Putting on a gender lens and keeping it on, GEM 2 goes to Kathmandu
Mexico City, Mexico, May 25
The PAN Localization Network has a noble and difficult cause, building local language computing capacity in Asia, the region with the most internet users in the world. PAN Localization addresses barriers to universal access at the very heart of the user experience, developing information and communication technology (ICT) tools rooted in local language and culture.
Techies and researchers used to delving into programming and algorithms and establishing character set encoding standards may find it difficult to step back from software and take a gendered look at computers. But men and women from network may be in for a surprise at the upcoming Gender Evaluation Methodology (GEM) workshop to be run in Kathmandu, Nepal in late May 2007.
The PAN Localization Network is an ideal partner for deepening gender evaluation practice using GEM, an ICT for social change evaluation methodology developed by the Association for Progressive Communications' women programme (APC WNSP). The Kathmandu workshop is the first step in the development of a gender evaluation instrument to support localisation efforts.
GEM
The APC WNSP developed the Gender Evaluation Methodology for internet and ICT initiatives to help projects - especially those geared at social transformation and development - integrate gender evaluation practice into their work. GEM provides a suite of resources - including a step-by-step evaluation tool, documented evaluation findings, links to other evaluation resources and support from GEM practitioners.
Dozens of organisations using GEM have reported a more profound and concrete understanding of how their interventions can contribute to the empowerment of their constituencies.
Insights from those who have applied GEM are woven into the methodology, and support the use of the tool by other ICT practitioners. "The tool encapsulates learning," comments GEM project coordinator, Chat Garcia Ramilo. "We synthesised the learnings that came out of evaluations, incorporated those in the tool, and in this way share them."
GEM II
This evolutionary practice forms the basis of a second round of GEM development, which features GEM adaptations in four ICT-for-development settings: localisation efforts, telecentres, national ICT policy advocacy and rural ICT initiatives.
APC WNSP's workshop in Kathmandu with the PAN Localisation Network is the first of a series. Although localisation can be considered a highly technical field, it is grounded in ensuring basic human rights of communities to access and produce content in their local languages.
There are 2,197 languages spoken in Asia, and according to the PAN Localization Network, only 20% of the population can communicate in English. This reality translates into an impressive barrier to universal access to computing. As the network affirms, "Unless these large non-English speaking populations have the ability to generate and access content in their native languages, they will not be able to use ICTs for their development effectively."
Delving into how gender roles play into language, software structure and localisation efforts in general will be a key part of the GEM workshop in Nepal. Angela M. Kuga Thas, newly-hired as research coordinator for the GEM 2 project, is keen to see how adapting the existing tool for specific ICT for social change processes will enrich The GEM project.
Isn’t technology gender neutral?
Most projects deny that gender has anything to do with ICTs, that technology is gender neutral, observes Angela.
One exercise used at GEM workshops uses corporal expression to visualise how much participants see a connection between gender and ICT. Participants are asked to express the importance of taking into consideration gender issues and women's interests in their projects by using the full length of their body. Those who didn't consider it a priority might curl themselves into small balls, for example.
GEM workshops are amazing, she relates, because frequently participants dismissive of the role of gender are the ones who quickly begin to see the connections. "If they don't have that gender lens, the GEM tool gets people to wear the gender lens and keep wearing it through all the issues related to gender and ICTs, and through planning and evaluation." Hopefully the Kathmandu workshop will help GEM offer designer lenses, specially crafted by ICT localisation and gender practitioners.
"GEM has a substantive analytical framework," comments Angela, her research background coming to the fore. "It's the only practical tool I know that focuses on gender and ICTs - I always recommend that groups consider it, and not just for evaluation but for planning too. Its name is deceptive. It helps people plan better and integrate gender at the beginning."
The GEM tool is available in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese and available for download at the GEM website
Source: APC WNSP
