulate frequently in ICT devices of the producer organizations belonging to the smallholders and other supposed marginalized group like women. In fact a smallholder should send a message to another networked meanwhile, the education deficit or the reluctance should be contraproductive in the progress of the producer organization. By the way, a smallholder who asks another networked  to lend him some seeds, medicines or fertilizers could  get a silence  and otherwise receives a false response or a noise -multiple plausible responses instead of selecting only one optimal solution- , consequently in the hyperconnected world where should be uncontrolled means of e-communication  inside or outside  the producer organization, smallholders  and women are disoriented in the plethora of ICT devices  and do not know how to prioritize among listening the radio broadcasting farming information,  receiving and sending messages through ICT’s producer organizations and  understanding the messages submitted to or by close friends  or relatives via its own mobile phones. subsequently, ICT devices should turn up in wasting time and money for the reason that, those messages brought through ICT devices are sometimes irrelevant in disfavor of smallholders, as well as women.

Nowadays, the facility of acquiring ICT devices and the level of education are the facts which mostly marginalize in e-communications.  Indeed, a woman well educated and who use with rightness the ICT tools in the process of producer organization is never marginalized. Furthermore, a competitive producer organization does not marginalize women, moreover, the positive discrimination is the new concept in vogue in favor of supporting women in many cases.

The viable producer organizations in farming are those which are involved in the optimization of their farming activities like Mutoyi producer organization of Burundi,  which  is well known in Burundi country in empowering  smallholders and women by integrating them in the production process. I think that Mutoyi centre is the best structured producer organization of Burundi, it is supported by a non governmental organization from Italia and  has implemented its proper system of communication through modern ICT devices and a specific system of accounting for monitoring the value chain of its production, transportation, transformation, commercialization in the main cities of Burundi and payment of returns to the smallholders and women who have seen their way of living rising since the installation in MutoyI , a countryside of Bugendana commune, in  Gitega province with a label of high quality named “Mutoyi products”  and  remains the reference in the production process and in bringing welfare to the peasants and women around Mutoyi centre where the profits generated by Mutoyi products have been partially used to build basic infrastructures like hospital and primary schools since many years ago.

When you visit a shop of Mutoyi producer organization in Bujumbura city, you should believe that the famous Mutoyi centre belongs surely to a gender statute because you cross more women than men working inside at the key posts using ICT devices. Undeniably, women are not marginalized because Mutoyi producer organization is built on a skill of competitiveness and efficiency with the goal of increasing the added value of its products by improving its value chain of development since the step of production, transformation, transportation until the step of commercialization with the same label of brightness in agribusiness.

It is worth mentioning that I did publish many comments related to the content which should be mostly relevant for farmers like the post entitled ‘ICT not to waste time but for taking right decision’ available on the link below:

http://www.e-agriculture.org/.../what-most-effective-wa..-.e-agriculture.org/.../what-most-effective-wa..

Prof Antoine KANTIZA, Master Uticef,-

Does ICT empower or marginalize women or smallholders in producer organizations? Support examples with specific reference to an organization, the technology tool(s), and content delivered.

Yes, ICT empowers women in producer organizations. An example is the 2,000 group of rural women who work with a Shea butter association in Burkina Faso who have become financially independent by learning to use ICTs, including GPS and the Internet, to reach a developed-country market for certified organic Shea butter.

Many of the women who belong to the Songtaaba Yalgré Association; a Shea butter trading group in Burkina Faso, did not attend school but confidently use ICTs and the Internet. The group has had a French-language website since 2004 and handles 90 percent of its sales through the Internet, sending Shea butter products to Europe, Canada, and the United States.

Largely through their website, the women have strengthened their position in the marketplace. Despite some literacy barriers, many of the women have learned how to use Global Positioning System (GPS) equipment to map their fields and record each tree from which they harvest Shea fruit.

From a small group that was initially taught by an expert from Europe, but they can now train other village women in GPS skills.

Mapped information is vital for certification. As an incentive to capture all relevant items each time, the women earn a small bonus if they do it without mistakes. Careful record keeping and good production techniques allow the women to sell their “bio” Shea butter at more than twice the price of uncertified Shea butter. Even the raw Shea fruit is worth more if it is certified as coming from approved fields.

Another group of women in southern Mali traditionally gather fruit from the Shea tree (Butyrospermum parkii  ) to extract the seed for processing into cooking oil and a “butter” that is an effective skin moisturizer.

In 1999, they formed a cooperative society called Coprokazan and were able to get better prices for their products.

The coop created visual training materials that gave clear information to all members, including those who could not read. Photographs showing the quality of nut suitable for processing prevented women from harvesting and transporting poor-quality produce to the collection point only to have it rejected. Filmed demonstrations of new, more efficient processing methods improved the quality as well as the quantity of Shea butter.

Computerization enabled Coprokazan to improve governance and administration. Coop office personnel began using the computers for routine administration, and member records are now kept electronically.

In the four years since ICTs were introduced, the coop’s Shea butter production and income have almost tripled. With its improved administrative capacity, the coop can now deal with more members.

http://www.ictinagriculture.org/ictinag/sourcebook/module-8-farmer-organizations-work-better-ict

http://i4d.eletsonline.com/?p=12620

http://www.cio.com/article/358716/Burkina_Faso_Shea_Butter_Producers_Go_High_Tech

http://www.iicd.org/projects/mali-shea-butter-and-ict

http://ictupdate.cta.int/Links/Projects/Karite-producer-Coprokazan-sets-example-in-Mali

http://www.iicd.org/articles/karite-producer-coprokazan-sets-example-in-mali/

ICTs have been extensively used as a networking and advocacy tool.  The goal to enhance interaction with and influence Government institutions and ICT provides a powerful tool to strengthen women's capacity to participate in civil society and the public sphere in general. 

Women's groups that have been able to tap into the potential of ICTs have experienced benefits and increased opportunities to:  conduct research and gain access to information; improve organizational and personal knowledge and skills; monitor and participate in global women's initiatives; disseminate information and publicize materials;  lobby development causes at local and regional levels;  exchange information and experience;  coordinate activities both in-country and abroad; contribute to civil society and local communities;  identify new contacts and development partners; and, apply for donor funding and other forms of technical support.

  "In today's world, information means power".  What does it mean for a woman to have a connection?  According to Familiaras, "It empowers them."  -  Joyce Wendam

http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/egm/ict200

Tirazona, Lenny G.  Empowering Women thru ICTs.  Accessed at www.ncc.gov.ph/files/Isis.rtf. 

It depends on which form of ICT we are talking about. Rural women tend to have much lower literacy rates than mean Thus ICT technologies that do not require a high level of literacy skills, eg rural radio, video,  or mobile telephone, or a combination of all three would be more empowering for women than those that require more reading and writingand numeracy skills. On the other hand, computerized accounting and information systems , which require more literacy and numeracy skills to operate would tend to be operated by males; however, from what I have seen in agricultural cooperatives that changes as the producer organization mature and more women assume clerical and bookkeeping functions in the organization and their economic value to the organization is appreciated and rewarded with greater administrative and management responsibilities.

Hello Gigi,

I think you provivded some very concrete examples the forms of ICT that best fit rural women's literacy capacities, pocketbooks and information needs, but the question currently under discussion is "How do these technologies empower women within producer organizations?"  or put in a more pro-active way: How can producer organizations themselves (or governments and NGOs working through producer orgainizations) promote and help finance the increased use and dissemination of these gender friendly technolgies amongst their female members or the wives, female companions or children of their male members?