STI Capacity BuildingThe Gender Dimension

Women, STI for Poverty Reduction in Developing Countries

Presented by:

• Professor Emeritus at the American University in Cairo.• Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Human Development and Local Administration – Shoura Assembly • Secretary General of the National Council for Women in Egypt.• C0-Chair of the Gender Advisory Board (GAB) of the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology For Development.

Dr. Farkhonda Hassan

STI Capacity BuildingThe Gender Dimension

Science and technology have become the main instrument in the development of the productive forces upon which the satisfaction of the growing needs of human society depend.

Never did science have a more beneficent mission to perform as today, especially in developing countries

Cont…

STI Capacity BuildingThe Gender Dimension

For developing countries to be able to engage effectively in the on-going global restructuring process, they need to invest in their own scientific and technological base, including the development of human resources to harness the potential of science and technology to their own needs

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STI Capacity BuildingThe Gender Dimension

• Science and Technology capacity building is a dedication to the strengthening not only of individuals but also institutions through education and training, that lead to the creation of a solid base of technologically prepared people and enables innovation that can help countries meet the Millennium Development Goals including the first goal of poverty reduction and economic self sufficiency.

Cont…

• The challenge is to find new and innovative approaches in order to develop successful and meaningful capacity building programs.

There is no one model for successful science and technology capacity building in developing countries; but if there is one principle that could usefully guide here, it is to be responsive to expressed needs of those to be served and tightly related to local problems and infrastructure.

STI Capacity BuildingThe Gender Dimension

Cont…

Program designers must understand not only the needs of the people they seek to serve, but also how the local context shapes the ability of local scientists and researchers to find solutions

The overlap of S&T, Gender and economic Development is a missing area of human activity that should be deeply explored

STI Capacity BuildingThe Gender Dimension

Cont…

• The importance of bringing a gender perspective to the designing of ST development tools and interventions is not yet properly understood. This is the rational behind the many gender-sensitive S&T activities, that are being undertaken by the National Council for Women in Egypt (NCW).

STI Capacity BuildingThe Gender Dimension

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• The centrality of women to poverty reduction required widening of our approaches to the use of S&T.

• building capabilities of both women scientists and rural women in ST and ICT helped in establishing an enabling environment for the use of such technologies by women for poverty reduction. Our target groups are mainly poor rural women and unemployed school and university graduates.

STI Capacity BuildingThe Gender Dimension

The Scientific Association for Egyptian Women (SAEW) aims at bringing the benefits of science and technology to the grass roots, the poor women, and particularly rural women

Science and Technology For Development Project

Cont…

• SAEW was instrumental in the introduction of locally made solar water-heaters including solar cookers, refrigerators and solar dryers.

• The solar dryers were used to dehydrate surplus vegetables and fruit (preserving their nutritive value) during the peak of their harvest seasons in order to minimize waste in seasonal crops, and generate income to rural women.

Science and Technology For Development Project

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• Solar stills for distilling salt water to provide isolated coastal communities

with regular potable supplies.

• The association has also promoted the

introduction of biogas technology in Manawat village in Giza governorate.

Science and Technology For Development Project

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• In the health care area, SAEW conducted a National Campaign to raise public awareness with regard to the harmful effects of artificial coloring and flavoring food additives.

• Women scientists (members of SAEW) provided natural substitutes that were developed in the laboratories of the National Research Center, from fruits, vegetables and other plants.

• The project succeeded in banning by the government – the use of artificial chemicals in several food substances.

Science and Technology For Development Project

• NCW trained more than 1000 trainees, about 300 of them obtained international certificates, and they were employed by reputable companies.

• Some trainees opened their own

private small businesses in web design and development.

ICT Training Program

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• SME Online (www.afkargadida.com) is a project that was inaugurated in March 2005 by President Mubarak. The site provides information on investment opportunities for small and medium enterprises, and provides feasibility studies for selected projects.

• The site also acquaints women entrepreneurs with the required information and legal procedures needed to start, develop and expand small businesses

• SME online provides information related to the essentials of Exportation and on commercial national and international exhibitions.

ICT Training Program

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• Cleostore (www.cleostore.com) is an E-marketing web portal that was inaugurated in May 2005 by Egypt’s First Lady H.E. Suzanne Mubarak. Cleostore aiming at introducing the concept of electronic business that provides information about small businesses run by women entrepreneurs in Egypt.

ICT Training Program

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• Cleostore is designed to help women entrepreneurs market their product in both, the national, regional and international markets through displaying on-line catalogues of quality products.

• Cleostore provides various means of guidance and

assistance to develop new marketing strategies.

• Many women have benefited from Cleostore website and sell their products to different parts of Egypt and other countries such as Morocco, Pakistan, Emirates, and Germany … etc

ICT Training Program

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• A resource center has been included to provides Online Courses with an effective E-Learning tool, to give the user the advantage of selecting and learning from a variety of topics aiming at developing entrepreneurship and is complimented with an online test to evaluate his/her level of learning.

• NCW provides specially designed training

courses to help women already in the workforce acquire the necessary skills needed to cope and survive the inevitable transformations occurring as a natural result of Egypt’s shift towards a knowledge economy.

ICT Training Program

• In some villages, traditions do not allow women to go to work, but they can work from home.

• A project was designed to provide skills for young women to increase their income-generating opportunities while at the same time respecting the prevailing local customs.

“Women are the Custodians of National Heritage-preserving”

program

• Through the project 840 young women from 4 governorates were trained to perfect the traditional stitches characterizing their areas, some of which were about to become extinct.

• Tally of upper Egypt, cross stage of Sinai, and the Siwa oasis embroideries. Many of these young women now sell their products either in exhibitions or through the internet using Cleo store web-site.

• Both IT and ST were used in the context of these projects.

“Women are the Custodians of National Heritage-Preserving”

program

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1. keeping an electronic record of the stitches, colors and motifs of traditional embroidery of the areas.

2. Scanning the motifs from the tabloids created by the trainees, proved to be very effective. By zooming in, the stitches appear very clearly and become easier for the girls producer to count and follow thus ICT provides a practical guide for the producers to follow.

First : In the Training

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Functional use of the Electronic Inventory

1. By zooming in, we get a bigger view of the motif & thus be able to count the stitches

2. Print outs are used as patterns

3. Using the CDs of the traditional motifs developed during the project will enable the trainees to get print outs of traditional designs and original motifs any time after the training is completed.

4. Digital cameras and flash memory sticks are provided to the local NGOs, which were involved in the project to keep an inventory of the production to be used in replicating the project any time.

First : In the Training

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5. Images will be downloaded from the digital camera to the computer, then from the computer to their memory sticks and CDs, for young women entrepreneurs to use in the promotion of their products

First : In the Training

Motifs scanned from Tabloids of the Training of Trainers in Siwa Oasis

Motifs scanned from the Tally Tabloids made during the Training of Trainers in Upper Egypt

Tabloids from the Training of Trainers in North Sinai

• The Tally thread consists of a metal alloy covered by silver, gold or nickel depending on the type of color needed.

• They are characterized by their highly shining appearance and they should have a very small diameter, ranging from 0.5 mm and not exceeding 1.5 mm.

• These threads are being imported for more than two centuries, and are costly.

Second : Production of the Tally Thread

Cont…

• NCW approached the Women scientists and technologists in the Central Metallurgical Research Institute, to explore the possibility of synthesizing and manufacturing the thread.

• Women technologists succeeded in synthesizing the Tally thread. The manufacturing of the thread on a commercial basis is being promoted.

Second : Production of the Tally Thread

• The project aims at raising the awareness of men with little or even no education, about their legal rights.

• NCW, has complied articles from legislations that address women’s rights.

The CD Legal Rights Project

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• These have been produced in the form of questions and answers, on CDs and audio tapes in a kit, using simple colloquial language in order to reach women the grass roots.

• Women will be able to avail themselves of this free service through local women’s clubs, local cultural centers and NGO3 spread across more than 4500 villages of Egypt that will be provided with the kit.

The CD Legal Rights Project

• In our endeavor to use STI for development and poverty reduction we face a number of challenges.

• Almost all of these projects are being undertaken in collaboration with and with contributions from donors.

The challenges

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• The implementation of these projects at the scale required to achieve a meaningful impact entails funding, that is not foreseen to be available in the national budget in the near future. This is one of our major challenges.

The challenges

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• The second challenge is the still prevalent illiteracy of women, particularly in rural areas, hamper their capacity building. The results of the scattered efforts for illiteracy eradication that frequently include financial and social incentives are quite positive, but again resources are scarce.

The challenges

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• The third challenge is linking research to economic development. Despite some successful efforts STI are not always geared to local development needs of the under-privileged.

The challenges

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• The forth challenge is related to the shift towards an open market economy and privatization. Most of the private sector companies are reluctant to invest in capacity building programs to create a work force able to meet quality standards, or to harness R&D to solve local problems.

The challenges

Let me conclude by recommending to the World Bank two Policy instruments that would help promoting ST and Innovation for

poverty reduction :

Recommendations to the World Bank

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1. The first one is to promote better linkage of STI policies and the elements identified in the Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs)

2. The second recommendation is to revisit the PRSPs of some developing countries and make it more gender-sensitive.

Recommendations to the World Bank